"Postmodern Christianity" as it was
called, was most often deconstruction without any reconstruction,
or, at the most, very little reconstruction. I often thought that
if they saw so much bad in the church today, why not just leave it
and form something else?
David
"Anyone who thinks he has a better idea of
what's good for people than people do is a swine."--P. J. O’Rourke
On 10/31/2011 9:55 AM, [email protected] wrote:
Baptist Press
FIRST-PERSON:
Postmodern nonsense,
straight out of
the news
Kelly Boggs
Posted on Oct 28, 2011
ALEXANDRIA, La. (BP)--There are times when I peruse the
daily news and can relate to the main character in "Alice's
Adventures in Wonderland." Penned by writer and mathematician
Lewis Carroll in 1865, the book's protagonist, Alice, tumbles
down a rabbit hole and finds herself in a fantasy world where
the only absolute is nonsense.
An example of the absurd reality Alice encounters is aptly
illustrated with Humpty Dumpty: "When I use a word, it means
just what I choose it to mean -- neither more nor less."
In the wonderland Alice encountered, subjectivity ruled the
day. Claims of absolute truth were deemed utter nonsense and
the result was a world where chaos and confusion were normal.
Carroll never imagined, though, that the absurd fantasy he
created would one day become reality.
In order to understand that we have indeed plunged down a
post-modern rabbit hole where nonsense reigns supreme, I call
your attention to the following recent news stories:
-- A variety of news sources have reported that a Vanderbilt
University policy prohibiting discrimination is being used
against religious groups. At least four campus religious
organizations have been placed on provisional status because
leaders of their respective groups are required to submit to
the group's religious beliefs. According to Vanderbilt's
policy, an atheist should be allowed to lead a Christian or
Jewish group.
-- Catholic University of America, located in Washington D.C.,
is being sued by Muslim students. A university news website
reported that the complaint against the university is because
the school "does not provide space -- as other universities do
-- for the many daily prayers Muslim students must make,
forcing them instead to find temporarily empty classrooms
where they are often surrounded by Catholic symbols which are
incongruous to their religion."
--- A headline on CNSNews.com read, "Girl Scouts allow
7-year-old boy to join because he is 'living as a
girl.'"Originally denied membership, a young boy has been
allowed to become a Brownie by The Girl Scouts of Colorado.
"Our requests for support of transgender kids have grown, and
Girl Scouts of Colorado is working to best support these
children," the Colorado scouting organization said in a
statement. "In this case, an associate delivering our program
was not aware of our approach."
-- From Britain's Daily Mail Online comes the following
headline: "Two men who divorced their wives, came out as gay,
became transgender lesbians, now marry after one has a sex
change." For the uninitiated, a transgender lesbian is defined
as a lesbian female trapped in a man's body.
All of the above news reports are real. Nothing has been made
up and, as far as I know, nothing has been embellished. And
reports like these are becoming all too common.
If you are like me, you are probably shaking your head right
now and wondering, "How did we get to the place in our world
where such nonsense is viewed as acceptable?"
Welcome to the wonderland wrought by postmodernism. The very
subjective nature of post-modernism makes defining it rather
difficult. Adherents of the philosophy don't always exactly
agree as to what they believe.
It is my understanding that on one end of the postmodern
spectrum is the belief that it is impossible to know absolute
or objective truth. On the opposite end is the belief that
asserts absolute or objective truth does not exist. No matter
how you look at, absolute truth is a casualty in postmodern
thought.
According to postmodern thought, truth is a construct. Some
adherents assert it is constructed by a community or culture.
Others insist it is personally constructed. In either case,
"truth" in postmodernism is based on subjective judgments and
propositions. In other words, a community -- or an individual
-- creates or constructs what is true. Something is true
because the community or the individual believes it to be
true.
One way to try and understand postmodern thought is to parse
the phrase "God said it. I believe it. That settles it."
Traditional thought is described by the first and last
sentences of that phrase. The traditional view of truth is
that it is objective, absolute and determined by God.
Postmodern thought is summed up by the last two sentences in
the phrase, "I believe it. That settles it." Postmodern truth,
whether decreed by a community or an individual, is personal,
subjective and not open to debate. Postmodernism has taken us
down a philosophical rabbit hole to a hyper-subjective
wonderland where Muslims believe they are being discriminated
against if a Catholic university does not provide them a
special place to pray, free from any Catholic symbols.
Postmodern thought allows Vanderbilt University to see nothing
wrong with forcing a religious organization to have leaders
that do not adhere to the group's faith or doctrinal tenants.
Postmodernism has paved the way for a seven-year-old boy to
say he believes he really is a girl. Not only do the parents
encourage his belief, but they go so far to enroll him in the
Girl Scouts -- and the organization accommodates him.
Postmodernism has led to two men in Britain taking a ride on a
bizarre rollercoaster of sexual confusion that has seen them
live as heterosexual, homosexual, homosexual transgendered and
now a new category that I cannot describe.
Yes, there are times when reading the news that I feel like
Alice must have felt upon encountering the chaos in the
wonderland beyond the rabbit hole. Alice, however, woke and
realized her absurd adventure was only a dream. Unfortunately,
the postmodern world, with all of its nonsense, is all too
real.
--
Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community
<[email protected]>
Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism
Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org
--
Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <[email protected]>
Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism
Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org
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