‘Selfie’—Word of the Year; “Braggie” not far Behind

A “selfie” is a self-portrait photograph, typically taken with a hand-held digital camera or camera phone held at arm's length, and then posted to one's social networks. Significantly, it is Oxford Dictionaries' “word of the year,” the word, they believe, that best reflects the mood of the times.

As a ‘what’s-happening-in-our-culture’ person, I took note of this otherwise innocuous event. The word selfie powerfully (and unashamedly) expresses our culture's obsession with self-promoting social media. And while “selfie” is the word of this year, a new popular term (and practice) is close behind—'braggie,' an image posted to social networks designed purely to show off or make friends jealous.

Being consumed with one's self-image is not new; but it has found a new avenue of expression. Are we not all latent selfies and braggies at heart? Social media is only unveiling the things hidden in the heart of mankind. If selfie reflects the mood of the times, maybe Oxford's choice is a cultural wake-up call.

The Demise of Crystal Cathedral

A decline in attendance and revenue loss over the last decade has led to the demise of the Crystal Cathedral Ministries in Garden Grove, along with its renowned glass cathedral—sold to the Catholic archdiocese for $58 million. At the same time, founder Robert Schuller and his wife resigned from the board amid a dispute over payments due him, just after his daughters had been fired last week: a sad ending to the Schulller dynasty.

          Robert Schuller is well known for his version of prosperity theology: “Possibility Thinking.” In his book, “Self-Esteem: The New Reformation,” Schuller replaced the message of salvation from sin with the message of rescue from low self-esteem, saying, “I realized that every sermon I preach should be designed, not to ‘teach’ or ‘convert’ people, but rather to encourage them, to give them a lift; thus, I have adopted the spirit, style, strategy, and substance of a ‘therapist’ in the pulpit.”

          I believe Schuller's therapeutic teaching was what Paul calls a “different gospel” (Gal. 1:6; 2 Cor. 11;4).  "Different gospels" come and go.  And while "Possibility Thinking" may go the way of the defunct Crystal Cathedral, the gospel of "believe-in-yourself" wont be going away anytime soon: “There will be terrible times in the last days; people will be lovers of self…” (2 Tim. 3:1-2). 

The “Shrinking” of the Church

Last week I read an article by Os Guinness about the “therapeutic revolution” in American. And he made reference to a book called “The Shrinking of America.” Guinness went on to say that the most egregious effect of psychology on the church has been the re-defining of sin.

There is something about our human nature that makes us want to excuse our sin. Sin sounds so old-fashioned—and so harsh. The word “mistake” or "lapse in judgment” is so much easier to swallow.

This also facilitates our being able to explain it away, e.g. the old familiar "everyone else was doing it;" or the fail-safe "I didn't think anyone would get hurt." But the worst kind of sin-excuse is the now-common "it wasn't my fault; I’m a victim.” All this is the result of therapy’s re-designation of sin. But here's the real danger: if there is no sin, then there is no need for salvation. If there are only mistakes, there is only a need to do better. Translated into therapeutic language: your problem is poor self-esteem. But the self-esteem construct denies original sin, saying “there are no bad people; just people who believe bad things about themselves.” Conclusion: we don’t need to be saved; we just need to recover.

Last year, we visited a church that 20 years ago had been a model of expository teaching. But as I perused the bulletin, I was stuck by the fact that where there used to be mid-week Bible Studies, there were now recovery groups and book clubs. Beware! Psychology’s effect on the church is to replace self-denial with self-improvement. Is this not what Paul calls “another gospel?” (Galatians 1:7)