Seven Obstacles of Spiritual Maturity

 I’ve been making my way through this outstanding book: Love God with All Your Mind by J. P. Moreland (Colorado Springs, NavPress, 1997).  Among other things, I appreciated Moreland’s discussion of the “seven traits of the empty self” that are so prevalent in many Westerners today.  And these seven traits, Moreland argues, undermine and stand in the way of spiritual growth and maturity.  In other words, if we as Christians want to grow in Christian maturity, we’ll have to fight obstacles like these.  This post is a bit longer than usual, but I  urge you to take a moment to read these seven – they are very astute observations.

1) The empty self is inordinately individualistic.  …The empty self-populating American culture is a self-contained individual who defines his or her own life goals, values, and interests as though he or she were a human atom, isolated from others with little need or responsibility to live for the concerns of a broader community.  Self-contained individuals do their own thing and seek to create meaning by looking within their own selves.

2) The empty self is infantile.  It is widely recognized that adolescent personality traits are staying with people longer today than in earlier generations, sometimes manifesting themselves into the early thirties.  Created by a culture filled with pop psychology, schools and media that usurp parental authority, and television ads that seem to treat everyone like a teenager, the infantile part of the empty self needs instant gratification, comfort, and soothing. …Boredom is the greatest evil, amusement the greatest good.

3) The empty self is narcissistic.  Narcissism is an inordinate and exclusive sense of self-infatuation in which the individual is preoccupied with his or her own self-interest and personal fulfillment.  The narcissist evaluates the local church, the right books to read, and the other religious practices worthy of his or her time on the basis of how they will further his or her own agenda.  God becomes another tool in a narcissistic bag of tricks….

4) The empty self is passive.  The couch potato is the role model for the empty self, and without question, modern Americans are becoming increasingly passive in their approach to life.  We let other people do our living and thinking for us.  From watching television to listening to sermons, our primary agenda is to be amused and entertained.  Such an individual increasingly becomes a shriveled self with less and less ability to be proactive and take control of life.

5) The empty self is sensate (preoccupied with sensations).  As Christopher Lasch has observed, ‘Modern life is…thoroughly mediated by electronic images.’  Lasch goes on to point out that today, we make decisions and even judge what is and is not real on the basis of sense images.  If it’s on TV, it’s real.  Advertisements sell us things based on images, not on thoughtful content about a product.  The widespread emergence of the sensate self has caused us to be shallow, small-souled people.

6) The empty self has lost the art of developing an interior life.  …The self used to be defined in terms of internal traits of virtue and morality, and the successful person, the person of honor and reputation, was the person with deep character. [Today], however, the self has come to be defined in terms of external factors – the ability to project a pleasurable, powerful personality and the possession of consumer goods – and the quest for celebrity status, image, pleasure, and power has become the preoccupation of a self so defined.

7) The empty self is hurried and busy.  …The empty self is a hurried, busy self gorged with activities and noise. …A frenzied pace of life emerges to keep the pain and emptiness suppressed.  One must jump from one activity to another and not be exposed to quite for very long or the emptiness will become apparent.  Such a lifestyle creates a deep sense of fatigue in which passivity takes over.

Moreland is exactly right.  These are some brilliant observations about the “empty selves” of our culture.  He wrote these observations 15 years ago – these traits seem to be more pronounced today.  These are indeed the things which stand in the way of growing in Christian maturity – these are the things that stand in the way of the renewing of the mind, the taking up of our cross, denying ourselves, and fighting the good fight of faith on the narrow road to the Celestial city.  Get this book (Love God with All Your Mind), reflect on these seven traits (Moreland says more about them), and fight against them in your own life.

shane lems

sunnyside, wa

The Juvenilization of American Christianity

The title of this book made me get it and read it: The Juvenilization of American Christianity by Thomas Bergler (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2012).  It reminded me of a time I was at a Christian thrift shop and a 50+ year old woman was singing along to the CCM music playing in the store (the Christian version of Miley Cyrus or Green Day, though I forget which).  What is the juvenilization of American Christianity?  “Juvenilization is the process by which the religious beliefs, practices, and developmental characteristics of adolescents become accepted as appropriate for Christians of all ages.  It begins with the praiseworthy goal of adapting the faith to the young.  But it sometimes ends badly, with both youth and adults embracing immature versions of the faith” (p. 4).

