Smoke and Mirrors

Dec. 12, 2009

America: Nothing but Smoke and Mirrors

After being absent from my culture for a time and now returning to it, I have a theory about American culture: what it is and what it needs. Here it goes.

This modern world

My first observation about modern America is that we are unbelievably advanced in technology. We possess artifacts that the ancients would never have dreamed of. We can speak across the globe in an instant. We can circumvent it in less than a day. We have tiny boxes that can produce endless hours of music upon our request and whim. I mean, think about that. If you wanted to hear a symphony, you used to actually have to go to the symphony. Today, you can carry it around in a 3 ounce ipod.

Let's keep going. There is more entertainment available today on Youtube for free than any mortal could ever consume. And forget the Roman Colosseum. we can watch bloodier, more exciting things with the wave of our hand. And we can even participate in fighting in such games all day and night without any risk of injury (except perhaps carpal tunnels). Sexual imagery is everywhere. We have sex on demand. We are like gods. Nay, better. Even Zeus had to come down in human flesh to seduce a woman that he desired. For a paltry fee, we can have her at the edge of our fingers in high definition.

Global village

People who have grown up in the last few decades have lived with such immense power at their fingertips since birth. It is commonplace to us now, nothing special. Only the latest thing is special. And even that doesn't stay latest for long. We have more entertainment than we could ever imagine consuming.

And it comes in the form of mass-produced goods. Ipods, computers, cars... though they try to fool us into thinking that it's “our ipod,” or a “personal computer,” all we're really doing is choosing the model and colors. There are thousands of others out there with the exact same good. In my opinion, we are united by our mass-produced, mass-consumed entertainment. People from California to Maine watch the same TV hits. Heck, people in Japan will be watching them in six months. The entire world is unified by the US entertainment behemoth. We have more in common than ever with millions around the world who love the same movies and electronic gadgets we do. Without ever visiting China, you share the same entertainment consumption with them.

“Global village.” That's what we call this. We feel it all around us. And yet, what is the effect on human community? My thesis, if there is one, is this: because of the interconnectedness created by mass-produced, mass-consumed products, even though we have more in common with more people than ever before, and even though we can maintain more relationships than ever before, Americans feel as though we are losing our individuality and genuine human relationships.

Nothing but lies

One interesting fact about these phenmenons is their falsehood. I mean, entertainment is nothing but acting. I think that's why reality shows have been so popular: they aren't totally scripted, and they give an illusion of something real. However, for everything else, we are watching actors and 3D animation. There is no reality to video games, movies, music, and television. They exist to make money, not convey truth.

Everything is false. Our music is about love to non-existant lovers. Our adventures are digitally produced, and there is neither risk nor true reward for completing them: just a pretty computer graphic movie at the end. Even our sex is done by actors. It is false (they're not really having sex) and absent of love (they're actors, for crying out loud!). And though we love it when a movie says “based on a true story,” how many of us actually take the time to research and see how much of it is true? Few care about the real, true story, just the entertaining movie. In a thousand ways, we spend our lives living in a virtual reality world, utterly absent of substance.

I think this plays into the overwhelmingly post-modern culture of today. When so much time is spent consuming entertainment and advetizing, it's hard to care about truth. There is so much information going into the mind that it's hard to discern every piece of it and easier to only care about what makes you feel good. It's just too much work to examine truth.

Loneliness

Let's face it. As much as we can put out an image or pretend, we are part of a mass of humanity. We are a part of a statistically calculated demographic. They know what you're likely to like, and they use it to market to you, be “they” Warner Brothers or the Republican party.

This is something we live knowing, and we rebel against it. As Americans, we hate it. We want to be individuals! So we watch the TV we like and we buy the latest goods to be individuals. But everyone else, of course, is doing the same thing. We try to be ourself, but there's still the reality that we are somewhat defined by these mass-produced, mass-consumed products, just like everyone else. This desire to express ourselves and be individuals contributes to the use of Youtube and blogging. As convenient as it is for watching movies without paying the price of admission, a lot of people use Youtube to post their own videos, hoping somehow to get the view counter above 1,000.

In a world where we are more aware than ever how many millions are out there, we are alone. We have our god-toys for comfort, but despite them, we live with a profound loneliness. There are more ways than ever to communicate with people (from text messenging to Facebook), but all that does is to make our communication more superficial than ever. We can maintain four times as many relationships with all this technology, but they have the depth of a dessert lake. We are more connected than ever and lonlier than ever.

Genuine

I am convinced that all these facts play into the extreme emphasis placed by young people today on genuineness.

In my experience, one of the best things you can be is genuine. It is such a positive word in this century in the English language. Because of this world of lies, when people run into someone who does not put up an outer facade but is on the outside what they are on the inside, they are drawn to that.

