Worldview Shift
There is a failure to recognise that a paradigm shift has taken place in our contemporary world. There is a failure to accept the emerging forces and trends affecting us and our lifestyles. There is a failure to see the surrounding postmodern culture that is shaping our values, and that these changing influences are leading to new trends. There are emerging forces and trends affecting us but especially to the young people. Families are changing, the increase and acceptance of divorce, the increase of cohabitation and out-of-wedlock births, the crisis of fatherlessness, the increase of mothers working outside the home, the decreasing amount of time parents are spending with their kids, and the rise of family violence are all contributing factors in putting a tremendous stress upon the next generation.[1]
Such a major shift is largely due to the failure of modernity. The emerging postmodern view is a reaction – a great mistrust for authority, and a great desire for freedom. My survey of our Christian teenagers showed that their mindset wants freedom whatever that is or means to them. They love being random – having undefined aims, unplanned thoughts or actions, and haphazard sort of activities. The prevailing postmodernism are slowly but surely shaping our teenager’s values. The youth themselves are influenced by the surrounding culture – media, music, movies and the internet. Peer pressure keeps rising – fashion, appearance, status, etc. These changing influences eventually lead to new trends of which we are already witnessing today – no rules to sex, materialism, substance abuse, risk-taking behaviour, teenage violence, depression and suicide,[2] and smorgasbord spirituality. The definition of “smorgasbord spirituality” is this: interest on spiritual things is like going for a buffet, full of choices and options but all relative and experiential.
[1] Mueller, Walt, Youth Culture 101 (Zondervan, 2007), p. 39 – 52
[2] Ibid, pp. 53 – 60
