The Western Malaise
In the ebb and flow of history, a society’s rejection of God always leads to moral and spiritual decline. It is this social disintegration and lack of a moral compass that then motivates people to return to God. It is for this reason that so many of the past awakenings were preceded by periods of moral decline and social anarchy. It was revival in the church and awakening in the society that turned the tide of godlessness and facilitated the social progress that the West has enjoyed in the past.
“We and our kings, our princes and our ancestors are covered with shame, LORD, because we have sinned against you”
“Liberty cannot be established without morality, nor morality without faith.”
The Western Malaise
It is no secret that Western civilization is currently displaying symptoms of a serious malaise for which there appears to be no human remedy. A malaise is defined as a general feeling of illness whose exact cause is unknown or difficult to diagnose. This sums up the condition of those living in the west when, despite unprecedented levels of freedom and affluence, people appear to be increasingly unhappy. Instead of being the shining city upon a hill whose light is a beacon that guides freedom-loving people everywhere, the western malaise has resulted in the questioning of even the viability of liberal democracy.
A malaise is defined as a general feeling of illness whose exact cause is unknown or difficult to diagnose.
As with the son in Jesus’ parable, the cold hard truth for the prodigal west is that the reality it is facing has fallen far short of its expectations and delusions. Instead of the promised utopia, our culture is descending into a growing dystopia. The age of reason has now become the age of post-modern, post-truth, confusion. Despite its aspiration for a new age of peace and love, our society has grown less civil, more hostile, dangerously divided, and deeply conflicted. Putting things as plainly as I possibly can, the cultural revolution against the Christian foundations of the west simply hasn’t worked. It hasn’t produced the expected outcomes. The results simply don’t align with the claims made by the high priests of the secularist religion. Their faith and trust in the ability of man to redeem himself apart from God were sadly misplaced.
Instead of the promised utopia, our culture is descending into a growing dystopia. The age of reason has now become the age of post-modern, post-truth, confusion. Despite its aspiration for a new age of peace and love, the West has grown less civil, more hostile, dangerously divided, and deeply conflicted. Putting things as plainly as I possibly can, the cultural revolution against the Christian foundations of the West simply hasn’t worked.
The decline of the west and its mental, moral, and spiritual malaise is no accident. Because our civilization was built on a Christian foundation, it stands to reason that the removal of these foundations would have serious consequences. For more than a hundred years, thinking people both outside and inside the church have spoken about the danger of the west rejecting its foundations, but only now are the consequences of these decisions becoming apparent.
“One cannot have any worthwhile picture of the future unless one realizes how much we have lost by the decay of Christianity. ”
In 1918 historian and philosopher Oswald Spengler published The Decline of the West, which shouted out the warning to the west that its civilization was manifesting the symptoms of a fatal decline. At the time Spengler published his book, the extent of the carnage of World War I was becoming apparent, as was the fact that the issues that had caused the conflict hadn’t been resolved. The societal rejection of God had already begun and the belief that ‘God is dead’ had already started to erode the foundations of western society. Spengler saw clearly that western civilization and culture like so many great civilizations of the past such as the Roman Empire was in serious decline. Seeing the writing on the wall for the west, Spengler predicted its downward spiral and ultimate death.
Just as previous civilizations had experienced a rise and fall—so too the West was beginning to follow in the same footsteps. Spengler explained that the winter or death cycle of any civilization happens when it loses the principle or dynamic that gave it birth. Through its rejection of God, the west had abandoned the principle that had given it life and vitality and as a consequence was now in its winter or death cycle.
The Only Hope For The West
Spengler was a rationalist trusting in the ability of man alone with no expectation of the Lord stepping down to turn the tide of godlessness in his day. He indicated no knowledge of what the Lord had done previously during the past awakenings and revivals. We, however, have the benefit of hindsight and can learn from the way the Lord has previously stepped down into history to turn the tide of godlessness over many centuries.
The only options open to the West are either to continue on its present decline or to turn back to the Lord who gave it life in the first place. It is for this reason that the only remedy for the malaise that the west is now experiencing is for revival and the church and spiritual awakening in our society.
It is for this reason that the only remedy for the malaise that the west is now suffering is for revival and the church and spiritual awakening in our society.