The Narcissism Epidemic

The Today Show had a piece on this morning about the prevailing narcissism of the current generation. You can read the article and watch a video here.  Now an entire generation of young adults, and thirty-somethings are more concerned with themselves and their little space on the internet.

 "The cultural focus on self-admiration began with the shift toward focusing on the individual in the 1970s, documented in Tom Wolf's article on “The Me Decade” in 1976 and Lasch's “The Culture of Narcissism.” In the three decades since, narcissism has grown in ways these authors never could have imagined. The fight for the greater good of the 1960s became looking out for number one by the 1980s. Parenting became more indulgent, celebrity worship grew, and reality TV became a showcase of narcissistic people. The Internet brought useful technology but also the possibility of instant fame and a "Look at me!" mentality. "

Parents and teachers began worrying about children's self-esteem. They gave the children unmerited praise and refused to discipline or correct because the were worried that it might hurt little Johnny's self-esteem. Did it work?

"In fact, narcissism causes almost all of the things that Americans hoped high self-esteem would prevent, including aggression, materialism, lack of caring for others, and shallow values. In trying to build a society that celebrates high self-esteem, self-expression, and "loving yourself," Americans have inadvertently created more narcissists — and a culture that brings out the narcissistic behavior in all of us. This book chronicles American culture's journey from self-admiration, which seemed so good, to the corrosive narcissism that threatens to infect us all."

Why didn't boosting our children's self-esteem work? Because it isn't Biblical. The Bible says that we are made in the image of God (Gen 1:27) and that sets us apart from the animals and gives us worth. Where does our worth come from? From God. Our own works are like filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6) and none of us are righteous without God (Rom 3:10.) We are to be more concerned with the well-being of others than we are for ourselves (Phil 2:3-4) and we are to live to serve, not live to be served.

Do we understand that, without God we are filthy. There is nothing good in us apart from God. We are totally depraved. Anything good in our life is because of God, why are we giving ourselves the praise?

Why did so many Christians fall for it? Because Christians are forgetting the Bible. They look at psychology or science first, and try to fit the Bible in. Christians no longer know how to think rightly (or Biblically.)  This topic is fascinating to me, as I began to understand the depth of how I am not thinking Biblically. Hopefully, for my own benefit, I will be able to put some more thoughts together on the subject. Until then.

8:56 AM - Apr. 21, 2009 - post comment

Hey Beth!

Love this post. Been thinking along these lines a lot lately...questioning everything that my eyes see as normal and how they would actually look from the perspective of the bible. I've got a couple of people I'm going to share this with to help explain what I mean and hopefully build a conversation...

Thanks!
Raina

Anonymous - 5:36 PM - Apr. 22, 2009

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