lOMoARcPSD|21126671
Theo 104 discussion 1 - Lecture notes
1
Introduction to Christian Thought (D) (Liberty
University)
lOMoARcPSD|21126671
MTD and Society
When you break down the three words moralistic therapeutic deism, and
you look at what the word moral means, it is a set of standards whether
good or bad that contributes to someone’s belief system. Therapeutic
means things that provide a calm or good feeling. Deism is the generic
belief of a God. So, the translation of moralistic therapeutic deism is a set of
standards that contributes to someone’s belief system that provides a
calming or a good feeling that stems from the belief of God. Today, MTD is
more known and more utilized as a society. New Age Christians or teenage
Christians do not have a sense of conviction. And as amazing as it is to feel
good all the time and to believe that our entire goal is to be centered about
ourselves, that is not what God wants for us. Without a sense of conviction,
there is no sense of the Holy Spirit. It seems to me that this way of thinking
is in a way cherry picking what someone likes about the Bible but forgetting
the rest. The Bible discusses countless times how we need to serve others,
how we need to have a servant's heart, how we need to love our neighbor,
but this way of thinking and this way of believing and having faith in God
almost preaches the exact opposite.
For example, adolescents today have so much access to things that provide
them instant gratification. There is no sense of the ability to work for or
achieve gratification. There is also no sense of achieving gratification by
helping others anymore. Social media has made it exceedingly difficult for
the youth of today to understand what it means to be genuine and to
genuinely want to serve others in a Christlike manner. It is so easy for a
teenager to post a biblical quote on Instagram and then immediately start
receiving likes. That sense of instant gratification is like a dopamine hit for
teenagers. There have been studies that show dopamine levels increase
when more people like posts. So, when teenagers share posts with biblical
quotes, and they get likes they are not interpreting and using the biblical
quote in their life they are only doing it to feel good about themselves which
does not go with what the Bible says we should be doing. And while some
may argue that at least the word is being spread, it is not the intent of the
social media post.
