“This changes everything.”
Some forms of those words have been uttered countless times by people since creation when confronted with some mind-blowing development that redefined the known world. From the first writing to the latest artificial intelligence, our species has faced the realization that the current definition of normal has just been rendered inoperative.
I vividly recall the first time that I realized that everything had just changed. After watching a grainy live video of Neil Armstrong step onto the moon and declare, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind,” I went outside to look up at the moon in wonder. Day to day life might not be altered very much. Same house, same activities, same school. But the process of getting those men onto the alien surface of the moon would bring Teflon, Velcro, and satellite communications to the average consumer, as well as a shift in the balance of the Cold War that would lead to the end of the Soviet Union. I was aware of none of that at the time, but I did know that what we all thought of as normal was out the window.
You might think that the geopolitics of that change is the big picture, but, in reality, it’s not much more profound than the development of Velcro. Empires have risen and fallen since the Tower of Babel, and life goes on. Consequently, I think technological changes, even small ones, ultimately alter our lives more than the endless shifts in which army or culture is dominant at the time. No election has changed my life as much as the phone in my pocket that is more powerful than all the computers NASA had in 1969.
The really big picture is above human agencies. The unseen universe beyond our moon is aware that events on earth do indeed change everything, but those events are primarily beneath the notice of the vast majority of humanity, at least at the time it happens. Everything changed when Adam and Eve ate from the forbidden tree. Everything changed when Jesus died on the cross. Everything changed when Martin Luther nailed his challenge to Rome on the door of the church in Wittenburg.
In the actual moment of those redefinitions of normal, very few noticed anything, though each eventually came to the attention of the whole world. In that same pattern, a little noticed event took place in 1818 that changed everything, but the process of coming to the attention of the whole world is not yet complete. I suspect that the universe beyond us was keenly aware that change was coming when William Miller’s eyes fell on Daniel 8:14: Unto two thousand and three hundred days; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed (KJV).
That was the beginning of the formation of the movement which would carry the message of Revelation 14:6-13 to the whole world. Seventh-day Adventists are a piece of the big picture, a proclamation that changes everything. We are here to reveal a new normal that the fall of empires, the rise of technology, or worldwide pandemics can never match.
Since this movement stepped onto the world stage, “normal” has shifted. It appears that Adventism is facing challenges that our parents and grandparents never imagined. I spent a significant amount of work time on things that I never saw coming as few as five years ago.
Consider the changes that the COVID lockdowns have had on the church. I drove nearly empty highways into the office, coordinating with others to minimize building occupancy, where I could only unmask at my desk with the door closed. I worried about how we could maintain a sense of community in churches that were not meeting at all, or, at best, had a handful of socially distanced worshipers broadcasting in the hope that many more at home were tuning in to the service. How long would this go on? Would we ever bounce back? How many would decide it was too easy to watch worship, and forever after, choose not to actively participate in worship? How many would not even do that much? It sure felt like everything had changed.
Don’t be too quick to say it all turned out fine. True, the fact that nearly every service is now live streamed is a blessing, as some who can’t attend now have more connection than before, and many are tuning in for the first time. Praise the Lord for all of that! But at some level, we must admit, we lost something along the way. Many became inactive, and some disassociated completely. To this day there are churches whose attendance has never equaled pre-pandemic numbers.
There are many other things that redefine normal in ways that affect the church, some to the benefit of our mission, and others that challenge our mission. For every advance in technology that provides a new way to share the Gospel, there are developments that seem to block our path. Truth has been reduced to a point of view, and many points of view once considered perfectly normal will now get you in trouble if you express them. It’s not just the humanities that are up for debate. The fundamental realities of biology, chemistry, and other sciences are proclaimed by the elites to be outdated and intolerable. How can we proclaim the truth of scripture to a world that declares even mathematics to be an artificial construct designed to subjugate unfavored groups? After all, if the formula 1+1=2 is debated, how do you assert that the Bible is reliable?
Welcome to Adventism in postnormal times. Where do we turn to for help in navigating the new reality?
The same place as always. Scripture. Let’s start with the Book of Jude.
In verse 7, Jude reminds us that tough times are nothing new, and there have always been people who will tell you that up is down, blue is red, and God can’t be trusted: Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, having given themselves over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example … (NKJV).
The author points out that in his own time, people were experiencing a new normal in the form of members who were causing dissension: For certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago were marked out for this condemnation, ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ (Verse 4).
Finally, he prophesies that at the end of time, the same troubles will be present: But you, beloved, remember the words which were spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ: how they told you that there would be mockers in the last time who would walk according to their own ungodly lusts. These are sensual persons, who cause divisions, not having the Spirit (Verses 17-19).
Maybe our times, beset by mockers causing dissension, are not so postnormal as it feels. The same problems we face go back a long way. That’s good news because it gives us a model for navigating our challenges.
“Postnormal” may be a lot of things we never saw coming. It may be a world awash in astonishing technology and in denial of everything from the existence of God to the reality of gravity. It may be Christians who are so conformed to the world that they no longer care if the Bible supports their ideas. It may even be people who disbelieve many of our fundamental doctrines and would rather profoundly change who we are than to find a group more suited to their belief system.
But is any of that really new? Or is it more likely that Solomon was right when he said nothing is ever really new (Ecclesiastes 1:9). Even the technology that would have blown his mind is mostly just more efficient ways to travel, design, communicate, etc. But the real problems of a world gone mad (and churches not far behind) is older than Jude or Solomon.
That being the case, the way to relate to a postnormal world is still found in the Book of Jude:
But you, dear friends, must build each other up in your most holy faith, pray in the power of the Holy Spirit, and await the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will bring you eternal life. In this way, you will keep yourselves safe in God’s love.
And you must show mercy to those whose faith is wavering. Rescue others by snatching them from the flames of judgment. Show mercy to still others, but do so with great caution, hating the sins that contaminate their lives (Jude 1:20-23, NLT).
That’s it. Stay faithful, show mercy, and hate the sin but not the sinner. It’s not easy, because it’s not normal. But it is how Jesus lived.
Doug Inglish is the RMC vice president for administration. Email him at: [email protected]