Christian Message Boards: A nation of deists (an article)

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Posted by SoftTouch (Member # 2316) on :

Heres a rather good article that sums up whats happening in America in the churches. I found this on www.rapturenews.com

http://www.worldmag.com/displayarticle.cfm?id=10775

A nation of deists
The dominant American religion is a far cry from Christianity | by Gene Edward Veith

Sometimes recognizing a problem requires finding the right words to name it. Christian Smith and Melinda Lundquist Denton have coined a phrase that describes perfectly the dominant American religion: Moralistic Therapeutic Deism.

Those authors are researchers with the National Study of Youth and Religion at the University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill) and have written up their findings in a new book: Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers (Oxford University Press).

After interviewing over 3,000 teenagers, the social scientists summed up their beliefs:

(1) "A god exists who created and ordered the world and watches over human life on earth."

(2) "God wants people to be good, nice, and fair to each other, as taught in the Bible and by most world religions."

(3) "The central goal of life is to be happy and to feel good about oneself."

(4) "God does not need to be particularly involved in one's life except when God is needed to resolve a problem."

(5) "Good people go to heaven when they die."

Even these secular researchers recognized that this creed is a far cry from Christianity, with no place for sin, judgment, salvation, or Christ. Instead, most teenagers believe in a combination of works righteousness, religion as psychological well-being, and a distant non-interfering god. Or, to use a technical term, "Moralistic Therapeutic Deism."

Ironically, many of these young deists are active in their churches. "Most religious teenagers either do not really comprehend what their own religious traditions say they are supposed to believe," conclude Mr. Smith and Ms. Denton, "or they do understand it and simply do not care to believe it."

Another possibility is that they have learned what their churches are teaching all too well. It is not just teenagers who are moralistic therapeutic deists. This describes the beliefs of many adults too, and even what is taught in many supposedly evangelical churches.

Mr. Smith and Ms. Denton recognize this. MTD has become the "dominant civil religion." And it is "colonizing" American Christianity. To the point, these secular scholars conclude, "a significant part of Christianity in the United States is actually tenuously Christian in any sense that is seriously connected to the actual historical Christian tradition, but is rather substantially morphed into Christianity's misbegotten step-cousin, Christian Moralistic Therapeutic Deism."

Consider how many Christian publications, sermons, and teachings are nothing but moralism. Sometimes morality is reduced to the simplistic MTD commandment "be nice," though often real morals are inculcated. But the common assumption is that being good is easy, just a matter of knowing what one should do and trying harder. The biblical truth that bad behavior is a manifestation of sin, a depravity that inheres in our fallen nature, is skimmed over. And so is the solution to sin: a life-changing faith in Jesus Christ.

Consider how many Christian publications, sermons, and teachings are primarily therapeutic. It is true that Christ can solve many of our problems. But much that passes for Christian teaching says nothing about Christ. Instead, it consists of pop psychology, self-help platitudes, and the power of positive thinking.

Consider how many Christian publications, sermons, and teachings talk about God in a generic way, but say nothing about the Father, who created and still sustains the world; the Son, who became Incarnate in this world to win our salvation; and the Holy Spirit, who works through the Word of God to bring us to faith.

Christianity is about grace, not moralism; changing lives, not making people feel better about themselves; the God made flesh, not an uninvolved deity. And that is better news than Moralistic Therapeutic Deism. ?

Posted by helpforhomeschoolers (Member # 15) on :

Hi Deb: I hope you wont mind, but I wanted to post here the definition of deist because I think that it shows what this really means.

Incidently, many of the founding fathers of this country were deists. Wahington, Jefferson, Madison, Franklin, Benjamin Rush, Thomas Paine,Ethan Allen, Albert Einstein are said to have been deists.

I know that D. James Kennedy, will tell you that some of these were christians, but some of their writings say differently, and while many of them speak of Jesus, the Jesus they speak of is without diety. I have not studied all of them, but I have read many of the Jefferson letters and he most certainly did not believe in the diety of Christ and was probably a deist IMO. He very much did not believe that man should have to say what his religious thoughts or beliefs are and thus he did keep his guarded.

Most deists consider themselves free thinkers and view Christianty is superstition. Deism is the union of reasoning or rationalization with spirituality. Desists believe that God is seen and known in the creation and does not exert authority over the creation, but gave man reasoning that he know God,may understand all things, and may be an authority unto himself.

de·ism [ d ìzzəm ]

noun

rational belief in God: a belief in God based on reason rather than revelation and involving the view that God has set the universe in motion but does not interfere with how it runs. Deism was especially influential in the 17th and 18th centuries.

Posted by MySavingGrace (Member # 4697) on :

my religoin professor said the founding fathers and others were deists.

Its not just in our country but world wide I thik people are turning more secular.

Posted by SoftTouch (Member # 2316) on :

Sister Linda,

I welcome your additional explanation and definition! I didn't know what deism was myself... I thought it meant they thought they were gods themselves [Embarrassed]

I knew the founding fathers were deists as well as Freemasons. The two seem to compliment eachother quite well.

Sis, you are Always Welcome to add too, comment on, or even Correct any posts that I make. You have More Then Shown me your heart for the Lord in the two years I've known you. You have my Love and my Respect in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It's not that I elevate you above anyone else, it's just that I've SEEN that you are Rock Solid in the Lord and the Purity of His Word and that's the standard I appreciate!

MySavingGrace, you're absolutely right! People are most definitely more and more secular these days.

Paul (in his second letter to Timothy) said it well:

2 Timothy 3
1This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.

2For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,

3Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,

4Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God;

5Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.

6For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts,

7Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.