Tom Beaudoin's Virtual Faith

7 Pages 1650 Words

Religion in Modern Society

Lack of experience is a factor in our society’s lack of knowledge. Being held responsible for the lack of knowledge is not really fair since we do not choose what will happen in our time. We live and the experiences we encounter are ripples from the major shifts that amazingly go unnoticed until there is a great chasm between what was and what is. Generation X is seen as irreverent to the basic traditional religious beliefs. They look to pop culture to shape the way they worship, practice and express their spirituality. Generation X finds meaning in pop culture, not old traditional beliefs that have not changed with the times. There is something different about our social structure that prevents society from looking back for beliefs and makes us look to now to answer our many questions. It is a time of instability as the ever increasing flow of knowledge creates more questions in our mind as to what is truth and if anything we know at all is true.
There is the belief that traditional teachings cannot pertain to current issues. One reason is in each religion there is a holy book which gives guidelines to living a “righteous” life. The time that the guidelines were written there was no technology, not as much easily accessible information, different economic circumstances, and different moral standards. An example is the Bible teaching not to indulge oneself in present pleasures. It basically says to abstain from doing things that will result in instant gratification. We are to abstain from sex, give up all material possessions, treat people as you would want to be treated and these rules are to help guide us to lead moral, just lives. Anything done outside these rules are seen as something we should feel guilty and repent for. This is not something that is widely accepted in the time we live in. We feel that freedom is never having to say we’re sorry and therefore being weighed d...