RIVERSIDE, Calif. (March 5, 2014)—"I think you're living in one of the most important generations of human history in a very long time," Dr. R. Albert Mohler told students at California Baptist University. "We are living in one of the great turning times of history."

Mohler, who is president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., used Romans 11:33-36 as his text, in which Paul praises God for His wisdom.

"I was raised in a climate of cultural Christianity," he said. "Everyone around me was a Christian or acted like a Christian. My generation was one where there were three cultural spaces: secular on one end and church space on the other. The middle space was cultural Christianity. They weren't claiming to be believers of Christ, but they still acted Christian. They still acted with a Christian worldview."

Mohler told students they are in a generation without that middle space, because cultural Christianity is disappearing.

"All you have left are two stark choices," he said. "There is serious, committed theistic belief on one end and committed secularism on the other. A secular worldview is so devoid of any theistic content, they are purely secular in their viewpoint. You're living in a time when people will either know they are Christians, or they will know they are not."

Mohler said that cultural Christianity used to be that middle ground that created stability in our culture. Cultural change used to happen slowly, he said, but now it's happening quickly.

He pointed to same-sex marriage as an example.

"Twenty years ago, no law existed in any country that supported same-sex marriage," he said. "Now same sex marriage is becoming more and more a cultural reality. How does that happen? There are those who believe we are making it up as we go along."

Mohler said our society will see an ever-increasing antagonism toward Christianity, but that it comes down to the belief that either "God is and life flows from that or He is not and life flows from that."

He challenged students to live with conviction and purpose in an age that is becoming more and more secular.

"We are living in a very different time," he said. "If your spiritual identity is just Christian-like, it will evaporate pretty quickly. We have to make it clear that God has given us in His word all we need to flourish in this life."