Understanding Moralistic Therapeutic Deism (MTD) and Psalm 94
Exploring the concept of Moralistic Therapeutic Deism (MTD) as a modern form of faith, alongside a reflection on Psalm 94, which discusses the themes of justice, wisdom, and divine intervention in the face of wickedness and oppression.
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Moralistic Therapeutic Deism (MTD) Engaging the Spirituality of Our Time July 12th, 2020
MTD Class Outline July 5th: Introduction July 12th: Deism/Theism July 19th: Moralistic July 26th: Therapeutic
Psalm 94 The LORD Will Not Forsake His People 94 O LORD, God of vengeance, O God of vengeance, shine forth! 2Rise up, O judge of the earth; repay to the proud what they deserve! 3O LORD, how long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked exult? 4They pour out their arrogant words; all the evildoers boast. 5They crush your people, O LORD, and afflict your heritage.
Psalm 94 6They kill the widow and the sojourner, and murder the fatherless; 7and they say, The LORD does not see; the God of Jacob does not perceive. 8Understand, O dullest of the people! Fools, when will you be wise? 9He who planted the ear, does he not hear? He who formed the eye, does he not see? 10He who disciplines the nations, does he not rebuke? He who teaches man knowledge 11 the LORD knows the thoughts of man, that they are but a breath.[a]
Psalm 94 12Blessed is the man whom you discipline, O LORD, and whom you teach out of your law, 13to give him rest from days of trouble, until a pit is dug for the wicked. 14For the LORD will not forsake his people; he will not abandon his heritage; 15for justice will return to the righteous, and all the upright in heart will follow it.
Psalm 94 16Who rises up for me against the wicked? Who stands up for me against evildoers? 17If the LORD had not been my help, my soul would soon have lived in the land of silence. 18When I thought, My foot slips, your steadfast love, O LORD, held me up. 19When the cares of my heart are many, your consolations cheer my soul. 20Can wicked rulers be allied with you, those who frame[b]injustice by statute? 21They band together against the life of the righteous and condemn the innocent to death.[c]
Psalm 94 22But the LORD has become my stronghold, and my God the rock of my refuge. 23He will bring back on them their iniquity and wipe them out for their wickedness; the LORD our God will wipe them out.
MTD: Core Beliefs (gotquestions.org) 1. A god exists who created and ordered the world and watches over human life on earth. (DEISM) 2. God wants people to be good, nice, and fair to each other, as taught in the Bible and by most world religions. (MORALISTIC) 3. The central goal of life is to be happy and to feel good about oneself. (THERAPEUTIC) 4. God does not need to be particularly involved in one s life except when God is needed to resolve a problem. (DEISM & THERAPEUTIC) 5. Good people go to heaven when they die. (MORALISTIC)
MTD Christian Smith: ...we have come with some confidence to believe that a significant part of Christianity in the United States is actually only tenuously connected to the actual historical Christian tradition but has rather substantially morphed into Christianity s misbegotten step-cousin, Christian Moralistic Therapeutic Deism. This has happened in the minds and hearts of many individual believers and, it also appears, within the structures of at least some Christian organizations and institutions.
MTD Christian Smith: The language and therefore experience of Trinity, holiness, sin, grace, justification, sanctification, church, Eucharist, and heaven and hell appear, among most Christian teenagers in the United States at the very least, to be being supplanted by the language of happiness, niceness, and an earned heavenly reward. It is not so much that Christianity in the United States is being secularized. Rather more subtly, either Christianity is at least degenerating into a pathetic version of itself or, more significantly, Christianity is actively being colonized and displaced by a quite different religious faith (pp. 56-57).
MTD: Deism/ Theism God exists as creator but is only involved in the daily affairs of our lives from afar and only when we need him to do something for us- Theism Classic deism says that God is NEVER involved What would make this kind of God attractive? Is this a God worth worshiping? If yes, why if no then why not? As we think about a typical day in our life, how often do we do our days as if the MTD god is all there is?
MTD: Deism/Theism Deism is the belief that God is out there and not really involved in our lives on a day to day basis. We believe in this distant God, but we do not have a regular transaction with Him. Because he is disconnected our religion reverts to being a system of rules, regulations, therapy and feeling good. - Dwight Longenecker Who we believe God to be is the foundation of what our faith/religion will be all about.
MTD: Deism/Theism This description of God is not consistent with either the OT or NT Our understanding of God is based on how he reveals himself to us in Scripture As we talk to friends and family who have this idea of who God is; ask them where they got the idea from? They are getting it from somewhere. They might not be aware that this is not how God is described in the Bible. Don t assume. We are in a Post-Christian Culture. Authority of Scripture versus another authority (Self) MTD elevates the self so as a result God gets diminished This could lead to a discussion about reliability and inerrancy of scripture
Psalm 92: 1-3 1It is good to praise the LORD and make music to your name, O Most High, 2proclaiming your love in the morning and your faithfulness at night, 3to the music of the ten-stringed lyre and the melody of the harp. How do these verses differ with how MTD describes God?
Psalm 92: 4-5 4For you make me glad by your deeds, LORD; I sing for joy at what your hands have done. 5How great are your works, LORD, how profound your thoughts! How do these verses differ with how MTD describes God?
Romans 8:26-27 26In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us through wordless groans.27And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for God s people in accordance with the will of God. How do these verses differ with how MTD describes God?
Romans 8:28-30 28And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who[i]have been called according to his purpose.29For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.30And those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. How do these verses differ with how MTD describes God?
Romans 8:31-32; 35-39 31What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?32He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? 35Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?36As it is written: For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered. [j] 37No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.38For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,[k]neither the present nor the future, nor any powers,39neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. How do these verses differ with how MTD describes God?
Application Why does a distant God who helps us when we think we need him is so attractive to us? What are some concrete steps you can take this week to help you to become more aware of God during each day?
