Family devotional #18

Moralistic Therapeutic Deism

In one  of the  largest studies done on what teenagers believe about religion, Christian Smith and Kenda Creasy Dean found that teenagers have become  ”Moralistic Therapeutic Deist.”  Our Pastor last Sunday did a great job of explaining this term and what it means (if you missed it or would like to hear it again go to www.hickorygrove.tv and click on May 6th sermon).

This week I read an article by Dr. Alvin Reid a professor at Southeastern Theological Seminary.  Dr. Reid talks about the dangers of this mentality and challenges youth pastors to rethink the way we approach the bible with our students. I believe this is a good article for you as well. Bellow is a couple of paragraphs from his article.

“Moralistic therapeutic deism is “moralistic,” because its focus is behavior modification. Acting right subtly becomes more important than believing right. It is “therapeutic,” for it focuses on surface change, turning the Bible into a counseling manual more than the revelation of God.  It is “deistic,” because it does not require a God who is intimately involved in all of Creation and in all aspects of our lives, but who generally exists to bring us happiness and most specifically in our spiritual lives.”

“I call it the Aesop’s Fable approach to the Bible. It is ironically a “moral failure,” for by focusing on morality too much we actually hinder students from seeing the lifelong, holistic implications of their faith. Motivation for serving God stems more from changing our behavior than from living a life of radical faith. Such extrinsic motivation will actually work on the short-term: show students how sex before marriage will lead to guilt and disease, for instance, or show them how lying will cost them friendships, and they will abstain from these sins, at least for a season. But if moral change becomes the primary focus of our faith, the long-term obedience we seek may actually be the one thing we will not see.”

Follow this link to read the rest of the article:

I Samuel 15:17-31; 2 Samuel 12:1-15; Psalm 51

Observation:

• There is a distinct difference is Saul’s repentance and David’s.  Discuss this.

Application:

Scripture examines the heart of David and his desire for repentance in Psalm 51:

• Verses 1-2- David is confessing, asking for God’s mercy and his desire to be cleansed from his sin.
• Verses 3-5- He takes responsibility for his sin, acknowledges his guilt before God, and recognizes from birth he was a sinner.
• Verses 6-14- His heart desires restoration and renewal from God.
• Verses 15-17- Beautiful picture of David worshiping God with a heart that is genuine and reverent to a Holy God.
• Verses 18-19- According to the ESV study bible notes, the Psalm shifts its focus from individual repentance and worship to the whole body of believers. Our spiritual health will positively or negatively affect the whole body of Christ.

Discuss as a family how studying this passage has influenced how you see your sin. Talk about how this will change the way in which you will approach forgiveness from the Lord in the future.