Moralistic Therapeutic Deism, Huh?! Say that again!

Moralistic Therapeutic Deism – Not my words… It’s a phrase that I’ve been running across in recent months though. And, it is what most teenagers and young adults in America think about God. Breaking it down, it means the following: 1) Deism – there is a God who made the world and is out there somewhere. 2) Moralistic – All I’ve got to do is be a relatively good person and I deserve the best out of this life and I will go to heaven when I die. 3) When I need God, he should be there to attend to my needs. What I’ve just described is a sad reality if that’s what the young of our society gather about God.

In contrast, here’s what I believe about those three points. God, is the creator of earth and all that is in it. But, he has been intimately involved with his creation since the day he made it. He seeks to be glorified by his creation and he personally made the way of our salvation that we would glorify him with our lives. Secondly, as moral as we can be, outside of accepting the atoning work of Jesus Christ on the cross, we are all destined for a terrible end – eternal separation from God – in the form of hell. And, the reasoning behind that is, at our 'moralest', we are still haters of God and rebels that deserve to die because of our rebellion.  And, as for being there when I need him, he is never far from any of us, but that is not his chief aim in the world. Again, God is the creator, he is the one to be worship and adored – not us.

So, the point I’d like to make here is that we must know more about our God – the true and living God. It is important that Christians know what they believe and be able to articulate it. Beyond being able to articulate it, we must articulate it. And, I think in so doing, just by looking into what it is to be a follower of Christ, some of us might find that we haven’t been following him at all. And, in that case, there is an urgent matter of knowing that you know him because without him, we are destined to perish.

Much love!