Torch, Fall/Winter 2012

4 TORCH Just as light and energy collapse into the vortex of a black hole, truth and certainty collapse into the individual person. Such a radical view of human nature and reality explodes all of our accepted traditional values and behaviors. Five Guidelines The uniqueness of our postmodern age means that we must be aware of our audience and their inclinations toward understanding the world around them. Here are five guidelines: Never compromise God’s truth. God’s Word embodies His written truth whether we accept it or not. It does not change with practical or philosophical waves in culture. Our calling is not only to know and embrace God’s truth but to communicate it as well. Nevertheless, we do not use biblical truth as a bludgeon to beat people into holy submission. Truth is to be known (John 8:32), understood (Col. 1:6), obeyed (1 Peter 1:22), loved (2 Thess. 2:10), and believed (1 Thess. 2:13). Truth is communicated both by our words and our lives, which means we should … Acknowledge that we live in a world where the verdict demands evidence. The apostle Peter wrote, “Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have” (1 Peter 3:15). Peter’s words here anticipate a postmodern culture. The social and moral chaos of the 1960s brought about significant opportunities for believers to show by their lives the powerful truths of Christianity. Peter teaches that: 1). Truly following Christ results in lives that display hope. 2). People notice the difference and ask, “What do you believe that makes you live like this?” 3). Believers must be prepared to give an answer and explain what they believe and why. So here’s the challenge: What have we done today that demonstrates we have hope because of our commitment to Christ? How prepared are we to answer the questions and challenges that postmoderns ask? Remember, young people today are not all that impressed with clever arguments or persuasive presentations. They are looking for authentic lives, lives that “work,” lives that display hope in a world that offers only despair. The world they live in saturates their minds and hearts with messages either of emptiness or of unrestrained giddiness. So we must … Recognize that the entertainment world has a huge influence on ideas and values. Movies and television have become the parables of our day; popular music has become the poetry. Our technology- dependent society makes the entertainment world a constant companion. In Phyllis Tickle’s God-Talk in America , she acknowledges something we all know: “More theology is conveyed in, and probably retained from, one hour of popular television than from all the sermons that are delivered on any given weekend in America’s synagogues, churches, and mosques.” It is not the entertainment angle alone that is compelling but that the programs and songs explore relationships, choices, and consequences. Yet movies, television programs, and popular songs leave the most important questions unanswered. Life lived 1 3 2