Cynicism and the Rising Generation

By Ingrid Schlueter @ http://www.sliceoflaodicea.com/

Whether it's the new "faith" movies like Rocky Balboa or the Nativity Story, or cheap t-shirts with Got Jesus? slogans on them, a lot of money is made off the name of Jesus Christ. I watched this YouTube video of two young men and I had a number of thoughts pass through my mind. The first thought I had was that the cynicism I felt as a teenager/young adult pales in comparison with the levels of cynicism present in today's young people.

From the time they were old enough to sit up in front of a TV and watch Veggie Tales videos, produced with the Big Idea of making money off parents who think that Biblical characters are more fun as vegetables, the children of their generation have been saturated with the marketing of Jesus and the Bible. I don't have to go into great detail about how the secular merchandisers have tried to stamp their brands on kids as well. This Frontline special really said it best.

Churches have tried to market Jesus to teenagers in nearly the same fashion. Christian bookstores and Christian rock stations all market continuously for publishers and music companies. Gear of every description is hawked at CCM concerts and other blowout youth events. Jesus himself is marketed as a cool guy who wants to improve kids' lives. These young people get that as they lampoon the merchandising that has gone on.

The question is this: These kids see the counterfeit, but do they understand the genuine? Emerging churches emphasize that they aren't like the church growth marketers with all their hype and commercialism. Yet the emerging church is, in many ways, equally about style over substance. You have to have the "look", listen to the same bands, (Dave Crowder band comes to mind), buy the same authors in the bookstore, etc. At the same time, what is being promoted as "deep" spirituality, is really not deep at all, but is rooted in experience. Getting high off your endorphins by chanting the same verse over and over again is a good example of what I'm talking about.

The depth and riches of Christ are found in His Word. The emerging church that is inheriting many of these young people who are cynical and disgusted with pop Christianity is not offering the the genuine alternative to the marketed Jesus. It is offering a dangerous counterfeit all its own. Jay Bakker, covered in tattoos and looking like he got attacked by a nail gun with all his body piercings, says that he is the real deal when it comes to Christianity. He's wrong. These young people will only find the "real deal" when they go back to the Scriptures to discover who God is and what He requires of us. That's my prayer for the cynical teens and young adults who have been made cynical by the salesmen at Vanity Fair. Keep walking, young people, out of Vanity Fair and onto the narrow road that leads to the Celestial City.