The Juvenalization of Western Culture (the Cult of Youth)

  In their excellent book The Narcissism Epidemic, Jean Twenge and Keith Campbell (among many other things) discuss the symptoms of narcissism in America today.  One of them is vanity, which they discuss in chapter 9.  As one of part of this chapter suggests, “in pursuit of hotness” many people today do many things that were unheard of even 20 years ago.  A few examples they give are teeth-whitening, botox, cosmetic surgeries, hair extensions, tanning spray, eyebrow shaping, mud wraps, day spas, lip waxing, male moisturizers, and fitness coaches (just to name a few).  Why are people so obsessed with appearance?

One reason is to boost self-esteem.  When asked why she tans, a high school girl said, “It makes me feel better about myself.  Right now, the idea of skin cancer doesn’t concern me.”  It goes as deep as parenting: some parents want their kids to look good so they help pay for tanning, cosmetic surgery, or other things listed above.  After all, a parent will have his/her self-esteem boosted if his/her child looks hot.

Another reason is “the continuing juvenalization of our culture.”  Not long ago it was OK to have grey hair and wrinkles: age demanded respect.  Older women just a few years ago had no problem wearing clothes for older women.  Today, however, in our world of image (TV and internet), older women (and men) are pressured to appear youthful.  So we see 40- and 50-year-old women dress/act like 16-year-old girls (complete with sore thumbs from texting).  On the other side of things, 6-, 7-, and 8-year-old girls try to look like 16-year-old girls as well! “Some twelve-year-olds get spray tans and eyebrow waxes,” Twenge and Campbell write, so

“It’s no coincidence that adolescence, the time of life that people of many ages now aspire to emulate, is also the peak of narcissism, and the peak time to concentrate on your appearance.”

I love one way the authors’ suggest we combat this vain side of narcissism.

“The easiest way to combat the trend toward excessive vanity is to start with our children.  The idea that girls should start looking sexy at five – or even earlier – has entered the mainstream.  It needs to exit.  You can now buy high heels for newborn babies.  They come in a ‘runway bag’ with a rhinestone clasp and are called ‘Heelarious,’ but a lot of people don’t think that sexy footwear on a 10-pound baby is funny.  The people who make slutty clothes for eight-year-old girls will stop making them as soon as parents refuse to give in.  Frank discussions about bodies are also a necessity with girls, who might wonder why so few real women look like the media ideal of very thin with large breasts.  Teen girls need to know that surgery produced these results.  The shallow values inherent in plastic surgery are another good topic for discussion.”

More:

“…Keeping a close eye on the type and amount of media that children and teens consume is also important.  The perfectly coiffed hair and surgically enhanced bodies so common on TV bear little resemblance to real life, even in a world where plastic surgery and cosmetic procedures have increased 450%.  Too much media, and too much gazing at carefully chosen and even photoshopped pictures on Facebook, gives young people a warped view of normal appearance.  Even adults can be swayed by what they see.  … Overall, the world of magazines and TV can seduce us into a shallow worldview that undermines the invaluable, such as family, friends, and true learning.”

These are good things to think about (of course Twenge and Campell give more).  As one person said (whom they quote), “The media portrays a world of surface shine with nothing but emptiness beneath…beautifully painted and clothed with an empty mind.”

As I mentioned before, this book is not a Christian book and is probably rated PG-13 or even R in some sections as the authors report their findings vividly.  For a briefer but penetrating Christian view of the cult of youth, you must read Carl Trueman’s “Reckoning with the Past in an Anti-Historical Age” and “A Dangerous Gift for My Wife.”  I’ll blog on those some other time.

shane lems

sunnyside wa

Double Predestination in the Carolingian Era

In the 9th century, a Saxon monk named Gottschalk taught what is known today as double predestination.  Swedish historian Bengt Hagglund explains it this way: “[Gottschalk] claimed (with some justification) that he found support for his teaching in the writings of Augustine” (p. 153).  Hagglund goes on.

“Gottschalk did not say…that certain persons are predestined to evil.  What is rather decided beforehand is that the ungodly will receive the punishment which they deserve, just as the righteous will receive eternal life.  In both cases, therefore, the right thing is done. …The atonement wrought by Christ applies only to those elected to eternal life” (p. 153).

