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Millennials choose fake theology

By Spencer Gear - posted Monday, 8 April 2019


What would influence young Christians to ditch core Christianity for a masquerade of hope? Some of this process is expressed in Laura Fitzpatrick's article, Social media upends public's Bible quote preferences (25 Feb 2019)

It reported how God-centred thinking has been replaced by another breed that should concern Christians.

The replacement has dethroned John 3:16 Christianity, to something else. This verse states: 'For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life'.

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The replacement for Millennials (aged 21-37) is Jeremiah 29:11, "'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future'".

The research

The investigation was associated with Reverend Dr Peter Phillips, director of CODEC Research Centre for Digital Theology of St John's College, Durham University, UK. He said: 'Whereas once John 3:16 was the "poster-boy" text of the 20th century, the latest star is Jeremiah 29:11' for the Millennials .

John 3:16 deals with Jesus' passion-resurrection and that doesn't reverberate with those who are savvy with social media.

According to Fitzpatrick, John 3:16 has been replaced in the UK and nine other countries, including Australia and Canada.

Millennial fake theology

When I speak of 'fake theology' used by the Millennials. I compare 'fake theology' with 'fake news', which means, 'false, often sensational, information disseminated under the guise of news reporting' (Collins English Dictionary 2019. s.v. fake news). So fake theology is false, sensational information circulated under the guise of orthodox biblical teaching.

A second false emphasis by the Millennials is the refusal to pursue orthodox Christianity and Jesus' sacrifice on the cross in exchange for another Christianity that offers hope and prosperity on social media in the present time.

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Does it occur to these researchers and the Millennials that they replaced the centre of Christianity with a bogus doctrine?

Christianity for the Oscars

This is from 'poster boy' to 'star': Christianity for the Oscars.

That one emphasis demonstrates a change in world view by the Millennials from:

(1) God's love for the world and Jesus' sacrifice of his life to bring salvation to whomever believes, to

(2) Prosperity and hope in the here and now.

Thus, the crux of Christianity is crucified by compromise.

Too heavy!

Fitzpatrick emphasised that on social media, people don't want a stress on Jesus' cross that leads to eternal life because 'it's a bit heavy'.

I cannot imagine anyone with that approach standing up for their faith to the point of being a martyr like Peter, Paul, Polycarp, Hugh Latimer and those five missionaries slaughtered by the Auca Indians in 1956 in Ecuador: Jim Elliot, Pete Fleming, Ed McCully, Nate Saint, and Roger Youderian.

Compromise does not stoke fires in the heart of Christianity. Here we have an example of the Millennials who changed the truth of God (John 3:16) into hopelessness that looked like hope.

How is that so when Jer 29:11 supports hope and prosperity for the future?

Social media and postmodern theology

According to these researchers, the switch from Gospel-centred to self-centred fake theology (my language) is 'a product of social media' and 'young people's expectations of the Bible, in line with the trend of displaying wellness and spirituality online'.

This is postmodern, deconstructed Christianity in action. Postmodernism is difficult to define simply. In Fitzpatrick's article we have an example of the trend that moves from facts (John 3:16) to subjectivity (Jer 29:11). It's about experience over reason, subjectivity over objectivity, and outward over inward.

The 'young people's expectations of the Bible' is not the way to read any document, including Fitzpatrick's article, to gain the author's intended meaning. Expectations should not drive any person regarding the content of articles in On Line Opinion, History of Australia by Manning Clark, or the Bible.

Imagine using that approach when completing your tax return or giving your driver's licence details to a policeman. Which way does the promoter of postmodern deconstruction want us to read his or her own books? Literally or by deconstruction?

A different gospel

What I see in this preference of Jer 29:11 is a deconstruction of biblical theology to replace it with another doctrine.

It's a different gospel of prosperity without the cross, hope without the atonement.

This is how the article described postmodern theology in practice:

With apps such as Bible Lens - which allows users to create new images using their own photos overlaid with quotes from the Bible - and YouVersion's search-by-emoji function soaring in popularity, Millennials have drastically changed how they approach the Bible's teachings.

This highlights one of the issues with the YouVersion app approach in Fitzpatrick's article. It matches your photos or artistic, shareable images to specific Bible verses. This is not the way to disciple people in important Christian disciplines of: contextual biblical interpretation and learning not to cherry-pick single Bible verses to make them say what we want them to say,

Also, there is a need to refuse to use software that interferes with appropriate interpretation of any text. This does not mean that all software linked to Bible knowledge is to be avoided. I access many articles online, including articles, books, and Bible translations through BibleGateway and BibleHub.

Since YouVersion's function seems to be 'soaring in popularity', this younger generation has postmodernised the Bible through 'search-by-emoji'. This leads to a pick-and-choose Christianity that avoids the wisdom and knowledge of God gained through fear of Him.

I have no confidence that it will develop disciples who know how to study the Scriptures with this foundation, 'Wisdom begins with fear and respect for the Lord. Knowledge of the Holy One leads to understanding' (Proverbs 9:10).

Apps and cherry-picking

Building a foundation for faith on apps that pick and choose Bible verses to go with the artistic images you use, is like building one's house on the sand of intuitive emotion of feel-good faith. See Matthew 7:24-28. Taking action on what apps decide is not practising biblical Christianity.

Millennials hopeless hope

One of the major issues presented by this research and in the article is the use of Jeremiah 29:11 to generate hope for a prosperous future for Millennial Christians of the 21st century.

This verse was not addressed to Christians living in the AD centuries, but to the Jewish exiles King Nebuchadnezzar had sent to Babylon in about 598/7 BC and  587/6 BC. This formally ended in 538 BC (see Jer 29:1).

Jeremiah 29:10-11 reads:

"'Only when the seventy years of Babylonian rule are over will I again take up consideration for you. Then I will fulfill my gracious promise to you and restore you to your homeland. For I know what I have planned for you,' says the Lord. 'I have plans to prosper you, not to harm you. I have plans to give you a future filled with hope'".

Reading Jeremiah 29:1-11 confirms that verse 11 had nothing to do with Christians.

There are many problems with this Millennial approach to Christianity but interpretation of the biblical text is one of the BIG ones.

I consider Fitzpatrick's content to be an example of Oxford Dictionaries word of the year in 2016, post-truth. which is 'an adjective defined as "relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief"'. (Oxford Dictionaries Online 2019. s.v. post-truth).

In my understanding of interpretation in context, it was not meant to extend contemporary hope and prosperity to Millennials in the 21st century. That meaning is generated by individuals and provides false hope.

The losers: Three dominant themes

Three views opposing Christianity dominated this research and Fitzpatrick's article.

(1) Postmodern fake theology replaced obtaining a meaning of the text from a 'careful, objective analysis'. This is called exegesis, meaning 'to lead out of', which means the interpreter obtains conclusions from the text.

(2) There's no point in getting the meaning out of the text if it is the wrong text on which one is performing exegesis. Moves from facts to personal images to match Bible verses, is a postmodern imposition on the text.

(3) It is absurd to apply a Bible verse addressed to the Jews in exile to 21st century Millennials.

All of this means that in this research, self-centredness replaced Christ-centredness among Millennials. The result is a different gospel generated by fake theology.

Thomas Turner wrote: 'It's one of our favorite verses, but we've gotten it all wrong. Stop taking Jeremiah 29:11 out of context'.

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About the Author

Spencer Gear PhD (University of Pretoria, South Africa) is a retired counselling manager, independent researcher, retired minister of the The Christian & Missionary Alliance of Australia, and freelance writer living in Brisbane Qld, Australia.

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