postmodernism and youth

© 2003 By Default!

A Free sample background from www.powerpointbackgrounds.com

Slide 1

Postmodernism and Youth

Solomon Was Right, After All

Timothy R. NicholsRocky Mountain Bible College & Seminary

© 2003 By Default!

A Free sample background from www.powerpointbackgrounds.com

Slide 2

The Modernist Backdrop•“I think, therefore I am”•Objectivity•Control

© 2003 By Default!

A Free sample background from www.powerpointbackgrounds.com

Slide 3

The Postmodern Shift•Unconcerned with theoretical objective proof•Can’t control it all

© 2003 By Default!

A Free sample background from www.powerpointbackgrounds.com

Slide 4

Masters of Suspicion•Marx: It’s all about MONEY•Nietzche: It’s all about POWER•Freud: It’s all about SEX

© 2003 By Default!

A Free sample background from www.powerpointbackgrounds.com

Slide 5

Elements of Worldview

• Story•Questions• Praxis/Lifestyle•Liturgy/Symbol•Worship• …and how they all relate

© 2003 By Default!

A Free sample background from www.powerpointbackgrounds.com

Slide 6

Story•What story you think you’re living in?•Where is your loyalty?•Who are your people? •Who do you cheer for/boo? •Who don’t you care about?

© 2003 By Default!

A Free sample background from www.powerpointbackgrounds.com

Slide 7

Questions•How do you answer the basic questions of life?•Who is God, and who are you?•What is our origin? Our destiny? Our

purpose?•What happens when we die, and why?•What is nature? Where is it from?

© 2003 By Default!

A Free sample background from www.powerpointbackgrounds.com

Slide 8

Praxis/Lifestyle•What do you do?•How often do you wash your car?•Do you cheat on your spouse? Taxes?•What clothes do you wear?•How do you talk? To whom?

© 2003 By Default!

A Free sample background from www.powerpointbackgrounds.com

Slide 9

Liturgy/Symbol•How do you reinforce/dramatize your

participation in the story?•How do you show respect/devotion?•What “offensive” (=blasphemous) things can you not say or do?

© 2003 By Default!

A Free sample background from www.powerpointbackgrounds.com

Slide 10

Worship•To what is your life being sacrificed?•What is the source of your wellbeing?•Who/what do you fear?•Where do you go for strength, comfort, deliverance?

© 2003 By Default!

A Free sample background from www.powerpointbackgrounds.com

Slide 11

The Postmodern WorldviewFive C3tegories

© 2003 By Default!

A Free sample background from www.powerpointbackgrounds.com

Slide 12

Elements of Worldview

• Story•Questions• Praxis/Lifestyle•Liturgy/Symbol•Worship• …and how they all relate

© 2003 By Default!

A Free sample background from www.powerpointbackgrounds.com

Slide 13

Story•Metanarratives are dead•No single, all-encompassing story•Local narratives•Multiple stories that don’t fit together•Chosen for convienience at a particular

place and time

© 2003 By Default!

A Free sample background from www.powerpointbackgrounds.com

Slide 14

Questions•No set answers•Variable depending on circumstances•This DOES NOT mean that just any

answers will do!!!

© 2003 By Default!

A Free sample background from www.powerpointbackgrounds.com

Slide 15

Praxis/Lifestyle•A hodgepodge of disparate options•Ability to weasel out of SOME moral

demands•…but there are always some standards•“Tolerance”•Sexual Autonomy•Relational Autonomy

© 2003 By Default!

A Free sample background from www.powerpointbackgrounds.com

Slide 16

Liturgy/Symbol•A collage of contradictory elements•Based on personal style and taste•“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder”

© 2003 By Default!

A Free sample background from www.powerpointbackgrounds.com

Slide 17

Worship•A fragmented life•Consumeristic•Formulated around what we want to

offer…•…and not around what God wants to

receive.

© 2003 By Default!

A Free sample background from www.powerpointbackgrounds.com

Slide 18

Practical Postmodernity•“Is it True?”•“Is it Real?

© 2003 By Default!

A Free sample background from www.powerpointbackgrounds.com

Slide 19

Good News•Pomos are people too!•They need…•Hope•Forgiveness and absolution from sin•Love•Life to make sense

© 2003 By Default!

A Free sample background from www.powerpointbackgrounds.com

Slide 20

How to Respond•Diagnosis Drives Treatment•Ecclesiastes is the Answer•Modernity was shepherding wind•There is futility in the world•So…how should we live?

© 2003 By Default!

A Free sample background from www.powerpointbackgrounds.com

Slide 21

Living Under the Sun•Be Humble•Eat your bread•Drink your wine•Live joyfully with your spouse•Do your work and take your rest•…and do it all MERRILY!