Hagglund also quotes Gottschalk – here’s Gottschalk:

“For just as the unchangeable God, prior to the creation of the world, by his free grace unchangeably predestined all of his elect to eternal life, so has this unchangeable God in the same way unchangeably predestined all of the rejected, who shall be condemned to eternal death for their evil deeds on judgment day according to his justice as they deserve.”

Though some defended Gottschalk, his view was condemned at a synod in 849 and he was banished to a monastic prison for 20 years.  Why was he banished and his view condemned? Because, as Hagglund notes, the church of the day emphasized the freedom of the will and man’s cooperation with grace.  In other words, his views weren’t appreciated because of the semi-pelagian theological context.  As a side note, it is good to remember that the calvinistic Reformers didn’t make up double predestination; it wasn’t a theological novelty.

Quotes taken from Bengt Hagglund’s History of Theology (Saint Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1968).

shane lems

sunnyside wa

Bonded Leather Edition of the Three Forms of Unity

Reformation Heritage Books is selling a very handsome, bonded leather edition of the Three Forms of Unity that contains also the Apostles, Nicene and Athanasian Creed. Along with many of the features that make a leather bonded edition a joy to own (gold engraving, cloth marker ribbon, etc.), this edition includes a scripture index and is edited and introduced by Joel Beeke of Puritain Reformed Theological Seminary in Grand Rapids, MI.

If you order by Monday, 11/29/2010, you’ll get it for the the Thanksgiving Sale price of $10!

A few other sale items of note are Matthew Henry’s A Method for Prayer ($10), Beeke and Ferguson Reformed Confessions Harmonized ($10) and vols. 1, 3, and 4 of Wilhelmus A’ Brakel’s classic work, The Christian’s Reasonable Service (each volume is $10).

RHB continues to be one of my favorite book publishers/book shops.  I very much look forward to my yearly trip over Christmas break!

___________
Andrew

Human Nature

“Human nature is blind, so that it does not know its own strength – or, rather, sickness; moreover, being proud, it thinks it knows and can do everything.”

Martin Luther, Bondage of the Will, IV.v.

shane lems

The Frequency of the Holy Supper

One main objection I hear against frequent celebration of the Lord’s Supper is this: “If we have the Lord’s Supper too much it won’t be special any more.”  This would be a valid objection if the Lord’s Supper was like Christmas or any old birthday.  If the Supper is simply something that the church does to remember Jesus’ death, it would be possible to overdo it – much like a birthday and cake wouldn’t be special if you did it every month.

However, in the Reformed/Presbyterian tradition, we believe the Supper is more than just a reminder.  It is that (Luke 22.19), but (in the words of the Heidelberg Catechism Q/A 76) “it means more.”  The Supper is also a proclamation of Christ’s death (1 Cor 11.26) and a participation in it (1 Cor 10.16).  So as the Heidelberg says, in the Supper Christ “surely nourishes and refreshes” our souls “for eternal life with his crucified body and poured out blood.”  In a real sense, then, the Supper is always “special” because Christ feeds believers his life-giving body and blood whenever they come to his table with repentance and faith (cf. WCF 29).  Here’s Bavinck on this.

“Of primary importance in the Lord’s Supper is what God does, not what we do.  The Lord’s Supper is above all a gift of God, a benefit of Christ, a means of communicating his grace.  If the Lord’s Supper were only a memorial meal and an act of confession, it would cease to be a sacrament in the true sense.  The Lord’s Supper, however, is on the same level as the Word and baptism and therefore must, like them, be regarded first of all as a message and assurance to us of divine grace. … Indeed, the host here, in granting the signs of bread and wine, offers his own body and blood as nourishment and refreshment for their souls.  That is a communion that far surpasses the communion inherent in a memorial meal and an act of confession.  It is not merely a reminiscence of or a reflection on Christ’s benefits but a most intimate bonding with Christ himself, just as food and drink are united with our body.”  (Bavinck, Dogmatics IV, 567).

Speaking of frequency, I agree with Calvin in his “Treatise on the Lord’s Supper.”  There he says “If we have careful regard to the end for which our Lord intended it [the Supper], we should realize that the use of it ought to be more frequent than many make it. …The custom ought to be well established in all churches of celebrating the Supper as frequently as the capacity of the people will allow.”

shane lems

sunnyside wa