Smorgasboard Spirituality :
Breaking Through a Postmodern Worldview

Murray Brown

Changing Perceptions Regarding Truth

I recently received an email that posed the intriguing question, “Are you practicing the right religion for you? See which religion you're most compatible with.”

Well… how could I refuse an offer like that!

So I duly clicked the link and began to read:

Ever wonder if you're practicing the right religion for your beliefs, or if there's a faith out there that's really right for you? It's possible you might be compatible with more than one religion since many religions share similar takes on certain subjects. In fact, it's possible that you're more compatible with religions other than the one you believe in. Want to know which religion you're most compatible with based on your belief system? Take the test now!

The survey is illustrative of a smorgasboard approach to spirituality prevalent among young people today and is part of a wider worldview labelled as postmodernism. Under a postmodernist worldview truth can never be absolute – only relative. That is because all of us approach information with a bias based on our cultural upbringing and our understanding of the meaning of language. In other words, when we express Biblical truth to our young people we are simply taking the translated words of someone who lived in a different culture 2,000 or more years ago and expressing our understanding of those words based on our 20th century western cultural mindset. A young person then interprets them based on their own cultural understanding of truth. Therefore, acording to postmodernism, how can truth be objective when words are written and received with subjectivity?(1)

This was brought home to me recently when I received an email written by an acquintance who said:

I guess from your description of faith development, I am far down the faith with life bit. Cause boy, do I have some doozie beliefs. My new born church going sisters won’t talk to me anymore about God because of some of my beliefs, they are universal truths/beliefs and have come from all religions and cultures around the world. I'm going to hell apparently, for my strange beliefs, but from my perspective, your hell is what you make of it. They aren't happy, they know there is a better state to be in, yet they can’t get there because they have been told that theirs is the only true pathway to eternal happiness. Bollocks! I say every religion holds part of the truth, no one religion holds it all. And so they continue to believe what they have been told instead of looking at the world for themselves (they are sheep people).

In short, what we are seeing is a smogasboard approach to spirituality where we “construct” our own God according to our subjective understanding of truth. As some have noted, Genesis 1:27 records that “God made man in His own image…” Today we see man creating God in his own image!

Young People and Truth

A recent survey by George Barna posed the following statements to young people and received the following responses (2):

When it comes to matters of morals and ethics, truth means different things to different people; no one can be absolutely positive that he or she knows the truth.
Agree: 81%; Disagree 17%

You can tell if something is morally/ethically right for you by whether or not it works in your life.
Agree: 72%; Disagree 23%

There is no such thing as “absolute truth”; two people could define “truth” in conflicting ways and both could still be correct.
Agree: 70%; Disagree 27%

Clearly there is a worldview that is prevalent among young people today that has implications for the way in which they receive the Truth we teach them. It is no longer sufficient to stand up and say, “The Bible says…” because in their mind (a) the Bible could be wrong and (b) our interpretation of it could be wrong.

What makes our task even more difficult is that there is some validity to what postmodernism espouses as it applies to the Bible. The Bible was written within cultural contexts and addresses real life issues the people faced. Therefore it is a mixture of cultural prescriptives and moral absolutes. We need discernment to differentiate one from the other and in our deliberations we may disagree. Therefore the youth leader today must first and foremost be well versed in Biblical interpretation lest they argue for a “truth” that was never intended to be normative for all time.

Clearly it is imperative that we continue to present absolute truth from the pages of Scripture. However my contention is that this is no longer enough (if it ever was!). Let me suggest three other strategies to be used alongside the presentation of the Bible as Truth.

Incarnate Truth

Firstly, young people place greater credence on who we are than what we say. They are more inclined to accept the truth we live, rather than the truth we speak. If our words and deeds do not match we will be labeled hypocrites and the message will be thrown out with the messenger. An incarnational approach, in which we enter into the young person’s world and offer unconditional love and affirmation, will do more to convince them about the truth of the incarnate God than another Bible study.

Guide Toward Truth

Secondly, when we do lead our young people in interacting with Scripture we must do more asking and less telling. “Telling” means that I endeavour to impose my truth perspective upon them; “asking” means I guide them to discover truth for themselves. Of course, the fear and danger many will have is they may discover the wrong one! But let’s stop for a minute and reflect on this. Won’t they try to discover their own truth perspective anyway? So instead of telling them what they should believe, shutting down dialogue and leaving them prey to all manner of persuasive philosophies and ideas, surely it is better to allow them to grapple with their questions and doubts in a controlled environment – one which we can monitor and offer direction. After all, If God’s Truth really is absolute and the role of the Holy Spirit is to guide us into an understanding of that Truth, are we not grieving the Spirit’s work if we simply proclaim “Thou shalt believe” and leave no room for inquiry and reflection?

Story tells Truth

My third point is this: do not underestimate the power of story. In the programme I am running for 11-13 year olds we are big on stories. We are telling the Jesus story to them, both through word and DVD (3), making Him come alive. But we as leaders and older people in the church are also telling our own story to them. Young people may argue with our theology but they cannot argue with our experience. A story allows for the possibility of identification and identifying with someone’s story has the potential to impact young people’s mind, will and emotions.

Writes Annette Simmons:

Story is your path to creating faith… People value their own conclusions more highly than yours. They will only have faith in a story that has become real for them personally. Once people make your story, their story, you have tapped into the powerful force of faith.

Interestingly, much of what we have recorded of the words of Jesus is story. By telling stories (parables) and leaving the meaning open, He drew people into the story and enabled them to see themselves in it. It worked then and it works today.

I was hooked!

Yes, I went on to complete the online survey… and to my great relief it seems as though I have chosen the best religion for me! But what of our young people who are making daily spiritual choices? Many are choosing what is right for them and those of us who would argue with them will meet with opposition or indifference. Yes, there must be an argument but let’s be wise enough to realise that the battleground is not in our youth meeting but in their own minds and our role is not to fight their battle for them (or against them) but to arm them for the fight. Our lives, our questioning, and our stories are indispensable weapons they need on the postmodern fields in which they are attacked.

- Murray Brown is the Director of YouthTRAIN

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1. The Religion Test

2. Barna, G. Real Teens: A Contemporary Snapshot of Youth Culture, Regal Books (2001).

3. I am using the DVD, “Jesus” produced by Time Life Video. Theologically is has limitations but it does present Jesus in a very “real” and appealing way for teenagers.