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What is My Postmodern Neighbor Thinking?

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Title: What is My Postmodern Neighbor Thinking?


1
What is My Postmodern Neighbor Thinking?
  • Jerram Barrs
  • Lecture I

2
Introduction 2Corinthians 104-5
  • Taking every thought captive
  • Destroying obstacles to the knowledge of God
  • Called to see where the thinking patterns of the
    culture are in opposition to Gods Word Romans
    121-2
  • A call to resistance
  • A call to submit to the Lord and his true account
    of our life in this world

3
Humility
  • As long as you say you see, your sin remains.
    If only you would acknowledge you are blind, then
    you would be able to see (John 941)
  • Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. If any
    man imagines that he knows something, he does not
    yet know as he ought to know (1Corinthians
    81-2)
  • Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will
    exalt you (James 410)
  • Whatever is true, whatever is honorable,
    whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is
    lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any
    excellence, if there is anything worthy of
    praise, think about these things (Philippians
    48)

4
Humility
  • 1. Before Gods Word
  • Readiness to admit our personal pride, our sinful
    blind spots and the way cultural prejudices have
    shaped our thinking rather than the Lord
  • 2. Before human cultures
  • To see what light they shed for us on the
    unchanging wisdom and truth that God has revealed
  • Remember that God gives his wisdom to the whole
    human race (Proverbs 8)
  • Where does our postmodern culture remind us or
    teach us of some aspect of truth that we may have
    neglected or forgotten because we are so shaped
    by other patterns of thinking and life of the
    world in which we live?

5
What is my postmodern neighbor thinking?
  • Postmodern wisdom

6
  • 1. A renewed focus on the spiritual and a sense
    of need for the transcendent
  • 2. The rejection of the modernist utopian idea
    that humans can make things right
  • 3. Challenge of authority - tradition is not
    necessarily legitimate
  • 4. Appreciation for beauty versus mere utility
  • 5. Recognition of the personal nature of
    knowledge. Knowledge is not just something
    readily available out there rather there is
    always a person involved in knowing
  • 6. Recognition that people are coming with
    different perspectives
  • 7. Delight in the diversity of human cultures
    both past and present
  • 8. Emphasis on community
  • 9. Recognition of the significance of story
  • 10. Desire for authenticity

7
What is my postmodern neighbor thinking?
  • Weaknesses of postmodern understanding

8
1. Human reason is inadequate to lead us to truth
  • This is postmodernisms fundamental reaction to
    modernism and its insistence that reason alone is
    sufficient to give us true knowledge about
    ourselves and about the world
  • Modernism had said
  • Reason appears in possession of the throne,
    prescribing laws and imposing maxims with an
    absolute sway and authority. (David Hume)
  • Man's own reason and effort are man's best and
    indeed only hope. (Corliss Lamont)
  • Man's reason will conquer the universe. (Julian
    Huxley)

9
Gods gift of reason
  • Christianity sees reason as the handmaid of
    revelation with humility before God and his
    revelation then our reason can help us find truth
  • Modernism was a Christian heresy turning reason
    into an idol and asking reason to be a far
    greater authority than it can possibly be
  • Postmodernism reacts to this and insists that
    reason is inadequate to lead us to truth
  • Objective knowledge about the ultimate nature of
    reality and of the human condition is beyond our
    reach

10
Only personal truth
  • In place of objective truth there is simply my
    individual perspective
  • You have your truth I have mine
  • My truth is that I am .
  • Because there is no acknowledgment of someone
    transcendent who knows all things there is no
    possibility of our knowing what is objectively
    real
  • The Truman Show
  • Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
  • Memento

11
In knowing I am not free
  • I always come to every issue with prejudices,
    with beliefs, with a background
  • These glasses determine what I see as an
    individual, or as a member of a community
  • So I cannot truly know objectively or absolutely
  • About 70 of all Americans doubt that there is
    absolute truth
  • Among younger people the figure rises to over 80
  • In Europe this conviction is almost universal
  • Even among Christians most of us are shaped by
    this individual or community approach to
    truth
  • About 60 or more of all evangelical believers in
    the United States do not believe in absolute
    truth
  • They believe rather that sincerity in belief,
    whatever ones religion, will get one to heaven.

12
Pluralism reinforces this
  • All around us are people with differing religious
    convictions or no religious convictions at all
  • Think of the diversity of religious practice in
    our cities
  • United States today is considered to be the most
    religiously diverse nation the world has ever
    seen
  • Christians ought not to be afraid of this
    diversity
  • Rather pluralism brings within reach of the
    churches vast numbers of people who are displaced
    from their own cultures and roots and who are
    often open to considering the claims of Jesus
    Christ
  • This diversity as an opportunity for evangelism
    and not something to lament

13
  • Consider our prayers for the beginnings of
    pluralism in a nation like Saudi Arabia
  • So why do we find pluralism a problem?
  • Postmodernism insists there is no one truth which
    describes reality
  • Merely the belief systems of individuals or
    cultural groups
  • None of these can claim either the status of
    TRUTH or being better than others
  • This we are called to resist

