Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Postmodernism and the Youth

           One of the most prevalent worldview in this generation of young people today is postmodernism. This paradigm has heavily influenced a lot of how the youth think and act, especially those who live in the cities and are studying in universities. Back in my hometown, I have come in contact with people who call themselves “free thinkers” and say that they are not bound to any law or any truth. Even a lot of my friends whom I grew up with are now postmodern. They challenge the norms of society and decide if it’s alright or not, for themselves.
            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.


                [1] James W. Sire, The Universe Next Door: a Basic Worldview Catalog, 5th ed. (Downers Grove, Ill.: IVP Academic, 2009), 216.
                
                [2] Michael CariƱo, 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.

                [4] Sire, The Universe, 215.
               
                [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.