Postmodernism
is the rejection of absolutes and the denial of a metanarrative – that is to
say that there is not just a single story[1]. This
paradigm suggests that truth is relative according to one’s experience. They
believe that everything is true yet nothing is totally true. Relativism and
Pluralism are accepted as normative in a universe that has no absolutes. The
latter highlighting that there is no such thing as absolute right and wrong and
the former suggests that there is no such thing as superior belief that tells a
grand story or absolute truth.[2]
I
have seen a number of expressions of postmodernism in the youth today. The
rules, they say doesn’t always apply because what is true to you may not be
true to me. I had an experience of talking with a young person in a university
whom I later shared the gospel, to which he willingly accepted. He was very
respectful man, an intellectual I may say, refined, and judging by the way he
dressed and acted – he was from an educated and well to do family. He was
highly tolerant and thinks he could use some knowledge from others; he wasn’t
just too sold out to what he heard. He thinks that what he just learned can be
added up to his pool of new ideas, like adding Jesus Christ to one of his
gods. He was Christian he said but he was neither just that. Self help was his
goal for accepting my message. “If it would be beneficial to me,” he said, “I
would gladly accept it!” But he neither judged nor shrugged the things I was
saying, he was saying that as long as its doing me good then I should continue
in it. But deep inside I think he was saying it’s just not for me, it was
evident, and he was just too nice to verbalize it. The attitude and thinking of
that person well describes a typical postmodern youth.These among many
experiences in ministry are examples that postmodernism is penetrating our
culture.
Though
postmodernism is branded by some as evil; it has its own contribution to
society. I think one of these is the magnification of freedom. Freedom of
speech and expression, though concepts that have been here even in the past,
are now given deeper appreciation in the postmodern world. With boundaries and
temperance it can benefit society. Imagine simpleton’s given the chance to
speak and their opinions given value - the world would be less controlled by
the famous and the powerful. There would be freedom and equality for everyone.
Another positive aspect of the postmodernism is the denial of the judgmental-sectarian
mind. The way we think and do things doesn’t make us superior to others. The
postmodernist mind doesn’t judge right away, it seeks to understand the
presuppositions of others. It seeks to understand how one arrived at a certain
conclusion without branding the other a shallow person or a heretic. The value
for relationship also is one good aspect of postmodernism. The longing for
community and refusal for individualism is similar with the Christian teaching.
Lastly, I think the postmodern way of giving importance to experience is
beneficial. Faith is experiential, though it cannot be only just that, it gives
value to one’s personal experience because it authenticates the other. Postmodernism
is in agreement with Christianity in this area, in a sense.
On
the other hand, postmodernism is a cloudy worldview. It lives in a Utopia and
not in a real world. It rejects a truth not for any reason or any new evidence
that disproves it but because a person doesn’t feel it applies to him or to his
universe. Until now, it is still hard to define and comprehend because of its
abstractness and resistance to simple categories.[3] It
is like defining the indefinite[4]
and rolling it up into something finite with standards that neither exist nor
apply to it. Though postmodernism is tolerant and promotes freedom, it becomes
permissive because it doesn’t have boundaries. It’s overemphasis on experience
also is dangerous. Evidence is not that important anymore because one decides
what is genuine in his/her experience. This impairs the logical mind. This
hinders us to become inquisitive and makes us poor in our judgment of things
because we don’t weigh them down anymore. Lastly, postmodernism won’t work
because it is not realistic. The universe and the world we live in have absolutes.
Without it the world will fail to exist.
As
evangelicals we are called to address these issues. What we can do is
contextualize our approach in dealing with postmodernist. We must first come to
grips with ourselves that this worldview is present already and has been there
for a long time, and now has deeply penetrated society. The only problem why we
cannot respond is because we fail to recognize its existence, this in turn
affects our methods and ways of reaching this generation. The old ways do not
work anymore! With this knowledge we can know think about our response. I will give
two responses that we can consider in dealing with the postmodern youth. The
first is, in sharing the gospel we must not be the all-knowing types, the
accept-now-or-burn-in hell approach. The postmodern mind is tolerant but is
highly allergic to the condemning style. Because they don’t judge right away, I
think a more effective style is to engage with them in conversation. Ask them
what they think and value their opinions.[5]Let
them discover truths for themselves by facilitating them to it. Another
response is authenticity. Because the postmodern doesn’t shy away from
relationships they are best won through it. When we show them that we really
care, they will listen to what we are going to say. Our approach must be
incarnational, the commitment to enter into suffering with those who are
experiencing it and to offer to everyone the solidarity of the church[6].
These are some of the ways we can reach out this postmodern generation.
[2] Michael
Cariño, Unpublished Notes in Christian Worldview and God’s Word (Quezon City,
Philippines: IGSL, 2011).
[3] Walter
A. Elwell, ed., Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, 2nd ed. (Carlisle,
Cumbria, U.K.: Baker Academic, 2001), 940.
[5] Norman
Geisler and David Geisler, Conversational
Evangelism (Eugene, Oregon: Harvest House, 2009), 26.
[6]Andrew
Root, Revisiting Relational Youth
Ministry (Downers Grove, Ill.: IVP Academic, 2007), 12.
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