Isn't that just your reality?

Brett Lawrence wrote an article in the Leadership Journal in the fall of 2002 describing the spirituality of Gen-Next in their twenties who are far from God. He addresses three questions Christians need to answer when dealing with this generation. The questions reveal the hearts and fears of this generation.

Question 2: Isn't that just your reality?

The spiritual smorgasbord is at work in this generation. You pick your reality and I will pick for me. According to the article, "You can't say either Christianity is true or it's false. Reality is also/and . . . They [early Christians] helped create the facts they observed, and then reported them out of their interpretation of reality. Scientists do that. Writers do that. Religious people like you do that" (Lawrence 4).

Article Answer 2: The "whatever works for you" mentality is a permanent perspective that has a chink in its armor. According to the article, "People are open to Jesus . . . They just don't consider him the only way. I try to engage them in who Jesus is and not that the others aren't correct."

My response: In the Gen Next population, relative reality is as insidious and as engrained a fact as the Theory of Evolution. It weakens the eternally true message of John 14:6 to one choice among many (touted equal) choices, much to the delight of the father of lies. He is working on many fronts: lifestyle choices, marriage choices, abortion is a choice, the Bible is just another book choice, etc. The approach to engage them in who Jesus is is reminiscent of Paul's address at the Athenian Areopagus about their altar to the unknown god.

Lawrence, Brett. "Starbucks spirituality: postmoderns have three questions for Christians that you'd better be ready for." Leadership 23.4 (Fall 2002): p81. From Religion and Philosophy Collection. (2002). 3 December 2013.

Contributed by Dr. Lyle Pointer