14
All individuals have the right to their own views
this is democracy
  • Postmodern claim is the belief that everyone has
    the right to their own views
  • Not simply in the sense that their views ought to
    be respected and that they should have the legal
    right to hold their convictions
  • But in the sense that all beliefs are equally
    valid (or invalid)
  • Invalid - for once one says all religious beliefs
    are equally true, one has acknowledged, in
    effect, that none of them are true
  • Christians are commanded by Scripture to respect
    people, and to respect their religious beliefs,
    not to trash them or blaspheme their gods
  • Francis Schaeffer I will disagree with you but
    I will die for your right to disagree with me

15
Pragmatism truth is what will work for me
  • Americans are very pragmatic people
  • We do not ask What is true?
  • We ask What will work for me and my family?
  • What will improve our life and bring us
    happiness, comfort and security?
  • The two great goals of Americans are personal
    success and vivid personal feelings (Robert
    Bellah)
  • Think of the manner in which Christians move so
    readily today from one church, one theological
    tradition to another

16
A generation of skeptics
  • Many young people are deeply skeptical
  • Suspicious of truth claims as power plays
  • Consider the dwarves in Lewis Last Battle
  • They are so reluctant to be taken in that they
    can no longer be taken out
  • In UK and Europe in general this skepticism much
    more advanced
  • British humor for a generation scours the soul,
    while being hilariously funny

17
Pessimism
  • Young people, in particular, are deeply
    pessimistic about what life holds for them
  • True practically because so many grow up in
    families where there is such alienation
  • True at a much deeper level in the whole culture
  • Celebration of suicide on many college campuses
  • If you doubt this claim listen to the music of
    young people
  • It is deeply uncertain and pessimistic
  • We live in a hopeless generation and the younger
    people are, the more hopeless they are

18
2. Rejection of Authority
  • If there is no truth, then there is no book (the
    Bible)
  • No body of beliefs (Christian creeds or
    confessions)
  • No person (the pastor)
  • No social institutions (government, the church,
    the family)
  • None can command respect or submission
  • Example of Pope John Paul II in St. Louis

19
Trust in myself
  • I become the only authority for my own views and
    beliefs
  • Consider the articles and programs in which
    famous individuals are asked to give their
    beliefs in God
  • We learn nothing truly about who God is
  • Privatization of religious experience

20
Deconstruction of everything sacred
  • Everything that anyone or any group has held to
    be sacred or precious can be scorned and held up
    for ridicule
  • Delight in shocking the viewer or listener
  • Watch music videos
  • Listen to the words of so many songs
  • Turn on your TV and watch talk shows or even soap
    operas
  • Again, think of British humor
  • We are called to resist the cynicism this creates

21
No style or art is better than any other
  • No 'canon' of great literature or art or
    architecture or music
  • No culture, and no cultural artifacts, can be
    considered higher or more advanced than any other
  • To claim that Shakespeare is the greatest
    dramatist writing in English is considered by a
    radical postmodern to be an imperialistic claim
  • An attempt to impose Dead White European Male
    culture on other cultural and social groups,
    writings and artifacts
  • This same criticism is leveled at any claim to
    truthfulness, wisdom or greatness for the Bible,
    or for Christianity, or for the preaching of the
    Gospel

22
  • There is also the denial that it is possible to
    know the authors intention and so anything can
    be done with a piece of literature
  • This disrespect for authority sometimes has a
    playful element to it, a humorous mixing of
    styles, of past and present, of the serious and
    the comedic
  • Commercials selling everything from food to
    deodorants by using a painting like the 'Mona
    Lisa
  • 'Great' objects can be taken from their context
    and used in any way at all, especially to add a
    touch of spice and fun
  • Despite the humor and creativity there is a
    serious statement underneath, a questioning of
    significant cultural icons and a relativism about
    meaning

23
3. Moral relativism
  • No transcendent moral commandments
  • No one individual, no group, no authority, no
    religion, no sacred book, no god has the right to
    tell anyone how they ought to live
  • What are the options?
  • a). Personal autonomy
  • The individual becomes the moral authority for
    himself or herself
  • In fact morality is an inappropriate word for
    this implies standards - there is only my
    'values' or my 'lifestyle'

24
b). Referenda on moral issues opinion polls
  • Lets poll what people think about sex before
    marriage, or about homosexual practice, or about
    abortion, or about euthanasia
  • When God is dead when man s the highest good
    and evil are decided by majority vote (William
    Golding)
  • But majorities often do things to minorities
    which must be declared to be wicked
  • No majority can make brutality and wickedness
    into ethical behavior
  • But this is the consequence of our postmodern
    rejection of moral authority

25
  • c). The will of the experts
  • The minority those in the know decide for
    everyone what is to be done embryo
    experimentation cloning ..
  • The loss of persuasion and rational discussion in
    the public square
  • d). Might is right
  • Those with the power rule all others
  • The Biblical understanding that there is a rule
    of law from above to govern those in power is the
    exception historically

26
4. Breakdown of relationships
  • With the moral breakdown comes a meltdown in
    social obligation
  • a). Loss of trust and of respect for
    marriage and family
  • b). Difficulty of making relationships
  • c). Personal loneliness
  • d). Loss of community in suburbia

27
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