Comments on: Engaging Postmodernism: 4 Views

By: Parchment and Pen » Engaging Postmodernism (4): Changing the Rope

Parchment and Pen » Engaging Postmodernism (4): Changing the Rope — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 04:23:42 +0000

[...] How are Christians to engage with our postmodern generation? I have been exploring this question for a while now and am currently using the analogy of leading a horse to water. The horse is the postmodern and the water is the Gospel. The question is how do we lead this horse to water. Here are the options of the original post: [...]

By: Parchment and Pen » Engaging Postmodernism (2): Denying the Horse is Postmodern

Mon, 23 Jul 2007 04:22:23 +0000

[...] yesterday’s blog, I presented my rendition of four ways that Christians are engaging postmoderns. The primary [...]

By: Cheryl

Cheryl — Thu, 01 Mar 2007 12:57:06 +0000

I agree with Luke. Option #3 worked for me. If someone had preached
the Gospel to me in a religious format, I would have walked the other way.
I think the style of communication to skeptics is very important.
You need to grab their attention and preaching in the normal Christian way
will just push them further away. #1 - Denying the way someone appears is
just like being in denial. Until you open your eyes and deal with the root
of a problem, it remains unsolved. I believe #2 can only come after one has
exhausted #3. You need to get their attention first so they will listen and
discuss the common ground. And #4 I don’t believe can be accomplished
until you have completed #3 and #4. In order to believe in the true Gospel,
you need to know the truth not the fables and to accomplish this you need to
first reach out in a language that they understand and then discuss the
existing common ground and finally you will be able to discuss the truth
as Christians know it. But absolutely never in life should one just deny
someone’s existence because you will never be able to do anything for
anyone by closing your eyes. Just a thought from an ex-postmodern!

– Cheryl

By: LukeHamilton

LukeHamilton — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 18:06:40 +0000

I think that Option 3 will be the most effective step. It seems to me
that the two area where postmodernism breaks from prior world-views
are: epistemology (as you mentioned) and communication.

With the dissolution (or relativisation) of absolutes, communication
becomes much more difficult.

Option 4 is dangerous. I feel that we need to be careful not to imply that
the water itself needs purification. The water is pure, it is our handling of
it (past, present, and future) that might need attention, in my opinion.

-Luke

By: nathanimal

nathanimal — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 18:00:48 +0000

Option 4: Change the water.
Albeit, some of the other options might be good as well.

I think for the most part in my experience the gospel is not communicated very well.

Example: Most unbelievers I talk to say that Christians are ignorant and close-minded. They think that Christians have a blind faith. Thus making their world-view void and worthless.

This can make Christianity not a viable option in their mind. Over half of those will say that they might know 1 or 2 exceptions!

For the most part, I think Christians are some of the most uninformed people I know, and are pretty clueless on how to defend their faith.

Better education = Better Message = Better communication

By: johndelliott

johndelliott — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 17:37:09 +0000

I would recommend Option 2, “Convert the horse from being postmodern.
Create common ground in epistemology (the way we come to know truth),
then they will be able to drink the water,” as a most viable option in
communicating with a postmodern culture.

We can start with the following;
Question: How many feet are in a mile?
Answer: 5,280

Question: What is the normal human body temperature?
Answer: 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit

Question: What is the speed of light?
Answer: 299,792.458 kilometers per second

As the answers show, truth is narrow, based on history, and based on
tradition. Or, from a philosophical perspective, truth corresponds to
reality and is non-contradictory.

I am amazed that other disciplines (Science, History, Law, Math, etc.)
have a “narrowness” in their equations and/or prepositions, but when
postmoderns come to Religion, they adopt an attitude that “all truth
is relative,” nothing could be further from the truth.

By engaging postmoderns in discussions regarding items that we agree
on, such as the ones list above, we can build a bridge to the gospel message
with the expectation and hope that the Holy Spirit can take the seed that
we plant and have it lead to a “drinking of the water.”

(See references: John 3:1-15; 4:1-15; 14:6)

Grace,

John

By: kolabok21

kolabok21 — Wed, 28 Feb 2007 13:39:19 +0000

Trading in the watering trough for a carrot on a stick!
The reviews (3 only) seem to offer a day and night evaluation of Erickson