tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7530600757327962666.post7601011075884510479..comments2023-06-20T09:40:58.888-05:00Comments on The Doulos Den: Moralistic Therapeutic DeismDoulosofchristhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17770915650825256849noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7530600757327962666.post-42781831989631485562007-04-27T12:32:00.000-05:002007-04-27T12:32:00.000-05:00I completely agree with you...its everywhere; I no...I completely agree with you...its everywhere; I notice it especially on the college campus, since that is where my mission field is at this time. The reality is that God became personal through Jesus Christ; not only does He exist and interacts with us, but He actually became one of us. This is so foreign to some people who think being "religous" means just believing in a god. That is where we come in; preaching the wonderful Gospel.<BR/><BR/>But that is just on a secular college campus. In the youth group, this shouldn't be the case. These are students in the church. Where does thinking like that come from? Is it laziness, not wanting to acually think about things, but just wanting to accept what is easy? Or is the leadership of the church in general? I know all youth groups are not like this, as you said, and not all kids are the same. Some really know their stuff, others don't really care. But ultimately, it comes down personal things like where the heart is, and how hard we really want to seek God.janellehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03562513623973041847noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7530600757327962666.post-40590171159223090492007-04-12T08:42:00.000-05:002007-04-12T08:42:00.000-05:00I would agree with you that many Christian adults ...I would agree with you that many Christian adults would believe the same thing. It is at times discouraging to see the biblical illiteracy of "Christians". To be fair, I'm working on a master's in biblical studies, and I still feel like I have a long way to go before I know and understand the Bible like I should. <BR/><BR/>I think at least part of the problem, too, is our reading and understanding of scripture. How many times do we read 2 verses of Ephesians and never stop to think about how these verses fit into the chapter, book and canon as a whole? For that matter, how often does one get any teaching from the Old Testament at all, in any form? My point is, when we ignore the Old Testament and compartmentalize the New Testament, it makes perfect sense that MTD would arise.Jonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13533252542115553519noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7530600757327962666.post-1894287599054508202007-04-11T14:09:00.000-05:002007-04-11T14:09:00.000-05:00I was reading through Pyro and saw your comment. I...I was reading through Pyro and saw your comment. It raised my interest because I had come up with the same analogy as I was pondering the discussion. (of the car)<BR/><BR/>As far M.T.D., I first heard this concept from Doug Groothuis, (the constructive crumudgeon)<BR/><BR/>http://theconstructivecurmudgeon.blogspot.com/ <BR/><BR/>a philosophy professor who did a working sabbatical at our little church recently. I would agree with your analyses that for the most part it is true.<BR/><BR/>I taught the fifth and sixth graders for a couple of years and discovered quickly that these children were, for all practical purposes, totally and completely Biblically illiterate. There happened to be two students that were not, one of them was home schooled, the other was not, but it was obvious that her parents had taken the time to show her the way to eternal life. After two years I threw my hands up. For better or worse, I eventually concluded that I was not going to overcome the influence of hours of TV, days of secular humanistic government education, peer pressure, and passive parenting in one hour a week during which I spent most of the time keeping the students from bouncing off the walls. At that point I focused my energies in the Church to calling for and encouraging parental accountability.<BR/><BR/>It is no surprise consequently that as children get older and more acquainted with the harshness and realities of this world, they do turn to something, and that something is the highly compartmentalized concept of M.T.D.. Unfortunately this has three negatives: 1. it places them on a collision course with reality, 2. it is a false notion of authentic Christianity. 3. the probable consequence of the inevitable impact of such a worldview with reality is the rejection of this false notion of Christianity and in so doing rejecting true Christianity.Danny Wrighthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15006024707303951009noreply@blogger.com