Moral Therapeutic Deism and the morphing of Christianity in America

Via Roger Olson, Christianity in America is becoming ever less truly Christian. He cites Kenda Creasy Dean, researcher and author of Almost Christian who writes,

We have come with some confidence to believe that a significant part of Christianity in the United States is actually only tenuously Christian in any sense that is seriously connected to the actual historical Christian religion. … It is not so much that U.S. Christianity is being secularized. Rather, more subtly, Christianity is either degenerating into a pathetic version of itself or, more significantly, Christianity is actively being colonized and displaced by quite a different religious faith.

Olson reports that Dean believes the culprit to be the insidious spread of moral therapeutic deism:

The religion that is replacing “actual historical Christian religion” in America, especially among young people, is labeled MTD. Dean, a professor of youth culture and ministry at Princeton Theological Seminary, summarizes MTD with five beliefs: 1) A god exists who created and orders the world and watches over life on earth, 2) God wants people to be good, nice, and fair to each other, as taught in the Bible and by most world religions, 3) The central goal of life is to be happy and to feel good about oneself, 4) God is not involved in my life except when I need God to resolve a problem, and 5) Good people go to heaven when they die.

Olson anticipates the question of where the momentum for moral therapeutic deism found a charismatic, momentum-building proponent. His answer is not entirely surprising.

So where does that come from? I would suggest the influence of Oprah Winfrey explains much of it. Of course, all the ingredients were already there—Deism, moralism, therapeutic religion. But the recipe and actual spirituality, such as it is, so I think, is popularized by Winfrey and those she promotes through her books, television show (now in reruns) and cable network. By all accounts Winfrey is one of the most powerful and influential people in American culture. I used to watch her program to try to keep up with popular culture. It didn’t take me long to discern that it was promoting a spirituality of self-actualization and morality of being nice under the guise of a kind of stripped-down, easy to believe and live Christianity. I preferred Phil Donahue because he was openly hostile to traditional Christianity so at least it was apparent to all traditional Christians where he stood.

Smart phones and spiritual disciplines

Lots to chew on here in CT's recent interview with Michael Frost, Australian writer, educator, and church leader. A sampling:

“Folks with smartphones need to be smart about their use. Utilize them for meaningful connection with others, but consider adopting a few spiritual disciplines when using technology. Why always text someone when you can call? Sure, it takes a little longer to call, but engaging someone with your voice is step toward deeper connection than simply sending a text. Take regular sabbaticals from your phone. Develop a daily or weekly rhythm that frees you from the screen. For example, only check social media before lunch, or take Lenten fasts from technology or social media. Take screen-free Fridays (or whatever day suits you). And we need to model such discipline to our children, by developing rhythms that ensure we’re using the medium, it’s not using us.”
— Michael Frost

Medicating the Church

“The church in the U.S. has bought into the idea of taking our quick-fix medicines. In fact, I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that we have over-medicated our churches. As a result, people are getting resistant to our quick-fix programs. Church members and even some outside the church are getting weary of our programs. Instead of quick-fix programs, they want authenticity. They want a process for true discipleship and life change…not another medicating program.

As unpleasant as it sounds, we need to stop medicating the church and go back to the “old-school” process of making disciples. We need to re-evaluate the practices that keep our churches healthy.”
— John Richardson, "Stop Medicating Your Church"

Article found here.

Joe Carter on Evangelism

Joe Carter recapture evangelism as the sharing of good news, rather than the sales pitch it so often becomes. The whole article is worth reading:

For many years afterward, I would think of that day whenever I heard the word evangelism. The term derives from the Greek word evangel: good news. How odd, then, that so much evangelism appears to be about selling Jesus and hoping that you can convince the non- Christian to “buy into” salvation.

Good news doesn’t have to be sold. Bad news has to be sold, but not good news. Growing up, I was taught that above all I needed to close the deal when it came to evangelism. I was taught to get the non-Christian to say the “sinner’s prayer” or “walk the aisle” as soon as possible, by whatever means possible, because tomorrow he may die. That is, I had to make the sale now.

When I began to seriously read the gospels, though, I noticed something strange. People constantly flocked to Jesus despite the fact that he never passed out a single tract. He would walk up to people, say “follow me,” and the next thing you know they’re giving up their lives to follow Him around the countryside. He wasn’t a traveling salesman.

Christians are called to share the gospel with others and rely upon the power of the Holy Spirit for His work in their lives, while at the same time never treating the gospel like a sales pitch. Some Christians—particularly new ones enthused by their budding faith—are eager and willing to share the gospel. Others have a more difficult time, and many don’t do it at all. Yet I suspect the average Christian’s hesitancy to share their faith has little to do with timidity or lack of courage. Many believers won’t hesitate to explain why they support a particular politician or cause, even unpopular ones. Why, then, do they become tongue-tied when the topic turns to why they align themselves with the Creator of the universe?

Ray Ortland on Church Growth

Excellent & wise words from Ray Ortland:

So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up.  And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied.  Acts 9:31

I’m not against strategic plans.  I’m for them.  They have their place, as a matter of wise stewardship.  But they cannot generate the astonishing outcomes described in the book of Acts.

I remember hearing Michael Green at the Lausanne Congress on World Evangelization in 1974.  He asked us, Why don’t we see anywhere in the book of Acts a man-made strategic plan for evangelizing the world?  His answer: They didn’t have one.

