Almost Christian

I saw the following article on several blogs that I follow.  This summary from White Horse Inn briefly tells the story.  Click on their link at the end if you want to read the entire article by Kenda Creasy Dean as featured on CNN.  I have not read her book, but I found her ideas interesting.  I looked up Moralistic Therapeutic Deism, the phrase coined by Christian Smith of University of Notre Dame, and I agree with Wikipedia, which in addition to the definition, states that this term can apply to many religions, not just Christianity.

“CNN online recently featured an article on Kenda Creasy Dean’s new book Almost Christian: What the Faith of Our Teenagers is Telling the American Church (Oxford University Press, 2010).  

 

Dean is a professor at Princeton Seminary who participated with Christian Smith and others in the National Study of Youth and Religion. The CNN article discusses the theme of Moralistic Therapeutic Deism, a phrase used liberally by White Horse Inn hosts for the past few years and coined by Christian Smith to describe the religious and spiritual lives of today’s teenagers.

Dean discusses this problem at length in her new book, and argues that teens have received this “fake” view of Christianity from their parents. She writes, “The problem does not seem to be that churches are teaching young people badly, but that we are doing an exceedingly good job of teaching youth what we really believe, namely, that Christianity is not a big deal, that God requires little, and the church is a helpful social institution filled with nice people…”

She goes on to say that “if churches practice Moralist Therapeutic Deism (MTD) in the name of Christianity, then getting teenagers to church more often is not the solution (conceivably it could make things worse). A more faithful church is the solution….Maybe the issue is simply that the emperor has no clothes.”

Michael Horton recently interviewed Kenda Creasy Dean for the White Horse Inn, and that interview will air in early October.”

Click here to read the entire CNN article titled, “More Teens Becoming Fake Christians.”

To read three responses from Kenda Dean about her CNN article, click on the following links:

CNN Response

Almost Christian

Called into Disconnect

God, the Gospel, and Glenn Beck

Here I go again.  I am not trying to offend anyone.  I hope I don’t offend anyone. 

Ever since Glenn Beck’s “Restoring Honor” events last weekend, my brain and emotions have been working overtime.  Let me say up front, I am not a Glenn Beck groupie.  However, I am a both a fiscal and social conservative.

I did not watch Glenn Beck’s rally on Saturday, but I saw his show on Monday where he shared highlights of the weekend events.  What I saw disturbed me.  I wanted to like what I heard, but I didn’t like it. 

If you are interested in this topic, you might be interested in reading the following two articles.  I chose these two out of many internet articles because I thought these two summarized the objections to the rally the best.   Both of these men happen to be prominent Baptists.  I am not a Baptist, but I agree with them on this topic. 

Russell Moore:

http://www.russellmoore.com/2010/08/29/god-the-gospel-and-glenn-beck/

Albert Mohler, Jr.:

http://www.christianpost.com/article/20100901/evangelical-scholar-troubled-by-theological-ambiguity-at-beck-rally/index.html

If you are not interested in this topic, then please ignore this post and, as the late Gilda Radner’s character, Emily Litella, on Saturday Night Live would have said, “Never Mind!”

Broken by the Church?

Thank you to all who wrote me a comment about yesterday’s blog.  Your thoughts and opinions are important to me.  Today I would like to welcome a new blog follower, Susan K.  I hope you enjoy reading my blog, Susan.  Feel free to leave a comment from time to time.

Waterton Lakes National Park, Alberta, Canada, 7/7/01

Dave and I listened to an interesting on-line lecture the other night.  We heard Dr. Rod Rosenbladt, a Lutheran professor and minister, speak on the topic of “The Gospel for Those Broken by the Church”.  This lecture was originally given six years ago and is even more timely today. 

Many people have been broken by their churches.  They work and work and try to do the right thing, and it just gets harder, not easier.  And sometimes their church makes them feel that “if only” they worked even harder and volunteered even more, and spent even more time at church, “then” they would receive more blessings.

Wrong!  The Gospel message has nothing to do with our works.  Among other points, Dr. Rosenbladt explicitly lists the kinds of people that many of us will be very surprised to see in heaven. 

If you’ve struggled with your faith in your church because of what you’re seeing and hearing (and maybe don’t even go to church anymore), you don’t want to miss this powerful address – an unabashed analysis of the church today and what it is doing to many believers – from one who has experienced it himself.

If this topic sounds intriguing to you, listen to this 50 minute lecture.  Your mind may be opened to a new way of looking at the Church.  

New Reformation Press is offering this lecture free of charge.  Here is the website where you can listen to the mp3 audio file or download a written PDF version:  Gospel for Those Broken by the Church

Dr. Rod Rosenbladt

After listening to or reading this material, what do you think about what Dr. Rosenbladt said?  Dave and I can relate to what he says because that has been our experience with church.