A recent conversation with my parents, which was marred with disagreement at every turn, helped me to realize how our worldviews differ markedly. Although this is not a new discovery, in the past I have had difficulty identifying or describing the root difference. After giving this issue some thought, and re-reading Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis, I have determined that my parent's generation holds an exclusive view of the world, while my view is inclusive. This fact has a profound affect on everything we believe. I have chosen to describe my worldview as the "all-inclusive and" and my parent's generation's view as "the search for the absolute or". I have always disliked the manner in which people throw around the term "Postmodernism" to describe the death of the America we once knew, however it is a valid description of the current worldview we are experiencing today. Mere Christianity reads like a manifesto for Modernism, which, in my opinion is why it is the least relevant of Lewis' works. Indeed, the first page addresses the most important question of the day, "is there absolute truth?", which, in the book, takes the form of a common morality. It appears antiquated today, to get hung up on determining absolute truth before making a decision or determining value. In our postmodern world, with it's vast amount of differing opinions, it is critical to explore as many as possible rather than getting caught up in determining truth. Of course, this way of thinking has it's downside, without an emphasis on finding absolute truth, we run the risk of not valuing anything.
Another interesting thought concerns the relationship between my parent's generation and their grandchildren. The gap seems to be even wider - my generation was raised in Modernist schools - we at least know how to think that way.
Saturday, January 23, 2010
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I too have witnessed this generation gap and have found that so much of their beliefs are cultural rather than scriptural. The naked truth of the gospel is love and acceptance, not the judgementalism and leagalism that they were raised with. It is hard to break that mindset and yet when one is truly open to the words and motivations of Christ it can happen, and is a beautiful thing to see. If we boil it all down and truly put ourselves in the position of disciple it is easy to differentiate between a cultural view of morality and biblical standards. Christ is our greatest example, he accepted people for who and what they were and transformation, when needed, was a gift not a burden. We love as Christ by offering a soft answer and a loving hand, we serve as the hands and feet of a loving creator. To hold anyone to an absolute standard without fully embracing the love of Christ is a slippery slope. I have seen those in the older generation overcome their fear of change and the things that push them outside what is comfortable in order to strengthen not only their relationship with their children and grandchildren but also with Christ, on the other hand many struggle to change and refuse to see. I pray that those who are trapped in that narrow view can find freedom to love and accept their fellow man on equal ground....as the creation of a loving gracious Father.
ReplyDeleteSimilar observations here.
ReplyDeletePart of me thinks, though, that the Bible itself proposes an absolute morality with the Ten Commandment coming down on Sinai as the pinnacle of that notion (at least for Israel). But before that, the Noahide Laws prior to Israel's covenant are applicable to all humanity from a Biblical point of view... One God, one law, one people...etc...
There's sort of an overlap of civil laws and moral laws in the Torah, which emerges as more clearly moral as we work our way toward the New Testament, but it still seems an effort is made to define ONE moral law.
What I'm thinking is that with the waxing of science and waning of belief in the Bible, it seems that absolute morality has been questioned. Also, we've seen greater exposure to non-Biblical civilizations that have had their own forms of morality such as Asia.
It seems obvious we are still trying for one sort of morality, but realizing that it now must include the whole world, not just a narrow subset of humanity. This seems to be a great challenge since tolerance doesn't come easy for those socialized for and proud of their views.
Under the confusion, I believe certain commonalities exist if for no other reason than our common genetic ancestry. The previous generation, overall, just doesn't seem capable or willing to embrace what will lead to moral progress for our generation on a broader scale than serves their ends...with some notable exceptions.