Erwin Lutzer, in his book Christ Among Other Gods, outlines the ‘ideological megashift’ that has taken place in modern thinking:-

1.  From a God-centred to a man-centred worldview.  That has been a particular effect of the Enlightenment, which, although not opposed to religion, undermined the revealed religion of Scripture.  The end has been a disowning of God, and a claiming of freedom that leads in the end to dreadful slavery.  For, notwithstanding the tyranny of religion, the tyranny of atheism is a far worse evil.

2.  From objective reality to relativism.  When we use our freedom to disregard God, we find ourselves unable to make sense of reality.  For example, technology outstrips morality.  We know how to make a bomb, but not if or when it should be used.  Since there is no objective benchmark, we must opt for relativism, seeking our own meaning and making our own happiness.  A religion can be accepted or rejected depending whether it is ‘right for you’.

3.  From objectivity to pragmatism.  If there is no fixed point of reference, we must accept along with relativism its close relative, pragmatism.  This states that whatever works is right.

4.  From reason to feeling.  Older generations of Christians, such as the Reformers and Puritans, believed that the heart and mind should jointly used.  Now theology, once considered the queen of sciences, has been dethroned, since no objective basis for truth is recognised.  Feeling has replaced thinking as the arbiter of what is good and right.

5.  From convictions to opinions.  Since there is no objective truth, nothing is worth dying for, and nothing is really worth living for.  God has become a private fetish, whose purpose is to restore our broken self-image.  Religion does not deal with truth but with personal taste.