Foundations

Gaining Clarity in an Age of Confusion

I’m a Gen-Xer born in the late 1970’s so I began to come of age in the late 80’s and early 90’s. It was an era of skating rinks, parachute pants, compact discs, and the emergence of personal computers. 

Like every new generation, there were differences between mine and my parent’s in terms of musical taste, fashion, adaptability to changing technology, and how we spent our free time. However, to a large degree, in the South Louisiana community I was raised in, everyone understood the self, identity, sexuality, and gender in terms of a broadly Christian worldview. 

A Strange New World

Now, two decades into a new century, we find ourselves no longer living in that world. In his book, Strange New World, Carl Truman writes, 

“The generation gap today is reflected not simply in fashion and music but in attitudes and beliefs about some of the most basic aspects of human existence. The result is often confusion and sometimes even heartbreak as many of the most brutal engagements in the culture war are played out around the dinner table and at family gatherings. Welcome to this strange new world. You may not like it. But it is where you live, and therefore it is important that you try to understand it.” 

Truman goes on to trace how thinkers and activists worked to redefine the self, identity, sexuality, and gender. The influence of these philosophers and political activists have led to the creation of a culture where there is:

· No shared understanding of what it means to be human

“There is no better place to go when sifting through the shifting sands of our cultural moment than back to the beginning.”

· No shared understanding of being accountable to an authority higher than ourselves

· No shared understanding of moral absolutes

Truman paints a clear picture of how we got here, but as Christians we also need to consider how we ought to respond to this massive shift in the way younger generations see the world. 

How Do We Respond?

So where do we turn to get some clarity amid all the confusion? There is no better place to go when sifting through the shifting sands of our cultural moment than back to the beginning. For the next several months at Redeemer, we will journey back to the beginning to get some clarity in an age of cultural confusion. 

Foundations: Gaining Clarity in an Age of Confusion, will be a series of messages unearthing truths & themes from Genesis 1-11 and seeing how they speak into our current moment.

The first eleven chapters of Genesis begin at the moment of creation when everything that God makes is declared to be good. However, it does not take long before we see the contamination of the fall when sin entered the world, and everything began to turn in on itself.  Several chapters later, we discover the self-exaltation of Babel where God scatters humankind to the corners of the earth.  He does this so “they could not do whatever they purposed in their hearts”.  The story of where we’ve come takes an unexpected turn in Genesis 12:1-3 with God calling one man from whom He would make a great nation to bless all the nations of the earth. In essence, God sets in motion a plan to restore all that sin had broken. 

Over the next several months, we plan to examine where we’ve come from and consider where we are headed.  We trust this journey will help us make sense of where we are and equip us to respond truthfully and graciously in this cultural moment. We hope you will join us. 

-written by Shannon Collins

Shannon is one of the pastors at Redeemer and has led the church through preaching and vision since its launch in late 2015. He and his wife Karen live in Fate with their two kids. You can connect with Shannon here.