Bergler makes an important and accurate observation here.  His critique of youth ministry (starting way back in the 30′s and 40′s) is that it sometimes “pandered to the consumerism, self-centeredness, and even outright immaturity of American believers.  For good or ill, American Christianity would never be the same” (p. 4).  This book is basically a history of American youth ministry, which is less than 100 years old.  Bergler discusses youth ministry from the 40′s to the 60′s, and shows how many of the philosophies of youth ministry back then are now part of the DNA of many churches and denominations.  For those of you who have read some of Marsden’s work on 20th century American Christianity, you’ll see some parallels.  Around 80% of the book is devoted to the history of youth ministry, which, I admit, wasn’t overly interesting to me since it was very detailed.

At the same time, it was fascinating to learn how youth ministry in the past is now embedded in the fabric of many American churches.  I also thought it was telling to see how earlier youth ministry was aimed at patriotism and morals rather than doctrine and how it relates to the Christian life.  Finally, Bergler made a connection that I should have made before: youth ministry in the past was largely about entertaining youth.  Therefore it isn’t an accident that many churches today want to entertain the masses in a similar way to youth ministry of old: by baptizing secular culture to make it Christian.

To be sure, Bergler notes some positive aspects of youth ministry and some of the good youth ministries have done.  From my perspective, I’m thankful when I see young people with a strong desire to serve the Lord.  It’s refreshing!  Yet, as Bergler shows, there are harmful aspects of much youth ministry.  The last few pages of the book are probably the best, as Bergler brings his critiques together and then shows a way forward in youth ministry done biblically and toward Christian maturity.  Here’s one example from the last pages.

“So juvenilization has made the process of finding, maintaining, and submitting to religious truth more problematic.  And the faith that Americans choose is increasingly the faith of ‘moralistic, therapeutic deism.’  To put it simply, they continue to believe what they learned in adolescence.  And more and more often, they hear the same messages as adults.  God, faith, and the church all exist to help me with my problems.  Religious institutions are bad; only my ‘personal relationship with Jesus’ matters.  In other words, large numbers of Americans of all ages not only accept a Christianized version of adolescent narcissism, they often celebrate it as authentic spirituality” (p. 224).

Obviously I recommend this to those of you who work with youth.  Please get this book to help you avoid these juvenilization dangers.  I’d also recommend it for pastors and elders who have talked in-depth about ministering to youth.  Though the church I pastor doesn’t have a youth group, the book was still helpful to me because I do preach to youth and teach them Catechism and Bible lessons.   The Juvenilization of American Christianity isn’t a manual for how to lead youth forward to maturity in the Christian faith, but it does show some common pitfalls to avoid.  I’m confident it will help youth ministry in many ways.

shane lems

sunnyside wa

People as Commodities

 If you’re looking for a fascinating study on how consumerism, capitalism, and Madison avenue have contributed to the watering down of Christianity, you’ll have to get Following Christ in a Consumer Society by John Kavanaugh.  I like the subtitle of the book: “The Spirituality of Cultural Resistance.”  While I disagree with parts of his Catholic ecclesiology and anthropology, Kavanaugh has some powerful insights in this book that are certainly worth investigating.  Here’s a helpful section I appreciated.

“It should not come as a surprise that a follower of Jesus might find himself or herself to be an outsider in a culture dominated by the commodity.  It should be no shame to feel different, even to feel a bit disjointed and out-of-place, in a civilization that divinizes the thing [i.e. smartphones, money, bodies, TVs, etc.].”

“A Christian’s values, if they have not been fully acculturated, are bound to be different.  If we do not feel different, even embarrassingly different, something is wrong.  Madison Avenue-land, television, …radio, advertising, will trigger constant reminders of our almost displaced existence.  We will feel like strangers.  The facts that life is cheapened, that retaliation and competition are conceived as ultimates, that familial consent and commitment seem alien, that armament and defense are so universally accepted, that fidelity in marriage seems strange – are thus not so dumbfounding as they might first appear.”

“I have heard Christian couples ask quizzically if they were the ‘weird’ ones, so little does anything in this culture seem to agree with their deepest beliefs.  They should not be distraught.  They have merely come into contact with their faith as a lived, historical option.  They have discovered that atheistic communism is not the greatest or only threat to their belief.  It is lived atheism – whether capitalistic or communistic – which assaults their faith.  And they have finally discovered the closeness of the danger – not in some different land, but in their own culture and its idolatrous belief system” (p. 128-9).

