Before getting into the relevance of faith in the modern world I would like you to first consider the following.  Its relevance will become clear as this article unfolds.

When we become aware of certain physical or emotional changes from the norm there usually follows  a critical decision .

we may choose to ignore these changes and hope that they will go away.

• That may prove to be the case with minor illnesses or injuries,
• in other cases the results are not so desirable.

Not infrequently, the decision to disregard these unusual sensations represents us ignoring the very feedback signals that the human body was designed to provide to indicate its struggle with a potentially overwhelming illness or  injury.

What we believe to be minor indigestion may represent a major heart attack, and what appears to be a slightly unusual mole may represent a highly malignant melanoma.

If the abnormal sensation goes away and the body is able to repair itself without outside intervention, then a physician and the benefits that he or she represents become irrelevant.

However, if the underlying problem is not so easily remedied, the decision whether or not to seek medical treatment may be the difference between life or death.

when we go to a doctor those abnormal perceptions or sensations are  then  called   “symptoms”

These symptoms, go along with other tests that measure bodily functions that cannot be seen externally, they  form the basis for establishing a “diagnosis.”

The diagnosis represents an explanation of the problem, its probable source and also its potential danger.

From this understanding, a means of treatment is formulated, which then becomes highly relevant.

As we examines the question of the relevance of faith for a modern world within the context of this medical metaphor, the issue becomes whether the modern world, and mankind specifically, is in such a state that it, like the human body when confronted with a minor illness or injury, can repair itself, or whether it represents a more malignant condition which requires the outside assistance of a “physician.”

To prove that the  faith is relevant to the modern world does not require us to prove that the modern world is necessarily in a worse state than in the past, but merely that it is in a state of “disease” that cannot heal itself.

So is faith relevant to the modern world?

Certainly it is not difficult to see that  mankind is in the death grip of a malignant disease, a disease called sin, in which individuals place themselves and their desires above that of God, in an attempt to become “like God” (Gen. 3:5).

In treating this disease, Jesus makes it clear that, as the “Great Physician,” he is critically relevant.

It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.

But go ye and learn what this meaneth; I will have mercy and not sacrifice; for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” (Matthew 9:14).

What I would say here is that perhaps we have the wrong question before us.  The question is not whether Christ and faith is relevant to the modern world, but whether Christians, as Christ’s representatives, are relevant.

in many ways if i were to use an analogy i would say that the Christian life represents a wartime existence, a spiritual war in which there will be no peace or armistice until Christ returns.

The problem is that most Christians don’t really believe that life is war and that
our invisible enemy is very powerful.

There is a peacetime casualness in many churches about spiritual things. At the same time, they have  become more and more like the world around them as they change  doctrine to accommodate more liberal thinking  and in doing so lose  their sense of spiritual power which would enable them  to cope with this rise in sinful activity.

As  a people who believe and have Faith in the word of God, we would be well advised to   take seriously 2 Corinthians 10:3-4, which states,

10:3 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh;

10:4 (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds)

Jesus as the  Great Physician, calls us to be healers in the middle of a war zone.

If we  choose to remain comfortable and safe, walled off from the world within
the confines of a religious “country club” known as the church, we will become like those we  try to  be  light to .  That is to say we will become so  much like the world that we will become invisible within  society.

If this happens then it would be easy to see how then  Faith  in a higher power will not be relevant to the modem world.

But if we choose to live out our  faith as fully committed soldiers and healers for Christ, then   faith is not only relevant to the modern world but represents its only hope in the face of a fatal disease….

All Biblical quotes in this article are from the Inspired Version of the bible. you can look at it online at Restored Gospel.com