I recently read an article on The Gospel Coalition blog that was titled, Deists who love Jesus (and talk like Freud). I found it to be really enlightening and relevant to many discussions that I've had lately. One of the most important parts, the part that grabbed my attention, was a definition of something called Moralistic Therapeutic Deism. Here are a set of beliefs associated with this form of deism:
- A god exists who created and ordered the world and watches over human life on earth.
- God wants people to be good, nice, and fair to each other, as taught in the Bible and by most world religions.
- The central goal of life is to be happy and to feel good about oneself.
- God does not need to be particularly involved in one's life, except when God is needed to resolve a problem.
- Good people go to heaven when they die.
What I find to be alarming about this set of beliefs is that so many people I know, who would call themselves Christians, would hold to these beliefs. I have talked to countless teenagers who would hold to these beliefs. The majority of people that I meet would hold to these beliefs.
What about you? Are you a Christian or a Moral Therapeutic Deist?
I've heard about Moral Therapeutic Deism before and see it a lot. The frightening thing is that even though they would say it's not what they believe, many churches today promote those beliefs by the way they conduct themselves and talk about faith.
ReplyDeleteSo true. I feel that its time to really start talking about these things. My son, just today, said he thought that we need another reformation.
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