Copyright 2003. All rights reserved

It has become almost a cliché in Western evangelical circles to say that individuals under about the age of 35 cannot be effectively brought to faith through rational argument alone. That said the statement is still largely accurate. We who make up "Generations "X" and "Y" (referring to those born since the mid-1960’s) do tend to see the world through the prism of visceral experience. The emotive aspect of our being is often given more credence in interpreting reality for us than the cognitive aspect. Some say this is because our generations have been seduced by the sensuality we are often accused of embracing. Such an explanation is debatable but let us assume, for the moment, it is for the most part true. Is that automatically a bad thing?

When most Christians hear the word "sensuality" they think of illicit sexual activity but this is, at best, a limited definition of the term. It can actually be applied to any experience that comes from and is connected to the five senses, "sense" being the root of the word. Use this wider meaning and sensuality becomes a morally neutral thing for the obvious reason that our Creator built it into us before the Fall. It is a part of the design God Himself called "very good" when he made human beings in His image. We were intended to know feelings by a Being who, it can be assumed from Scripture, also feels. Passion is part and parcel of the biblical narrative. Their are no "Mr. Spocks" in the Bible, only emotive people relating to an emotive God.

But during the Enlightenment of the 18^th Century European civilization started to believe reason was the best, perhaps even the only, way to know God or anything else. Rationalism became the spirit of the age in both the secular and the religious worlds and remained so for three hundred years. Modernism was the ultimate embodiment of this scientific approach to existence and has remained a powerful philosophy in the West. However it is not the only or perhaps even the dominant philosophy anymore. In the "Post-Modern" age other ways of knowing reality have re-asserted themselves. The Greco-Roman culture that gave rise to Rationalism is becoming less a guide today than the Hebraic culture that existed before and in opposition to it. The Hebraic culture does not marginalize feelings. Read the Old Testament and you will see this is true.

The Church does not exist in a cultural vacuum. For better or worse the Bride of Christ has always been heavily influenced by the secular world around her. Our society is changing because we westerners are coming to realize that the rational gods of Modernism are cold deities. The H.G. Wells and B.F. Skinners of the world have bequeathed to us nothing but an arid, technological interpretation of existence. Such an interpretation takes away the very richness of life God originally intended human beings to experience (and I use the word "experience" very intentionally). To the extent which this worldview has influenced Christianity it has taught us to assume that the mind is far more important than the heart.

"Never trust your feelings" has become a mantra in Evangelicalism. Fair enough, however I would like to add "never trust your intellect" to that mantra and at the same time suggest a better one, "Trust God". Truly trusting Him means we will ultimately allow our Creator to manifest Himself to us through both heart and mind. It is true that the younger generations need to be open to both these manifestations of the Divine. Perhaps for a time, as we are trying to find a balance, "Gen X" and "Y" will continue to be more interested in rediscovering the God our fathers often lost sight of in the pursuit of purely cognitive knowledge. We do long to feel, to sense His presence and for this we need not apologize. For now, at least, this is the side of God we find most compelling.