What then did they have?  Two things, for starters: the fear of the Lord, and the comfort of the Holy Spirit.

In the fear of the Lord, they were teachable, they were humble, they were listening to the gospel, they were open and grateful and easily bendable.  They did not have a spirit of self-assurance.  They were eager to learn and grow and change in any way the Lord wanted them to.

In the comfort of the Holy Spirit, they were gladdened, they felt forgiven, they were reconciled to God and reconciling with one another.  They saw their sins and failures, but they also saw the far greater reality of Jesus crucified for them.  To put it in a secular way, they couldn’t believe their luck.

Openness in a know-it-all world, comfort in an angry world – that ancient world simply could not resist these heaven-sent powers.  So the church didn’t just grow, it multiplied.

Those early churches had no master plan for their future.  But they were walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, and it worked.

Church growth takes planning.  Let’s do it.  But church multiplication takes miracle.  Let’s be open to what only God can do.

Danger of constant innovation

“I think evangelicalism is destined to die of its own success and it will go the way of mainstream Protestantism because there’s just—it depends far too much on charismatic pastors, and charisma will only take you so far. Evangelicalism is constantly under the burden of re-inventing the wheel and you just get tired. For example, I’m a big advocate of Morning Prayer. I love Morning Prayer. We do the same thing every morning. We don’t have to make it up. We know we’re going to say these prayers. We know we’re going to join in reading of the psalm. We’re going to have these Scripture readings. I mean, there’s much to be said for Christianity as repetition and I think evangelicalism doesn’t have enough repetition in a way that will form Christians to survive in a world that constantly tempts us to always think we have to do something new.”
— Stanley Hauerwas

Pope Francis on fear, joy, and life in Christ

As reported by Asia News:

"This is a Christian's disease. We are afraid of joy.  It is better to think: 'Yes, yes, God exists, but He is there; Jesus is Risen and He is there'. Somewhat distant. We are afraid of being close to Jesus, because this gives us joy. This is why there are so many mournful Christians, right? Those whose lives seem to be a continuous funeral. They prefer sadness to joy. They prefer to move in the shadows, not in the light of joy, like those animals who only come out at night, not in the light of the day, who cannot see anything. Like bats. And with a little sense of humor we can say that there are Christians bats who prefer the shadows to the light of the presence of the Lord".

But "Jesus , by His Resurrection - the Pope said - gives us joy: the joy of being Christians; the joy of following him closely; the joy of travelling on the path of the Beatitudes, the joy of being with Him".

"Often we are either upset by this joy, or fearful or we think we have seen a ghost or believe that Jesus is just a way of acting: 'We are Christians so we must act like this'. But where is Jesus? 'No, Jesus is in Heaven'. Do you talk with Jesus? Do you say to Jesus: 'I believe that You are alive, that You are risen, that You're near me, You will never abandon me'? . The Christian life should be this: a dialogue with Jesus, because - this is true - Jesus is always with us, always with our problems, and our difficulties, with our good works".

How often are we Christians "joyful because we are afraid". Christians who "defeated" by the cross. "In my country there is a saying that goes like this: ' When you get burnt by hot milk, later, when you see a cow you start crying". These were burned by the drama of the Cross and said, ' No, let's stop here; He is in Heaven; that's all well and good, He is Risen fine! But its better that he doesn't come again because we couldn't handle it. We ask the Lord to do for all of us what he did for the disciples, who were afraid of joy: to open our mind: 'So, he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures'; that He opens our minds and helps us understand that He is a living reality, that He has a body, that He is with us and that He accompanies us and that He has won. We ask the Lord for the grace to not be afraid of joy".

Who should be teaching whom?

According to a report in The Telegraph, the church in China is growing at such a rate that by 2030 there will be more Christians in China than in the U.S..

Officially, the People's Republic of China is an atheist country but that is changing fast as many of its 1.3 billion citizens seek meaning and spiritual comfort that neither communism nor capitalism seem to have supplied.
Christian congregations in particular have skyrocketed since churches began reopening when Chairman Mao's death in 1976 signalled the end of the Cultural Revolution.

Less than four decades later, some believe China is now poised to become not just the world's number one economy but also its most numerous Christian nation.
"By my calculations China is destined to become the largest Christian country in the world very soon," said Fenggang Yang, a professor of sociology at Purdue University and author of Religion in China: Survival and Revival under Communist Rule.

"It is going to be less than a generation. Not many people are prepared for this dramatic change."

For many decades the West has sent missionaries to evangelize, serve, support, and train Christians and Christian ministers in China. Surely they still need our support and our prayers. Clearly though, they are experiencing profound growth of a kind the Western church has not seen in over a century. Maybe as we send support there, it's well-past time we reached out to leaders of the church in the East (and global south) and humbly request to learn from them what God has given them to teach us.

Coming soon to the USA?

According to one report, Christians in the UK are increasingly facing legal opposition to their speaking about or living out the implications of their religious convictions. A spokesperson for one group that provides legal support to UK Christians undergoing discrimination because of their faith writes,

Sharing Biblical truths out of genuine love and concern for colleagues is being outlawed in the workplace by a dominating cultural correctness. There is a culture of fear which closes down freedom of speech and the manifestation of faith. This culture brands the liberating good news of the Gospel as oppressive and regressive.

I wonder how long it will be before Christians in the states face these same challenges, and how many north American Christians will be supportive of the Government's attempts to silence Christians' public expression of faith.