The secular tide debilitating Western civilization for the past hundred years has removed the fear of God from the hearts of men. It’s most damaging effect has been on “Christians”.
The effect is most evident within the mega church movement and seeker-friendly Christianity. God is acknowledged, but He has been dethroned. There, the glorious Being whose awe-inducing majesty is described by Isaiah (6:1-5) has become everyman’s pal. Almost 100 years ago Karl Barth recoiled in horror at such a trend, writing in his commentary on Romans that we dare to present ourselves as God’s “companions, patrons, advisers and commissioners […] This is the ungodliness of our relation to God. Secretly we are the masters in this relationship. We are not concerned with God, but with our own requirements, to which God must adjust Himself […] Our lack of humility, our lack of recollection, our lack of fear in the presence of God, are not in our present condition inevitable, however natural they may seem to us.” (Karl Barth: Epistle to the Romans pp 44,48)
The dumbing-down of God breeds unfounded confidence bordering on arrogance. When God is your pal it encourages an estimation of personal worth, wisdom and competence flowing out of a vanity of mind and blindness of heart. Barth calls it a fundamentally wrong attitude to life. He adds: “The more unbroken man marches along his road secure in himself, the more surely does he make a fool of himself.”
Fools will not stand in the day of testing. This is a time for sober reflection, not for indulging in cartoon Christianity.