Maintaining an evangelical faith in the face of a decadent culture of democracy

Abstract

Evangelicals living in a democracy are faced with the pressures of constitutionalism and the influence of secularism. These two forces unsettle God from the public spaces and enhance decadent culture. This article addresses the current challenges Evangelicals face in the decadent culture of democracy in South Africa. The essence of the proposal is how South African Evangelicals should maintain their confession, while surrounded by unethical practices of corruption and greed. An interdisciplinary approach is followed, so literature from the disciplines of Church History, Systematic Theology, Ethics, Cultural Anthropology, Sociology, and Political Studies are reviewed to address the problem. The history of the Evangelical faith and the rationale behind Evangelical awakenings open the discussion into the presentation. The Evangelical dogma is highlighted, followed by the definition of democracy with its entrenched decadent culture. Church, government, and the family are identified as places of contestation, where Evangelicals sense the threat to their doctrinal tenets. The challenge faced by Evangelicals can be addressed by remaining evangelically rooted and by holding unswervingly to three major doctrinal tenets, which are the doctrine of the Trinity, the doctrine of human depravity, and in the belief that the Bible is the measure of faith and conduct.