The Bible emphasises that its truth is never readily accepted by the human heart.
It therefore prepares us not just for physical opposition but also for varying degrees of intellectual misunderstanding and even incredulity. When Paul addresses the Athenians, they object that he is bringing them ‘strange ideas’. The same would doubtless have been true had he been preaching in India or China, America or Egypt. Having said that, it is at least arguable that a new type of incomprehension has taken hold in Europe since the 18th century and that this new mindset is almost unique in history.
Principally through the Enlightenment’s misrepresentation of science, the entire framework of revealed truth, indeed of all religion, is treated as fanciful and without substance. The resultant mindset, particularly when viewed alongside radical changes in lifestyle, most of them technologically induced, creates an unprecedented challenge for Christian ministry. Put simply, the gospel seems as implausible as Father Christmas.
