Obsession with Youth

By Stephen W. Hiemstra

One of the defining characteristics of the Christian faith is honoring each individual, regardless of age, as being created in the image of God. The Apostle Paul’s writing is particularly clear on this point. He writes: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Gal 3:28) No ethic group is better than any other; no economic class is better than any other; and no gender is better than any other. Paul goes on to extend his concept to the family:

Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor your father and mother (this is the first commandment with a promise), that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land. Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord. (Eph 6:1-4)

Paul is essentially saying that because we are all created in the image of God, no age group is better than any other. Neither a newborn, nor a senior standing at the gates of heaven is better than one another. Christians are to value life stages equally by honoring each stage, and not clinging to any particular stage as if it were intrinsically preferred.

In this sense, Christianity is a holistic faith that values maturity and embraces each stage of life with equal joy. This makes particular sense in a Christian context because our faith is rooted in history. Creation is the beginning and the second coming of Christ will be its end. Knowing the end is in Christ, we can journey through life in Christ meeting the challenges of each stage in life without fear.

The Allure of Youth

The holistic nature of the Christian lifestyle puts it in direct conflict with today’s youth culture where putting on a bit of weight or allowing people to see gray hair puts you at risk of being shunned and ridiculed. Celebrities in our culture—politicians, war heroes, athletes, movie stars, musicians, fashion models, the rich—all hide their age judiciously and show as much skin as possible to reinforce the illusion that they remain young. The Christian idea that beauty consists of character and appearance being in sync runs counter to this obsession with appearance (Dyrness 2001, 80).

Ironically, this obsession with youth comes at a time when fewer people are getting married and having children (Pew Research Center 2015). Those that do find less support from families, the church, and even schools for raising healthy kids because the focus has shifted to other age groups. 

The church is complicit with this youth obsession when it implicitly acts as though the Christian message is not fit for adults by:

◆ By refusing to practice evangelism and to argue apologetically for the Gospel,
◆ By energetically taking up various popular causes and cultural affinities,
◆ By neglecting the care of souls, and
◆ By putting itself out there as a defacto daycare facility.

Bonhoeffer (1995, 114) observes: “The Church confesses herself guilty of the collapse of parental authority. She offered no resistance to contempt for age and idolization of youth, for she was afraid of losing youth and with it the future.” For an organization with a limited staff and budget to focus on anything other than the Gospel is to be complicit with culture.

Christmas as a Family Event

Think about the holidays. Halloween used to be about little children; now, playing dress up for Halloween has become an obsession for older people. Likewise, the family orientation of Thanksgiving is being eclipsed by retailers anxious to increase Christmas sales.

The secularization of Christmas directly mutes the Christian message on family. The Christmas story in Gospels of Matthew and Luke is a family story, one of the few biblical stories almost exclusively focused on family relations. The image of God in Genesis plays out in the New Testament with two very worried parents trying to cope with a stressful, even murderous, environment.

Later, the Gospel of John records Jesus caring for this mother from the cross:

When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, Woman, behold, your son! Then he said to the disciple, Behold, your mother! And from that hour the disciple took her to ahis own home. (John. 19:26-27)

This personal statement in a public execution—a family moment—suggests that the Apostle John was an eye witness, but more importantly it gives us a glimpse into the person of Jesus, who cares for his family even in inconvenient circumstances. Obviously, Mary was also an eye witness and family-focused person.

Promotion of Inadequacy

While the postmodern obsession with youth may seem random, the disfunction of remaining an adolescent well into adulthood and encouraging adolescent attitudes about market purchases may be a direct consequence of strategies employed by advertisers. Inadequacy marketing directly assaults the spirit of most religious teaching, irrespective of theology, because most religions aid our maturation and help us to contribute to society.

Marketing expert Jonah Sacks (2012, 89, 93) writes: “All story-based marketing campaigns contain an underlying moral of the story and supply a ritual that is suggested to react to that moral.” This advertising might be harmless, if it were not repeatedly, endlessly chipping away at our basic morality and promoting a materialistic worldview. Blamires (2005, 74) observes:

In the world of advertisement no man ever grows older than thirty-five and no woman grows older than twenty-seven. It is a cosy picture of life, full of color and ease. There is always plenty to eat and drink. The furniture never gets old or drab.

While this is less true of advertising today than in the 1960s when Blamires wrote, even the old in advertisements are fitter than most Americans, more fashion aware, and enjoy the active lives of the rich and famous. If large corporations find it in their financial interest to keep us feeling inadequate, then the increasing focus on youth in our culture is not a random outcome. 

Implications

Much is at stake in encouraging people to follow a normal pattern of maturation rather than getting stuck in a particular stage in life. Centering on the image of God in Jesus Christ is an antidote to the immaturity being promoted today in secular culture.

References

Blamires, Harry. 2005. The Christian Mind: How Should a Christian Think? (Orig Pub 1963) Vancouver: Regent College Publishing.

Bonhoeffer, Dietrich. 1995. The Cost of Discipleship (Orig Pub 1937). New York: Simon and Schuster.

Dyrness, William A. 2001. Visual Faith: Art, Theology, and Worship in Dialogue. Grand Rapids:  Baker Academic.

Pew Research Center. 2015. The American Family Today. December 17. Online: http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2015/12/17/1-the-american-family-today. Accessed: 10 December 2018.

Sacks, Jonah. 2012. Winning the Story Wars: Why Those Who Tell—and Live—the Best Stories Will Rule the Future. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.

Obsession with Youth
Also see:
The Who Question
Preface to a Life in Tension
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Author site: http://www.StephenWHiemstra.net
Publisher site: http://www.T2Pneuma.com




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