In my post, “Confessions of a Troglodyte,” I attempted to share my frustrations as a biblical scholar trying to teach or dialogue with those who are quintessential Millennials, those who represent in mind and attitude all that has come to characterize those born around 1980-2000 as they are maturing into adulthood.[1] I discussed the difficulty of communicating with Millennials on issues that they are viciously prejudiced, proposing the need to address the issues behind the issues first, avoiding the many tripwires in their minds. They not only reject out of hand certain ideas about God, Humanity, and Reality, but they reject any moral statement that cannot be defended through the reasoning processes they have inherited—a dialogical reasoning process that has been hamstrung by an overwhelming and fictitious cause-effect narrative from the left.
Analogical reasoning processes usually begin with an inherited picture of reality (Like Sacred Scripture) which embodies accepted truths about “the way of things,” and seeks to step logically, by analogy, from these truths to confront present circumstances.[2]
Dialogical processes, however, begin with observations of “what happens” (cause and effect working itself out in daily life) and seeks to reason its way to truths that explain “all that is,” and that form a cohesive system of right and wrong.
These come together wonderfully in the wisdom literature of Scripture where the sages find in the sacred texts of Israel declarations of “the way of things” as God made the world to function (however twisted by “the fall”) while simultaneously observing the natural world in all its complex cause-effect as it unfolds over generations, seeking to refine their understanding of patterns of life that lead to success and happiness in the world.
I’ve called Millennials the indoctrinated generation, and they are; they are a generation taught to accept no truth that they cannot reason their way to by an observation of the world around them. The problem is three-fold:
1. Millennials’ dialogical process denies any truck with faith based solutions. The scientific method has become for them a scientism, science without limits, a belief that man can and is close to discovering the truth of all things, that nothing is beyond science’s reach. It is the dogmatizing of the opinions of the committed atheistic elements of the scientific community, even among many claiming faith in Christ. “Scientism—as an ideology—attempts to obliterate its rivals, discrediting all other claims for truth.”[3] Even Millennial Christians are often powerfully influenced by the idea that they need to reason their way to the claims of the sacred in order to validate them.
2. This process is not a cumulative observation over many generations, because they have a profound prejudice against the past. They are told to “follow their hearts” and to “not let anyone else define who they are.” They are left to figure out every “truth” for themselves, trusting only their peers, who share their struggles, and their favorite TV characters who face them daily on their behalf. Each sets himself and his intuitive heart to judge the truth of all things… including Scripture.
3. This process of observation is not actually conducted, but is, rather, thwarted by an overwhelming and fictitious cause-effect narrative from the left. Millennials have been bombarded since their earliest years by an incessant and calculated concealment of the real life consequences for various actions. This began with a child-centered parenting style that denied them structured consequence and sought to shield them from natural consequence. It has continued through the media portrait of consequences scripted by agenda, and not reality. This is the very essence of “political correctness.” They are told how to think about reality and how to talk about reality in order to bring about the utopia that is waiting just around the corner, if only they can shout-down all the false narratives of the past.
Now… how do I teach them? How do I get past the tripwires they’ve been taught to set up in their minds triggering them to shout down any narrative save those approved by the atheistic programmers working so diligently in the government, media, and many sciences?
Tune in next time for “Have You Tripwired Your Mind?”
[1] Generationally, generalities are just that, generalities. I am a dissenter from my own generation in many ways and do encounter some Millennials who reject those things that characterize their peers.
[2] Uber-reductionistic but it will have to do for now.
[3] If I had the misfortune to hear a recent college graduation speech manifesting the Millennials’ Social Hero Complex, I had the good fortune to listen to Leon Wieseltier’s defense of the humanities against a growing and destructive scientism. “Scientism is a comprehensive, one-dimensional explanatory scheme of all that exists. It is, as some say, a “worldview,” an ideology, an aggressive and empirically sketchy effort to dispel all doubt from the world… So scientism aims to destroy the humanities. …really believe and aggressively claim that what they know can displace theology, philosophy, poetry, and so forth; http://www.weeklystandard.com/author/peter-augustine-lawler#biography
[4] Media Pic is from sxc.hu
