Stephen Meeks’ Blog

Eaves dropping on my daughter and a friend, I noticed they used the word “like” a minimum of three times in EVERY sentence. I explained to the girls that to my generation their language seemed a sign of unintelligence —like  a “duh.”  We decided there are 3 reasons  teens like to use “like”:

1.        It is comfortable language. It is just the way teens (and many in their 20s) talk, and they sometimes don’t know how to communicate without it.                                                   

2.      They don’t want to offend someone else. “I mean, like, someone else may not agree, like with what you think, and being, like so strong on something might, like, you know, be like offensive…or something.” They said. “ Exactly,” I thought.

3.       They lack certainty on many life subjects.

The culture hound in me saw to the root almost instantly. My generation made straightforward statements, because my generation lived in a world of science and facts. Our language reflected our convictions, because we had solid evidence behind us. Today’s language is tenuous, because the current worldview believes life is in flux–it holds no absolutes.

Unfortunately, this has significance. It means this generation is not likely to remain comfortable when life becomes unlikable. It means life will offended them with its realities of disease, failure, loss, death, and the like. And like it or not, they will eventually despair without absolutes. 

Let us be there to illustrate to them these absolutes and what living them out might look….like.

Tags: Absolutes, Christianity, language, missions, Worldview
Filed under: Church Planting, Culture, Worldview