It is a bit of a misconception to suggest that a secular worldview is one that is void of God. On the contrary, many secularists do believe there is a place for God, but it is a very limited place. A secular worldview is not necessarily one that eliminates God; rather, a secular worldview is one that compartmentalizes God. “Secularization did not cause the death of religion,” says theologian Walter Kasper. It did, however, relegate it to “one sector of modern life along with many others. Religion lost its claim to universality and its power of interpretation.”[1] In other words, a secular worldview is one that allows God to inform some parts of life, but not all. The Creator is marginalized. A secularist may invite God into certain rooms, but He is not permitted access to the entire house.

Leslie Newbigin, who spent many years as a missionary to India, tells that this kind of compartmentalization of God is a Western phenomenon. Few cultures around the world encourage a division between the sacred and secular or the public and the private. Faith is something that is intended to permeate all of life. “In most human cultures, religion is not a separate activity set apart from the rest of life.”[2] For sure, this is one of the ways that the “world” has affected the modern American church.

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For this commandment that I command you today is not too hard for you, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will ascend to heaven for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will go over the sea for us and bring it to us, that we may hear it and do it?’ But the word is very near you. It is in your mouth and in your heart, so that you can do it. (Deut. 30:11-14)

The New Testament is equal in its affirmation of the clarity of Scripture. Most notably, Jesus assumes that His listeners are able to read and understand the Word of God. Six times in the Gospel of Matthew the Son of God asks, “Have you not read …” When confronted by the Pharisees Jesus tells them, “Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners” (Mat 9:13). The assumption in passages such as these is that the misunderstanding lies not with the text of Scripture, but with the hearer.[2] It has also been pointed out that most of the letters in the New Testament are written to churches, not to pastors and/or elders. These biblical writers take for granted that ordinary, average church members can understand their epistles. Some passages of Scripture even assume that children are in the listening audience (such as Eph. 6:1-3).[3] In light of this evidence we must conclude with Paul that “if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost” (2 Cor. 4:3).