Sociologists Christian Smith and Melissa Lundquist Denton have labeled the prominent religion in the US as Moralistic Therapeutic Deism (MTD) even among professing Christians. Five points define MTD.
- A God exists who created and orders the world and watches over human life on earth.
- God wants people to be good, nice, and fair to each other, as taught in the Bible and by most world religions.
- The central goal of life is to be happy and to feel good about oneself.
- God does not need to be particularly involved in one’s life except when God is needed to resolve a problem.
- Good people go to heaven when they die.
Moralistic is seen in points #2 and #5. Therapeutic is seen in points #3 and #4. Deism is seen in points #1 and #4. If these five points don’t seem that surprising, I think there is good reason for this. MTD is rampant in American churches. As a pastor, I doubt a week goes by in ministry when I am not encountering MTD among church members.
I tend to define cultural Christianity, especially of the southern variety, with two tenets: (1) belief in the existence of God (see #1) and (2) ethics loosely related to portions of the Bible, but mostly concerned with being a good person (see #2). I have officiated enough funerals to know how prevalent statements such as this are: “I know he’s in heaven because he was such a good person” (see #5). Such statements are astonishingly common from Christian ministers.
Unsurprisingly, Smith and Denton found that MTD shows up in the prayer lives of American teenagers. This is unsurprising because Christian thinkers have long known that how we pray reveals what we believe (lex orandi, lex credendi). When surveyed, American teenagers did admit to praying. However, prayer was mostly a therapy session (e.g. “to feel better”) or aid to good living (e.g. “to do better”). Noticeably absent, especially when compared to biblical prayers and the historic prayers of Christians, are the elements of adoration (praising God for who God is) and confession (admitting the specifics of our inability and sin).
This means our liturgy (i.e. how we pray) matters. It is not neutral. As church services jettison doctrine and formative elements in a desire to be relevant, we should not be surprised that professing Christians are actually moralistic therapeutic deists. This is true of many so-called traditional churches as well. They may not have the showmanship of the mega church, but they have neglected Scripture and doctrine in favor of emotionalism and sentimentality. The services are not forming Christians, they are forming moralistic therapeutic deists.
If our prayer lives are so integrally connected to our belief system, then we must pray carefully. But I’ve found that many understand prayer in the same way as those American teenagers surveyed by Smith and Denton. Prayer is heavy on thanksgiving and asking God for things, but it is light on adoration and confession.
What is the corrective? Martin Luther wrote a little book on prayer for his barber. I highly recommend reading that. What follows is a partial adaptation of his suggestions. We can learn to pray rightly by praying through Scripture with four movements.
1. Adoration: How does the passage cause me to worship and adore God?
2. Confession: How does the passage stir me to confess my shortcomings?
3. Thanksgiving: How does the passage move me to gratefulness?
4. Petition: How does the passage prompt me to pray for others and myself?
Let’s take Psalm 146 as an example.
Praise the Lord.
Praise the Lord, my soul.
I will praise the Lord all my life;
I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.
Do not put your trust in princes,
in human beings, who cannot save.
When their spirit departs, they return to the ground;
on that very day their plans come to nothing.
Blessed are those whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the Lord their God.
He is the Maker of heaven and earth,
the sea, and everything in them—
he remains faithful forever.
He upholds the cause of the oppressed
and gives food to the hungry.
The Lord sets prisoners free,
the Lord gives sight to the blind,
the Lord lifts up those who are bowed down,
the Lord loves the righteous.
The Lord watches over the foreigner
and sustains the fatherless and the widow,
but he frustrates the ways of the wicked.
The Lord reigns forever,
your God, O Zion, for all generations.
Praise the Lord.
As we read slowly through the passage, we let it guide us in prayer. Here are some examples.
1. Adoration: we exalt God for who he is. “Lord, you are our help. You deserve every ounce of praise that I can muster. You are the creator. You are the deliverer. You are merciful. Every square inch of the universe belongs to you.”
2. Confession: we confess our shortcomings. “Lord, I admit that I do not always praise you. If I’m honest, I am often resistant to praising you. I sense deep rebellion in my heart. In the best of times, I am half-hearted in my worship, doing it out of duty rather than delight. I also confess that I trust in many things: people, circumstances, and myself.”
3. Thanksgiving: we thank God for his gifts. “Lord, in Christ you have set me free. I am no longer enslaved to sin. You are a provider, giving us what we need every day. I thank you that I have food for the table, that I have a source of income. You comfort me even when I am lonely and fearful. You are the creator. I give you thanks for your wonderful creation. Its beauty is a source of delight.”
4. Petition: we petition God on behalf of others and ourselves. “Lord, grant that my heart would trust you more than anything else. Unite my fractured soul to worship you. Lord, for those who are oppressed or suffering, set them free.” You can pray for specific people here as well. “Lord, John is suffering at the hands of addiction. But you set the prisoner free. Deliver him from his bondage.” “Lord, Allison is grieving her singleness. Comfort her heart with your presence. Be near her just as you are to all of those who are suffering in loneliness.” “Lord, Paul’s prognosis is so terrible. He and his family are so discouraged. Lift his head. Increase his trust in you. Use this disease for your glory so that you might be exalted.”
As you can see, the possibilities for this type of prayer are endless, but the advantage lies in the fact that it is rooted in Scripture. In order to be formed properly, our prayers must be shaped by the words of Scripture. Additionally, the four movements ensure that we do not lapse into some sort of therapeutic moralism. These movements will work in any portion of Scripture whether you’re reading a story from Genesis, a Psalm, or a portion of the New Testament. When I was first exposed to this type of prayer, I prayed through most of the New Testament.
One final bit of advice. Don’t lose sight of the gospel. As you are praying, remember that your right to pray was won by Christ. He gives you access to the Father through his perfect mediation. Christian prayer is to the Father, through the Son, in the Spirit. Undergirding all Christian prayer is the reality of what God has done through Christ. To gain clarity on this point, it might be particularly helpful to pray through Ephesians 1:3–14.
If you already have a Bible reading plan, use that to pray through what you are reading. If not, you can pick a few Psalms to start.