But despite all our methods of communication, most Americans have a difficult time really opening up and being “genuine.” It's hard to do that in a 6 KB text message, after all. It's also why people respect a truly genuine person. In a world so much about things, Americans are longing, more than ever, for real, deep human relationships. They may not admit this or consciously think about it all the time (our god-toys are great at distracting us from our deeper thoughts), but there is a desire for better human relationships.

We live in a world about flashiness. Text messeges are new and flashy (or were a few years ago). Iphone apps are all the rage right now. We love the new. We love the advanced. So sitting down and having a conversation for three hours just sounds boring. So while we put “genuine” on a pedestal, we don't really want to be genuine ourselves. Despite our deep loneliness, what it takes to get out of that loneliness (like talking without music or TV in the background) isn't flashy or new.

What people really want

Young people these days want those true, genuine relationships, whether they admit it or not. Most didn't get them in their family growing up, and they're not getting them from Facebook. Despite all the distraction of our flashy technology, people cannot escape the need for reality, genuiness. And in a world where so many families are broken, they cannot escape their longing for love.

Enter the church

I believe that this is one of the deepest, truest felt-needs in our society today. And it is essential for the mission of the church that we understand this aspect of American culture.

Some churches have gotten good enough at using the world's ways (being flashy) to attract large crowds and get tons of “sinner's prayers” out of people (in the quietness their own seats while everyone's eyes are closed). However, what they do not realize is that they are just meeting a superficial desire: being flashy. They are not meeting the deeper need: something with substance.

The uber-pastor up front, even if he makes himself seem genuine, is still often putting up a facade of what he knows people want (genuineness). He's still an actor on a stage. He is still creating a mass-produced, mass-consumed product: the church service. People, despite enjoying that and being enthralled by that, need something more in this isolated society. They want personal interraction and human relationships. Whether they admit it or even realize it or not, no amount of mass-product will meet their need for meaningful relationships, muchless create a strong relationship with God.

Churches must grow smaller in today's culture. What I mean is that they need small groups, not that the congregation should shrink. If you're just producing a mass-product, you will stay on the superficial outside, and little real transformation will happen. I believe that in today's mass-culture, the best place to create true transformation is in the totally counter-cultural place of a genuine, small community where people know one another deeply. Where they can have those media-less three-hour conversations. The deep loneliness of our society cries for that.

If churches continue to issue productions, they can have some results. But when push comes to shove, Hollywood has a bigger budget, and they're just better at advertizing. The church just can't compete with their mastry of media. So, what I am suggesting is a total side-stepping of the culture into the counter-cultural realm of deep relationships in small groups. Go straight for the jugular of the felt-need and bypass all the marketing.

But these can't be just any small groups. No. As Christians, we have to unplug from our media enough to develop real people-skills, like listening to others in a way that gets them to truly talk. The small groups that are needed are small groups filled with people who are experiencing the transforming power of the gospel and learning to develop deep, real, loving, and strong human relationships. In short, they must experience transformation and do so openly in community. In our culture of broken families, I think that people are longing deeply for that kind of nearness and unconditional love. And that is something the church was made to do that Hollywood never can.

Know your culture

It is important to understand your own culture. It is important to study your own culture and study it hard, just as a missionary studies a foreign culture he enters. If you do, you understand what people are hurting and where they need healing from God and ultimately may be open to the Gospel. We must be students of our culture.

For instance, I think the days of tracts are much ended in America. Quite simply, it's just another mass-produced product, so many people these days will even read it. Even a gospel presentation personally presented through a tract can still have that mass-produced feel, and people feel like you are not being genuine, which is the unforgiveable sin. They will shut you out. The gospel must not only be the true gospel message, but it must be presented in such a way that people know they are loved and cared for in the presentation. Otherwise, they will not listen. Tracts make you appear just like Coca-cola. Only Coke has better ads.

Sharing in a non-truth culture

Our culture is almost entirely oriented away from truth, now. It is thoroughly post-modern. And you can wring your hands and wonder how to bash that away and share the gospel, or you can use it to your advantage. People are disillusioned with claims of absolute truth, but they are thirsting for deep relationships. Make your church a place of such deep relationships that they will be drawn into it, loved like they've never been loved in their lives, and find themselves believing this truth that has such power.

For all that we care about “having an answer” to the question that we are asked, it is Jesus that said, “By this all men will know you are my disciples: if you love one another.” Our culture is now in a perfect place for the spilling-over of genuine love from within a church to be the primary method of evangelism to those outside of the church.

So, in conclusion, be a student of your own culture. These are some observations by me, but I'm not sure how accurate they all are. You must study American culture for yourself and pray for God's wisdom. And study the difference between Christian and non-Christian subcultures. They are quite different, and you don't want to be preaching a Christian-aimed message to non-Christians. Preach the Word; be a minister of the entrusted, holy, and true gospel, and do it in a way where people can easily understand the hard-to-receive, life-destroying, life-healing power of our God.