Alternative Culture: The Last Christian review

[The following post is dedicated to my friend Abigail]

The Last Christian..... in America
The daughter of missionaries, Abigail Caldwell, returns to the United States in 2088 after the tribe she was working with perishes to a pandemic. However, she finds that there are no Christians in the United States due to the advent of brain transplants. Inspired by a message from her late grandfather, she takes it upon herself to bring the gospel to her homeland.

What I liked
I admire the way the author imagines the decline of Christianity in the Western World. He attributes the regression due to the rise of evolutionary theory and lack of counter-culturalness. He also imagines the moral decline of the country with the loss of marriage institutions and lowering of the sexual age.

In reality, despite the hopes of the New Atheists like Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris, it is unlikely that religious belief will disappear in the near future. If anything, the number of cultural/nominal religious people are decreasing, while the number of practising religious people are increasing (McGrath, 2004).

I also liked the way Abigail innocently describes Christianity to a sceptical audience on live television, and the process in which her understanding of her faith changed. From relying so much on her own efforts, she slowly had a reformation of her heart and trusts God instead.

What could have been improved
I am quite surprised by one factual error, considering that the author did some research in Papua New Guinea. He mentioned that that there was no reputable neurological centre in the country, which would be pretty unlikely, since there is a famed neurological disease, kuru, which is endemic to the country.

Another aspect I thought was not well written was plot device in which the author links the soul to the brain. I wished it was better explained, because it seems to run contrary to the author's theology which he links faith to a relationship, rather than a state of mind.

My theological review
Despite its convenient deus ex machinma, I enjoyed this easy-to-read science fiction novel. I give it a 70/100.


Before I end this reveiw, I would like to do the author a favour by adding his video of Abigail Caldwell in the link below:

abbysmessage

References

McGrath, A. (2004) The Twilight of Atheism

Theology 1.0: What is the importance of miracles in Christianity?

Victoria and Albert Museum, London 2013

I do not know why Thomas Jefferson, one of the founding fathers of the removed all mention of miracles and the supernatural from his version of the Bible. Maybe like some modern Christians, he was uncomfortable with the idea of God violating of the laws of nature.

I would like to make a bold statement-- unlike other religions and worldviews, miracles are essential to Christianity.

1.) Miracles make Christianity what it is.

Although the Bible contains accounts of many miracles such as the parting of the Red Sea and the prophet Elijah summoning fire, I want to focus on the main miracle of Christianity-- the resurrection of Christ.

As the apostle Paul says in the 1 Corinthians 15:17-19,

17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. 18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. 19 If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.

The basis of Christianity is based on the life, death and resurrection of Jesus-- to deny any of these beliefs is to undo Christianity entirely (Lewis, 1945).

2.) Miracles presupposes reason

Many people seem to think believing miracles requires to people to suspend their intellect. In order to recognise a miracle, one needs to be reasonable.

For instance, in order to recognise the Virgin birth of Jesus Christ as a miracle, one has to understand that sex is needed before birth (Lewis, 1904).

In other words, to recognise a violation of the laws of nature, one has to know the laws of nature.

Conclusion

Miracles are important in Christianity. However, it is not the most important issue. The more pressing issue is this: is it true?

As journalist GK Chesterton (1904) writes,

"What matters about a religion is not whether it can work marvels like any ragged Indian conjurer, but whether it has a true philosophy of the Universe. The Romans were quite willing to admit that Christ was a God. What they denied was the He was the God – the highest truth of the cosmos. And this is the only point worth discussing about Christianity." 

References

Chesterton, GK (1904). The Religious Doubt of Democracy.

Lewis, CS (1942, October). St Jude's Gazette, 73, 4-7.

Lewis, CS (1945, 27 April). The Grand Miracle.  The Guardian, 161-165