I can’t remember where I first came across this term most likely in a book I was reading, I made a note and followed by purchasing book where term was first coined. While the book was written back in 2005 these issues addressed still exist today.
For inquiring minds, the book is called – Soul Searching – The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers. I am currently reading this book and the term MTD IS introduced on page 162. In the authors own words summing a number of interviews with teens from all backgrounds they state the reason for it – “Here we attempt to summarize our observations by venturing a general thesis about teenage religion and spirituality in the United States.”
Their research, through extensive travel and interviews helped them or at least gave them a framework for what many teens, Christians and non-Christians alike believed about God and the world around them. They named those core beliefs – MORALISTIC THEREPEUTIC DEISM also referred to as MTD.
The breakdown of this term is as follows –
1. A God exists who created and orders the world and watches over human life on earth.
2. God wants people to be good, nice, and fair to each other, as taught in the Bible and by most world religions.
3. The central goal of life is to be happy and to feel good about oneself.
4. God does not need to be particularly involved in one’s life except when God is needed to resolve a problem.
5. Good people go to heaven when they die.
While published over twenty years ago we can still see this sentiment is seen across a broad spectrum of teens and includes many adults.
The above list shows a lack of true understanding of the character and being of God, the depravity of man and what why Christ came to die. Number three for example takes the focus away from and off of God and places it on self. Man’s calling his duty is glorify God! The Westminster Catechism emphasizes this with Question 1 What is the chief end of man – the chief end is to GLORIFY GOD and ENJOY HIM FOREVER.
Even after this book published, even after the stats were revealed still seems to be just keep the youth busy with activities. The aim and hope are to “keep them in church” so we don’t lose them, but the real question is, do you even have them to begin with?
If they were only taught Bible stories and not the “biblical Gospel” then the answer is no and they will drift. I ran into this a bit when studying out DECONSTRUCTIONSIM. If they never, had it, then what were they deconstructing from?
The second statement emphasizes being a good person. The Bible again emphasizes that there are none that are good. Besides teaching morality is not the Gospel. The Sermon on the Mount for example is not the Gospel, loving your neighbor is not the Gospel. The Gospel includes the Death Burial and Resurrection of Christ; it includes faith and repentance. Being a good person, reading your Bible, and doing good works (however those may be defined) having belief about God does not earn his favor.
This is a problem across the denominational landscape. What is needed today is a hardy, deliberate return back to historical and biblical Christianity) solid expositional preaching and doctrinally sound gospel-permeated Christianity.
The pragmatic, theatrically driven, numbers-oriented and easy believism approach must be put to death and replaced with preaching that is Christ Centered aimed at the hearts and minds of our young people with an aim for repentance, conversion, holiness and sanctified living and service. God is worthy.
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