Postmodernism - How did we get there?

Yesterday I taught one of those 8 hour classes at the college where I adjunct. Leadership and World View. Leadership Theory I can teach. I know that stuff but the world view part used an in-depth philosophy book taking a look at various worldviews that replace religion such as New Age, Post-modernism, and Atheism. I have never had a lick of philosophy and don’t know why the college threw it into this course because it did not fit. However after spending hours of time studying so I did not look like a total buffoon – I muddled through student presentations and explanations. The one that struck me to the core is Postmodernism.

This view is born out of a style that began in the 1980’s – a style of architecture, art, dress and other things that demonstrate a rejection of what has been historically accepted as good, beautiful, or right in that industry. It then grew to be a belief – throwing out the good with the bad of that which the previous generation taught as good, godly, right -a rejection of the Bible as infallible, of Christianity as right, and the acceptance of proven science to be infallible and the best value to believe in – that is if it strikes your inner self as good and right. For more on postmodernism read this.

What struck me is that this generation is the peer group of my kids who grew up under the parentage of the Jesus Movement in the 70’s and 80’s and all of our generation’s pendulum swinging fanaticism without foundation. We taught our kids to pray about the color of socks they should wear each day, about healing their little boo-boo and if it wasn’t healed they didn’t have enough faith, that Little House on the Prairie wasn’t a godly show – in fact- all TV was evil, that Santa Claus is dead, that if you pray and believe you too can be prosperous, and that there was no greater joy than singing worship songs for 4 hours at a time, - forget about lunch; then there was the laughter thing that God would glue you to the pew and cause you to laugh for 3 hours to bless you.

Our children of the 80’s have grown to see that the Christianity we have fluctuated in is fallible and they interpret that as an errant Word of God and that the tenants of Christianity are naïve and unreasonable. They have turned their hunger for truth away from Christianity because what we have argued as truth with them is only our fallible fanaticism that we ourselves wrestle with daily - but see – we were there – we KNOW about the sweep of the Holy Spirit in our nation – so some of us hang on to that wave and have never moved on but our kids - they were not their cognitively speaking.

So I watch this young generation taking over the control of the vote, the politics, the businesses – I watch them pick and choose things in the Bible they will value, pick and choose things in nihilism or existentialism, etc they will value, and thinking they have the answer, believing all things are relative, they are led like lambs to the slaughter while those in my generation who have stuck with God have finally decided that seeking the Word for real truth and being willing to question long-held ideas of Christianity and rid ourselves of denominational and religious dogma have opened our eyes to a new solid knowledge and logical, intellectual proof that God is true and REAL; and so is His Word. But now – the postmodern 20-30 something won’t listen – we had our chance.

God help us all.