Postmodern Youth Ministry Conference

"Times are changing...our youths live in a Postmodern society. Truth is subjective. Truth is relative. Everything can be questioned." So what is Postmodernism?

I just attended a Postmodern Youth Ministry Conference (7-9 July 2005). The definition given to the question on Postmodernism: "It is a philosophical and theological response to the cultural changes happening around us. It is a way of viewing the world and life. "Post" means "after". So this is the time period after Modernism."

1) Postmodernism rejects the notion of objectivity. We cannot speak objectively about reality because we all see reality differently.

2) Knowledge is uncertain. If objectivity is an impossibility, then all knowledge is subjective. It rejects the notion that there is some sort of foundational knowledge, absolute enough and solid enough to build upon it the assumption of certainty.

The Youth Conference covered "heavy stuff"! How do Youth Workers respond to such notions? Well, such notions came as a surprise and many of us were shocked. Is this really what Postmodern Youth believes in? I guess many of the Youth Workers went back to their ministry with difference ideas and responses.

Here is my respond to the notions:

If we based on the two notions, then it is like looking at a jar of jelly beans and say,

"There is no one correct answers here. I can believe there are 412 pieces of candy and you can believe there are 55,234 and we can be both be right. It really does not matter, after all. What counts is our preferred image of reality." Another example is like justifying an answer that has been marked wrong on a mathematics quiz:

"Teacher, you are unfair. This answer may be wrong for you, but it is right for me. In fact, I believe wholeheartedly that 2+2=5, so for me it is true that 2+2=5."

Well, I do not think so. The correct answer is correct, and an incorrect answer is incorrect, whether we believe it or not. The actual truth is true, even if not one person anywhere believes it is true. If an objective reality stands behind life, that reality defines the way the world functions. Attempt to bypass this reality should carry the surgeon general's warning: "Ignoring truth is hazardous to your life and sanity." I do not want to drive across a bridge designed by an engineer who believed the numbers in the structural stress models are relative truths. Things follow rules, or an authority structure. Chemical element do not change the way they interact without good reason. It works because we can trust in the absolute authority of laws governing reality. Absolute truth empowers us. Once we learn what the truth is as well as its structure of authority, we can move out confidently, trusting in the authority structure that governs life. Functioning in a world without absolute truth and the authority behind it would be hideous experience. We could then trust nothing. We must understand that truth matters and that ultimate truth makes all the difference in a person's life.