Rev. Dan: Reflections

What Happened to My Generation: January 17, 2008

In many ways, I am thankful for having been raised during some of the most turbulent times in modern history: the 1960s. Every form of authority and tradition was called into question by an enthusiastic new generation. All bets were off. All things were possible. Everything seemed new. There was an exploding free market of new ideas permeating every corner of our country. Unbridled optimism and confidence could be found in every new song, speech, and article. Peace, love and even utopia seemed right around the corner.

But, by the late 1970s things started to change. It was clear that utopia was not coming.

Presidents, presidential candidates, civil rights leaders had been shot and killed. Wars would not end. Presidents were caught cheating. And, wide-spread drug usage began to turn ugly. The highs were becoming lows. Free sex was destroying lives, marriages, and families.

It was during this time, in 1982, that I decided to become a follower of Christ. I did not want to give up some of the higher ideals of my generation: love, peace, kindness, generosity, and social concern. But, what I had to admit to myself was that I was incapable of achieving these goals apart from the saving work of Christ in my life. I had spent years trying to listen better, love more, find meaning in life, but came to the stark conclusion that I was incapable of living this kind of life without help from outside my life.

Then it hit me. My generation and I in our enthusiasm and euphoria over what we thought humans were capable of achieving had left out the most important ingredient of all: God. You see, during the 1960s, God was just one more authority not to trust. He represented one more tradition, which had to be replaced with something new. I did not know it at the time, but my generation was attempting the impossible: to usher in peace and love apart from grace, prayer, and the presence of God.

Today, as a result, unfortunately, many members of my generation have grown up theologically illiterate. The pervading belief at the time was that theology was old and irrelevant; it was hierarchical and most likely abusive. Theology in many places disappeared from most academic curriculums. Recently, a college professor in New England conducted a survey which revealed the shocking truth that the baby boomer and younger generations do not possess even the most basic understanding of theology. Results came back telling us such things as: the average college or graduate student today cannot name one of the four gospels in the New Testament, or cannot say whether Muhammad was born before or after Jesus, or whether Moses or Alexander the Great came first in history.

I am afraid to say that many middle-aged people today who once espoused tearing down the system, helping the poor, ending war, going after corporate greed, pursuing love and peace at all costs, have incredulously found themselves headlong into amassing wealth, enjoying comfort, and buying more toys with which to play. In many ways, but in a different form, they have become the people they had once challenged and opposed in their youth.

There are indeed high consequences for leaving God out of your life. When you leave God out of your life you become a captive to self. It is very subtle. Faith in God, admitting sin, are the only ways to escape the captivity of self, enter into the fields of love and righteousness, serve others in joy, and discover who you truly are.

Theology is not a dirty word. It is perhaps the most important academic and certainly the most important personal discipline in the world. For the past two years, I have been leading an Islam Study Group in the northern suburbs of Chicago. I have discovered that people are dying to know more about Islam. They are admitting that they know very little. They are confessing, too, that they want to know much more about their own faith or tradition in Christ. They are deeply frustrated reading the newspapers these days, not knowing the differences between Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. It has been very rewarding for me to organize these lectures and witness large crowds coming to such talks as: "What is Islam?" "Who Was Muhammad?" or "What Does the Quran Say?"

I believe many people in my generation are ripe and ready to admit their great error of omitting God from their personal quests and analyses. It is never too late to decide to read the Bible on your own, join a small group in prayer or Bible study, attend church, or enroll in a theology class at a local university. It is never too late to admit that many personal goals remain unrealized because we have never given faith a chance. It is okay to wrestle with the greatest claim ever made in history: that Jesus is God. It will be an exercise you will never regret.