Almost Christian #2

Moving on to chapter 2 of Almost Christian: What The Faith Of Our Teenagers Is Telling The American Church Kenda Dean (author) offers this declaration concerning American youth growing up in church in regards to the Moralistic Therapeutic Deism syndrome and treating Christianity as a niceness religion.  

Jesus would caution against criticizing the speck in teenagers’ faith before scrutinizing the log in our own (Matt. 7:5). If teenagers are members of the Church of Benign Whatever-ism, it is because we are too. The National Study of Youth and Religion’s most incontrovertible finding is that parents generally “get what they are,” in religion as in most things. This is as true to churches as it is in families, which means that we can expect the faith of the young people we love to reflect the faith we show them. So we need to ask before going further: Do we practice the kind of faith that we want our children to have? I think the honest answer might be, ‘Yes we do.’ The simple truth seems to be that the reason young people practice an imposter faith is because we do- and because this is the faith we want them to have. It’s that not-too-religious, “decent” kind of Christianity that allows our teenagers to do well while doing good, makes them successful adults without turning them into religious zealots, teaches them to notice others without actually laying their lives down for any of them. If this is the faith they see lived out by their parents, their pastors, and their churches, how would they know it’s a sham? In a world crazed with violence and intolerance, isn’t being “good enough” good enough? Not according to Jesus who calls us to be holy- which changes the equation substantially.  The good news of Jesus is God’s invitation to young people- to all people- to participate in the divine plan of salvation in Jesus Christ and to rely on God’s goodness, not our own. Imitating Christ makes people lay down their wallets, their reputations, their lives for the sake of others, which parents rightly fear for their children. The cult of nice is so much safer; God is friendly and predictable, offering little and asking less.  Moralistic Therapeutic Deism does not ask people to lay down their lives for anyone, because niceness does not go that far. Love goes that far- and true love is neither nice nor safe.

What do you think of her thoughts? Has any of this challenged you in regards to your own faith life? These first two chapters have really challenged me in understanding more about the faith I live out towards our young people here at 43^rd and the faith I live out in general towards the world. Are we really living out the gospel of Jesus, or have we substituted the radical message of Jesus for a cheap niceness driven moralistic therapeutic deism?