The Truth Project?

The people at Focus on the Family have launched a full-frontal assault upon an evil that lurks behind every corner that waits to suck the brains out of its next prey. This evil has many names, but Focus on the Family has dubbed this vile beast “postmodernism” (cue the creepy music). Apparently, the way the church is to live and dialogue within this postmodern “present” cultural climate is to dig in its heals and hold onto a theological and philosophical way of talking that has not only become nonsensical to the very people the church claims to bring the Good News, but it has stifled dialogue and turned otherwise interested "seekers" away from the Church. I used to be slightly annoyed and mildly amused by this organization’s presumption to speak authoritatively on highly complicated theological issues. Now, I’m just pissed off. The reason being is that they are going around the world pushing people to think in ways that are downright asinine.

Obviously, there are a lot of things that that they are saying that are praiseworthy – like loving Jesus and all that good stuff. But when they presume to give an authoritative critique of culture, philosophy, and theology, as well as offer responses to those critiques, you better be sure you bring your A-game. And these guys obviously have no A-game when it comes to theology and philosophy. They are naive charlatans delivering complex theological and philosophical issues in an oversimplified and erroneous package…bless their hearts.

So what exactly is my problem? It’s too massive to address. It’s like trying to mend a decapitated elephant with a box of Band-Aids. Maybe I’ll try to articulate a more general response to what bothers me so, but for now, I’ll leave you with this gem of how The Truth Project defines “postmodernism.”

Here at Focus on the Family, we understand the noun "postmodernism" to refer to a philosophy or mindset that rejects the value of rational thought, denies the existence of moral and spiritual absolutes, and affirms the right and power of the individual to invent his or her own "reality." This way of thinking is incompatible with the Christian perspective because it denies the existence of a truth that is valid for all people at all times. In other words, it rejects the claims of the Gospel on principle, without even granting it a hearing. It's precisely this kind of thinking that Focus on the Family's The Truth Project® is designed to counter

If you are going to “counter” something, it might help if you knew what it was you were countering, otherwise you playing war with a straw man. It’s funny; I don’t remember any self-professed postmodern philosophers or theologians staking their claim on "the rejection of rational thought." This is so off the mark that it doesn’t even count as a caricature. The other painfully misinterpreted aspect of postmodernism is that it "affirms the right and power of the individual to invent his or her own 'reality.'" Again, no postmodern thinker I've read would say this. While they might affirm the existence of different "realities," they also qualify that by saying that each person's reality is connected to a particular culture, language, practices, and shared stories of a particular community, not individual. In fact, it has been predominantly postmodern thinkers that have commented on, and analyzed the existence of various worldviews or paradigms that shape the way the individual lives and understands reality. The would also say that the individual is incapable of "inventing his or her own reality" because of the fact that we have such a symbiotic relationship with a particular worldview or paradigm.

Now it is fine to critique this aspect of Postmodernism, but this would entail a much different critique than the one that The Truth Project is offering. I applaud their efforts of attempting to help the church be more faithful to the worldview of the people of God. However, the education that they are offering is, in many ways, gagging the church from fruitful dialogue with people in this postmodern age.

Other Posts on The Truth Project:
2. Wariness of The Truth Project
3. The Truth Project: Simply a Bad Way of Talking

I also want to include this link to Hackman's Musings. He has honored me with a link to these pages, and I would be remiss not to link back to his thoughts on this topic. He makes numerous spot-on critiques and observations, as well as facilitates a much larger conversation in his comment section.

1. The Truth Project: Part 1
2. The Truth Project: Part 2

"What I wear is pants. What I do is live. How I pray is breathe." Thomas Merton

Prayer begins with the inhale. Before we are able to utter anything with our lips we must first draw through them the air that fills us, enabling not only our speech but also our life. And we must remember that humanity did not take the first breath but that it was given to us. God’s exhale became humanity’s first inhale, filling us not only with life, but the ability to participate in the creative power of breathing. For it was God’s breath that uttered the world into existence, and God’s breath that filled humanity with life.

And so before we gather words to give to our God, we must first realize that this activity of prayer is itself a gift from God. It is the very breath that God breathed into humanity that we in turn direct back to God. Taking in and breathing out this breath of God is no trifling matter. “This is not an enterprise to be entered into lightly,” Eugene Peterson notes. “When we pray we are using words that bring us into proximity with words that break cedars, shake the wilderness, make the oaks whirl, and strip forests bare (Ps. 29:5-9).”

Prayer is the breath of God in our lives. Prayer begins with receiving from God. If we are not waiting in silence for the Lord (Ps 62), or receiving the God-breathed scripture into our lives (II Tm 3:16), or listening to the counsel of the wise (Pr 8:33-35), then the words we breath will be little more than toxic wind. Just as fresh air is crucial to the activity of breathing, so also is the taking in of these breaths of God in the activity of prayer.

But it is not only waiting but also acting, not only receiving but also giving, not only listening but also speaking, for we cannot act without having waited, or give without having received, or speak without having listened. Life exists in the rhythm of the two. And in the act of praying we place ourselves in this rhythm of life. A rhythm of receiving God’s perpetual gift of life, as well as taking that breath and creating words similar to God’s that create and bring life.

In doing this, we place ourselves further in the depths of God where we were created to live and move and have our being (Acts 17:28). Having been invited into the depths, we now have the opportunity to invite the depths into us. In God we live and move and have our being, but through prayer we open ourselves up so God can live and move and have God’s being in us. May our prayer life be so wrapped up in this rhythm of taking in and praying out, that we may be able to utter the words, “how I pray is breathe.”

Who Would You Be: Hitler or FDR?

This made me laugh.

Al Franken and Ann Hart Coulter were asked at the Connecticut Forum if they could be anyone in the previous century, who would it be. Ann Hart Coulter, since she apparently prefers to call people by their full names, employs some very interesting logic... so does Al.