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Introduction and questions

It is undeniable that Christianity is currently losing its support, and the godless culture and the influence of Islam are becoming increasingly dominant. The question is to indicate causes for this? To find an answer, briefly a historical analysis of religions in societies is given.

 

Tribal (tribes) and ancient societies

In this type of society one is aware that spiritual powers have an influence on daily life and nature. The god or spirit presents or reveals itself in a totem pole or image. Medicine men, wizards or priests come into contact with the divine power in trance. By means of white or black magic (incantation formulas, sacrifices etc.) they try to please the god and the spirits and to manipulate them. In the ancient societies (mentioned in the Bible) we see the worship of a main god with lower gods and goddesses. As an example to the Greeks, the chief god Zeus and a collection of lower gods were worshiped. The Greeks had great philosophers, such as Plato and Aristotle. Their philosophies influence Christianity in the 14th century and in later scholasticism later in the Renaissance (15th century). The contrast between theology and philosophy became increasingly clear (Peter Delius, Composition: History of Philosophy, 2000).

 

Christianity

Christianity is originally Jewish. The apostles are Jews who bring the gospel to the world and from which (world) Christianity originated. Important mainstreams are Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Anglican, Syrian, Armenian, Coptic and Protestant Christianity (Prof. G. Stemberger, The Bible and Christianity, Middle Ages and Reformation, part 2, 1979 and Dr. W. Aalders, The Church the heart of world history, 1995).

 

The Enlightenment around the 18th and 19th century

The ratio here applies above the revelation. Religion is, according to philosophers, such as Feuerbach, a product of human thought. God becomes a representation. The philosopher Kant claims that God and revelation can not be proven intelligently (Dr A.A. van den Breambussche, Atlas of Philosophy, 1993). The cosmic order is replaced by empirical research. God disappears, as it were, from science and society. Atheism is getting stronger. What is true follows from human perception and the mind. The mind has won it from religion (The Post, 19 October 2016). The theory of evolution becomes catastrophic for Christianity (Etienne Vermeersch, Skepp, 2009). Theologians are going to adjust the Bible. Separation between church and state (Dr. W. Aalders, De Tijdgeest resist, 1984).

 

The 20th century

Non-Christian parties are gaining more and more influence in politics and society. Science is increasingly in the hands of seculars. The world and the image of man has changed. There is much doubt about the existence of God and the cosmic order. Sociology, psychology, biology etc. supplant theology. Marxist and progressive culture infiltrates Christian theology and the church (Dr. W. Aalders, De Tijdgeest, 1984) More and more people are becoming detached from God and Christianity is in a great crisis. society The church can hardly stop this process (anymore) It seems as if the spiritual vacuum is numbing people.

 

The 21st century

After 2000 there will be a huge change. The Netherlands has lost God a majority no longer believe in God (Ton Bernts and Joantine Berghuijs, God in the Netherlands, 2016). Secularization. Ageing. Dereliction. In 2040 there may still be 800,000 PKN church members (Jan Holtslag, Confessional, April 2017). Radical Islam attacks the West. The rapid conquest of Islam in Europe is even more dangerous than jihad. Under the cloak of moderation, Islam is gradually gaining more and more ground in Europe (Giulio Meotti, Islam is strengthening in Europe with the blessing of the Church, February 2017).

 

In addition to secularization, Islam now also dispels Christianity. Islam fills the empty religious vacuum and becomes an important religion in Europe. It is the end of the Jewish-Christian period. They have faith and we have nihilism writes the French philosopher Michel Onfray in his book Decadence, 2017. Get used to it: political Islam remains. The West is secularized, that is not going to happen in Muslim countries. Islam is different and that poses a threat to liberal Western democracy, according to the political scientist and Islam expert Shadi Hamid in the newspaper Trouw, January 8, 2017. Political and ecclesiastical leaders in Western Europe underestimate this problem and have no The answer is the statement by Monika Jakubowska and Professor László Marácz, European Studies, University of Amsterdam. They call the process of decay upon themselves. This is partly due to the naïve attitude and lack of knowledge in the West, writes an Iranian refugee and christin (E.J. Bron, January 2017). The list leaders of the CDA. PvdA, D66, Groen Links and SP believe that Islam is not a threat to the Netherlands (De Volkskrant, 26 February 2017). Islam has no future in the Netherlands, because secularization is part of Dutch culture (The Post, 19 October 2016). It is alienating that Islam is sometimes portrayed as a counterpart to Christianity. We have so much in common. The individuality-the belief in Jesus does not mean that we are diametrically opposed to each other (Janneke Steegman, CW, The Christian Opinion Sheet of the Netherlands, 28 April 2017). However, the national secretary of the PKN states that Islam is a religion that wants peace, etc. European unification is also in line with the gospel (Trouw, December 2016 and Protestant Church in the Netherlands, Commitment to peace is vocation of Christian congregation, January 2017).

 

Conclusion

Organizations have a life cycle, in which a number of phases occur. Establishment, growth, stabilization, decline and finally liquidation (Jan van Wijk Bedrijfsorganisatie, 1988). A similar life cycle also applies to a product. Introduction, growth, saturation and decay. The life cycle of some products is long, while others are very short. (Dr. D. Keuning and Dr. D. J. Eppink, Management and Organization, 2012). World empires, civilizations and cultures also have a cyclical pattern. Origin, flowering, stabilization, stagnation and decline (Arnold Toynbee and Pitirim Sorokin, in Robert Lauer, Perspectives on Social Change, 1978). According to Arnold Toynbee, in the downturn, the existing culture is split by political groups each with opposing ideologies. Pitirim Sorokin assumes a cyclical variation between two cultures. A religious culture is succeeded by a secular culture and then a transition to a mixture of a religious and secular culture. Let's see if we recognize the decline in Western Europe and also in our country on the basis of the life cycle concepts. Christianity grows and blossoms after its creation, pagan areas in Europe are Christianized. Stabilization in Christian medieval Europe. Then saturation comes with stagnation during the Renaissance. The Reformation creates a reaction with the effect Protestant Christianity. The decay occurs after the Enlightenment and where secular science affects Christianity. The decay continues, through secularization and Marxist ideology. Now in 2017 we see through the influence of Islam that secular governments tolerate Islamic characteristics, such as in Amsterdam etc. (headscarves etc.) (AD May 18, 2017). While Christian symbols must be removed in an AZC in Apeldoorn (Reformatorisch Dagblad, 4 April 2017).

After growth, Christianity follows an assimilation with Greek philosophy during the stagnation period. In decay, secular science weakens the credibility of Christianity. One tries to save the case through assimilation with theistic evolution, liberal / social theology. Now in our time assimilation with Islam.

The Netherlands is no longer a Christian nation. We live in a country that is difficult to control politically. The foregoing shows that people in politics, the church and outside the church have insufficient understanding of what sociologically takes place in society. We have entered an unknown phase in world history. Then many people are no longer aware that they have an immortal soul. (A. Jongbloed, States Bible, Pim van Lommel, Endless Consciousness, 2007 and Rabbi Elie Spitz, Does the Soul Survive, 2006). Theologians and churches pay too little attention to this. The Bible states that in disbelief Jesus could not do any miracle in Nazareth. In organizations in the expiry phase, actions are taken to counteract the downfall. This through Turnaround Management (Stuart Slatter, Coroprate Turnaround, 2005). A similar process can also take place in church and Christianity. A turning to God and prayer can provide a positive effect.

 

 

The loss of status of Christianity in the west and the Netherlands, dr. H. Dubbelman