Following Christ in a Consumer Society is an outstanding book that I highly recommend.  It is a great discussion of how people have been depersonalized and commodified.  It wisely notes how consumerism and marketing ‘evangelize’ people and change they way they live and think.  It talks about idols, sex, money, and violence.  You’ve got to get this book if you want help navigating through the culture in which we live.  Alternatively, you’ve got to get this book if you want to dig deeper in the “Christ and Culture” debate.  Kavanaugh’s book will go well with other similar ones like Idols for Destruction, Habits of the High-Tech Heart, The Narcissism Epidemic, Still Bored in a Culture of Entertainment, and Perfecting Ourselves to Death.

shane lems

sunnyside, wa

It’s All About Me (Because I’m Special!)

This is a good book that describes the selfishness, vanity, pride, arrogance, depression, cynicism, apathy, and attitude of many young Americans today: Generation Me by Jean Twenge.  The subtitle of the book explains it a bit more: Why Today’s Young Americans Are More Confident, Assertive, Entitled – and More Miserable Than Ever Before.  If this topic sounds familiar to our blog readers, it’s because I blogged about Twenge’s other book, The Narcissism Epidemic roughly one year ago.  Though there is some overlap between these two books, in my opinion they don’t overlap too much.

In Generation Me, Twenge basically charts her studies of Americans born in the 70-90s (the group she calls “Generation Me”).  Her findings show a drastic change in the last 50 years (or so) among American youth.  For example, many in Generation Me care more about self-expression and self-esteem than societal rules, customs, and norms.  In the words of one young lady, “I couldn’t care less how I am viewed by society.  I live my life according to the morals, views, and standards that I create” (p. 20).

Another thing Twenge mentions is how the Boomer generation did/does all it can to increase the self-esteem of Generation Me.  Many young adults today have been told all their lives that they are special; or in the words of an old Whitney Houston song, “learning to love yourself is the greatest love of all.”  Schools teach self-esteem and self-love.  One kids’ book from 1991 is called, The Loveables in the Kingdom of Self-Esteem.  Of course the church follows suit with the irreverent moralisms of Veggie Tales and Max Lucado’s 1997 book, You Are Special.  Both in the secular and religious realm, the “gospel” has been this: you are special!

Hand in hand with self-love or “specialness” comes the thought that everyone has entitlements to about anything they want.  Twenge notes how many within Generation Me think they will have (and deserve!) a high paying job that they love, a beautiful spouse, an outstanding house, and tons of Facebook followers.  Gen Me grew up with everyone telling them that they are sp special that they can have anything they want and be anyone they want.  When they don’t get these things, their specialness bubble is burst.  This is why depression is widespread; it is also why many in Generation Me are apathetic and cynical.  One person was so apathetic and cynical the only reason (he said) he didn’t commit suicide was to see if the next few weeks would suck in a different way than the ones before.  Generation Me is the generation that grew up saying, “yeah right,” and “whatever.”   Twenge devotes an entire chapter on depression, anxiety, and loneliness.

Again, thinking about the church, I think it would be a fascinating study to see the long-term effects of the “Christian” version of self-esteem messages (Veggie Tales, Max Lucado, and other self-esteem preachers and songs).  Or what about worship services that cater to the self (usually the youthful self)?  What are the effects of constantly singing “I want” or “I just wanna” praise and worship songs?

Twenge even ties this into the political realm.  A large percentage of GenMe doesn’t vote or care because, as one cynic once said, “it doesn’t matter who you vote for, the government still gets in.”  Or another youth put it this way: “There’s a greater chance of dying in a plane crash than having my one vote actually matter.”

Here’s one “religious” paragraph that stuck out:

“The message (of entitlement/self-esteem) comes across even in somewhat unlikely sources.  In a 2004 episode of 7th Heaven, one of the few relatively conservative, G-rated shows on television, 21-year-old Lucy gives a sermon to the young women in the congregation.  ‘God wants us to know and love ourselves,’ she says.  ‘He also wants us to know our purpose, our passion.  …So I ask you…’What have you dreamt about doing? …What you are waiting for is already inside of you.  God has equipped us with everything we need to live full and rich lives.  It is our responsibility to make that life happen – to make our dreams happen’” (p. 85).

I recommend this book with a few things to note: 1) it is a book on sociology, so it isn’t the most exciting book you’ll ever read, 2) it is R-rated – Twenge’s reports aren’t toned down, especially in the chapter on the sexual attitude of Gen Me, and 3) read it and think about how Twenge’s studies relate to the church and the Christian life.  The author isn’t a Christian and this isn’t a Christian book.  However, for those of you who are serious Christians who wrestle with Christianity and culture (how the latter affects the former), this book will certainly be thought-provoking.

Jean Twenge, Generation Me (New York: Free Press, 2006).

shane lems

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