We find ourselves today in a world torn between two approaches to truth; modernity and post-modernity. My parents generation was part of an epic struggle to refute all the things of the Great Generation, from morality, to their approach on all things scientific and philosophical. They thew out church liturgy, music, and everything else that echoed of old. My generation now finds itself in a precarious scenario; we have no history, nor direction. See in the midst of burning everything that has formed society over the generations, the modernists threw out everything that gave value to culture. My generation is left with the aftermath of the decisions of the modernists. Thus we, the post-moderns, have been scattered in every direction, having no semblance of connection. The ramifications of this are evident on the front page of every newspaper, and in the captions of every newscast. The fascinating thing about this is that in trying to create a world for their children, free of the tyrannies of past generations, the modernists have made children that crave those very tyrannies. I find myself a part of a world that wants to belong to the vastness of history, a generation that longs to find truth, and to join in the time line of this world. In a way our parents never thought possible we are embracing hymns, and longing for the next arrangement of a classical song, updated in our chords, and dripping with theological strength. Churches everywhere are beginning “liturgical services,” because they provide us with stability. The linear approach of our parents is obsolete. A pastor that preaches “ten ways to get your life on track” will be thought trite and self-righteous. The students in today's world want pastors that will ask big questions, and stand in the muck and mire of this world with us. We want to know scripture, but not just the scriptures, we want to know the Hebrew, Greek, and context. I come from a worldview that thirsts to swim in the deep streams of life, and longs in all ways to make a true lasting difference.
I come from western Michigan, an area wrought by a homogenous religious culture. Five out of six congregations come from a Calvinistic background, and are so intrenched in tradition, that nobody understands the need and call for evangelism. This fact is interesting because my church has what I call hyper-evangelistic theology. I've spent most of my childhood learning how to reach my classmates for Christ, while never in fact learning much about Him. I am embarrassed to say that I came to school here with far less Biblical and theological understanding than I care to admit. You see, I was so well trained to win new followers, that I never really looked at what I was winning them to...
I also come from what I would call a hyper-conservative environment. A tradition of people that are trained to take everything at face value, to never doubt the pastor, and to take every letter of the Word as unquestionable truth. We explored in class the subject of innerancy, as a three divisions, but I would say I came from a place even more extreme, a scriptural view that the Bible is innerant, and our brains our too simple to understand any of it, and thus we should not even try to rationalize the apparent contradictions.
My generation also comes from a culture rife with pop-theology. Authors like John Piper, Brian MacLarren, and Joel Osting preach concepts that are enticing at first glance, but are horrendous in implication. Ideas that God wills people to hell, that God is not just, and that all God wants of us is our happiness. We need to know the truth, and to understand the true meaning of what it is to be a disciple of Christ.
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