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GETTING TO THE BOTTOM LINE
“Upon this age, this age endowed with power to wake the moon with footsteps. Upon this fitted age, in its dark hour falls from the sky a meteoric shower of facts, that lie unquestioned, uncombined. Wisdom enough to leech us of our ill is daily spun, but there exists no loom to weave it into fabric.”
Edna St. Vincent Millay
Communication is instant—but divorces context from information (content). We no longer have info scarcity, but info glut. This creates puberty of the mind. We get locked into so much information and the inability to sort that information meaningfully limits our capability to understand. But we are miles from wisdom, the last stage at knowledge, because the internet encourages the opposite of what creates wisdom. On the internet there is no such thing as waiting; there is no such thing as stillness. There is only a constant churning.
Shane Hipps
Flickering Pixels
Doubtless—Intolerant of doubt Elitist—Purveyors of us-them Anti-science—in foundational
beliefs Over-protective—bubble effect Shallow—in the teaching of
foundational elements Repressive—of differences,
particularly lifestyle choicesDavid Kinnaman, You Lost Me
PERCEPTIONS OF THE CHURCH
AS A CULTURAL INSTITUTION
MICHAEL JACKSON’S DEATH
• Entertainment is more than a diversion from life.• People will come to
adore the effects technologies can produce.• That will be the
undoing of our capacity to think. Neil Postman, Amusing Ourselves to
Death
Toffler—Future Shock Rapid change that is overwhelming
Orwell— 1984 Domination by power and structure
Huxley—Brave New World Infinite appetite for distraction.
What we love can ruin us if we adore the things that can undo our capacity to think.
PICTURES OF THE FUTURE
Juvenilization—Process by which beliefs, practices, and developmental characteristics of adolescents become accepted as appropriate for adults.
Thomas Bergler
THE JUVENILIZATION OF AMERICAN CHRISTIANITY
Today, many Americans of all ages not only accept a Christianized version of adolescent narcissism, they often celebrate it as authentic spirituality. God, faith, and the church all exist to help me with my problems.
Moralistic God wants us to be good Religion’s purpose is to help people be good But you can be good without being religious; therefore,
religion is an optional tool by those who find it helpful.
Therapeutic God and religions are valuable because they help us
feel better about our problems.
Deism God is always in the background watching and ready
to help, but not at the center of our lives.
Christian Smith—National Study of Youth and Religion
RELIGION AS MORALISTIC THERAPEUTIC DEISM
Where have all the grown-ups gone?
A place where it’s diffi cult to tell the grown-ups from the kids.
A landscape where moms who mosh and dads who call themselves “Dude” can no longer set limits on their children.
A reality that more people ages 18-49 watch Cartoon Network than CNN.
THE DEATH OF THE GROWN-UP
“The older generation had pretty well ruined the world before passing it on.” (1920 Atlantic Monthly)
Morality was still the purview of main stream culture. (Morality defined as decency in relationships and behavior)
WHAT ABOUT “IT WAS EVER THUS” ARGUMENT?
Depression—Wars—Post-war boom
Social structure shifts provide space where children can create a peer-based world apart from adults and consequences
1959—Harper’s Magazine, article entitled, “Why Today’s Teen-agers Seem So Different”
The essence of adolescents is “role where persons must distinctly see themselves as consumer.”
ROARING TWENTIES DOESN’T BLOW TRADITIONAL SOCIETY
APART
Radical egalitarianism —equality of outcomes rather than equality of opportunities
Radical individualism —the drastic reduction of limits to personal gratification
THE 1960’S
An abundance of information with little wisdom
A reluctance to participate in perceived organized religion
I’m not religious, but an alternative vision of Moralistic Therapeutic Deism
Stuck in the “in between time” that now is the prime influencer in society and church
A world where humanity has been reduced to consumption
THE WORLD WE LIVE IN AS…
Remind us of what’s at stake and where we start in our response
BIBLICAL GLIMPSES OF
RADICAL CHANGE
Back to the Future
Inevitabilities of life—death, mourning, pain, and tears
God has not abandoned that mess—He’s in the middle of it.
God’s initiative to reconcile human tragedy is not in doubt.
REVELATION 21:3-6
We are Not the First to Face Incredible Societal Change
Subsequent generations are at risk.
You can’t pass on what you don’t possess yourselves.
Breakdown of societal structure that supports faith’s continuity and you suffer or reap a harvest of “less than.”
DEUTERONOMY 6:1-6
A Case Study in Massive Religious Change
Shifts in religious centers of influence
Leadership conflicts between established and emerging leaders
Ethnicity issues connected to theological issues
ACTS 15
Response — Theological awareness of what God is up to
Behavior that represents God’s eternal expectations are not overlooked
Fellowship is key to resolving tensions—transformation of the Gospel is both vertical and horizontal
Compromise may not be our challenge as much as non-engagement.