Christian Moralistic Therapeutic Deism. This term has entered into the conversations of some Christian circles in recent years. It was developed, defined and introduced by Christian Smith and Melinda Lundquist Denton, researchers who sought to understand the spiritual lives of American teenagers. Their book, Soul Searching: The Religious and Spiritual Lives of American Teenagers, presented findings that defined American teens as hugely moralistic, therapeutic deists.
Why “moralistic”? Smith and Denton found that as a whole, American teens took a moralistic approach to life. In other words, they believe that central to life is being “a good and moral person” – someone who is nice and fair to everyone. They would say that, as taught in the Bible and by most world religions, good people go to heaven when they die.
Why “therapeutic”? The authors describe the worldview of these teens as one that provides “therapeutic benefits to its adherents.” All in all, American teens believe that the central goal of life is to be happy and to feel good about oneself. There is little, if anything, within the belief systems of these “Christian” teens that promote “repentance from sin, living as a servant of a sovereign divine or building character through suffering.”
And lastly, they are labeled “deists” because they believe that god exists and created and ordered the world and watches over human life on earth. This “god” however “does not need to be particularly involved in one’s life except when he is needed to resolve a problem.”
An unfortunate picture indeed – one that believes itself to be Christian yet approaches God on the basis of human goodness and not the justifying righteousness of Christ (Romans 3:21-26). Unfortunate still because many of us know these teens. They are in our Sunday schools, our youth ministries and in our churches. Some of them are faithful church attendees, they do well in school and while they may not be perfect, they are perceived on the whole as “good kids.” Yes, good and moral kids who, while they may profess Christ, do not possess the saving faith once for all given to the saints (Jude 1:3), they do not love the Gospel of God enough to sacrifice their lives, much less their comfort, for it and they are far from any commitment to holiness and maturity in the faith.
I find that last sentence immensely tragic and I write it with a heavy heart. My prayer for my own children (and for those that I have the pleasure of knowing) is that they would be Christian and not merely “good and moral children.” I understand of course that there is nothing that I can do to save my children. It is God who saves. Salvation belongs to Him (Revelation 7:10). He chooses and regenerates men, women and children (John 6:65). But the Bible does not leave me without responsibility. I am to be a faithful steward of the Children the LORD has given me. I must be faithful in praying for their hearts to be contrite and repentant. I must impress upon them the meaning of the gospel – drawing clear distinctions between saving faith and moralistic deism. And most importantly, I must pray for the grace to live a life of discipleship that faithfully displays the gospel.
This last point is essential for it calls parents to examine the state of their own Christianity. How much do you understand what you claim to believe? Do you accommodate yourself to the dominant culture’s definition of a “good person” and a “good life” or do you hold fast to the only “Good Person” who ever lived, trusting in His imputed righteousness for your salvation? May it not be that our own moralistic therapeutic deistic beliefs serve as the example for our children.
