Dan Wooding with Brian Nixon at the KWVE studios in Southern California after their interview

COSTA MESA, CA (ANS) -- Not too long ago I did an interview with Dan Wooding for Front Page Radio (Sunday, December 16th). One of the questions Dan asked was, “What is next (meaning the next era) for the Christian church?” I discussed with him some of the tenants of Faux Modern ideology. After the interview, several people approached me to discuss some of these ideas further. In a couple of my college classes we, too, have discussed the ramifications of the possible oncoming Faux Modern Era.

Though I cannot claim to know the future, and by all accounts,

forecasters have been wrong when trying to outline where society is going, the discussion among cultural thinkers (philosophers, ethicists, etc...) of the next era are quite intriguing.

Here is a snapshot:

1. Faux Modern. The name itself gives us a clue to the predicted era. Faux means “artificial,” “imitation,” or “false.” Generally, the era is expected to be an imitation of personhood (an “imitation” self), in that a projected view of oneself will be the norm; persons view of ‘self’ is the reality. In a small way, we already live in a projected-self world. We live through emails and text messaging. I know I have interacted with people through technology, and do not know what they look like, who they are, or their ‘real’ self. All of this leads to another tenant of Faux Modern ideology.

2. The Projected Self. According to Alan Kirby (writer for Philosophy Now), “postmodernisms called ‘reality’ into question, {whereas} pseudo-modernism {what I call Faux-Modern} defines the real implicitly as myself, now, “interacting’ with its text.” (Philosophy Now, Issue 58, page 37) Here, Kirby is stating that a person’s view of reality is a self-generated one, created by the person’s interaction with a “text” (culture, situations, etc). The ramification of this may mean that a person’s projected image, through technology, is the base for his or her person interacting in reality. Put in laymen’s terms, how I project myself to other people will be my reality. Philosophically, this idea is hyper-relativity; a persons ability to form and fashion personal reality in a substantial way, being god-like in that one can create, through technology, a self projected person and existence in the cyber world. As an example, through an Avatar (a computer generated self- think Princess Lea talking to Obi-1 Ben Kenobi through R2-D2 in Starwars), one can create a Projected Self. With my computer-generated avatar, I can be as tall as I want, with the hair color I want, use the language I want (computer-based translation, etc.), and have the personality I want- all through the creation of a computer based ‘me.’ Yet, the person on the other side of the image or text will have no way of verifying if the avatar is really ‘me.’

3. Technology. Of course, before one can have a projected self, technology must catch up with Philosophy. And at this point, it is almost here. In Faux Modern ideology, technology is king. Through technology, I can artificially be at several places at once (through my avatar, that is; think of a phone or video conference, but done through a 3-D generated self). Also, technology will allow my avatar’s to have artificial intelligence. To understand this, think of my avatar having access to all the encyclopedias of the world (through the internet and such). When a question is asked the avatar, it simply scans the information, processes it, and gives a cogent answer. With the proper programming, my avatar can generate answers based upon my input (what I tell the avatar to answer). Though we are not yet here, technologically speaking, it looms not too far in the future. All this, of course, leads to another tenant of Faux Modern ideology.

4. Artificial Intelligence. With the consuming age of technology upon us, the world is not too far off from having Robots and other artificial (Faux) realities. As a matter of fact, there is a whole area of thinking that deals with this very thing, involving ethics, morals, law, etc. How are we to treat a robot? As a person? As a machine? What will happen to a human being if he or she accidentally “kills” the robot? You may laugh at this, but many are already thinking through issues such as these.

5. Bioethics and the Created Organism. Science has now demonstrated that it can clone organisms. Though it is not yet a fine science, cloning is, and will, be a thing of the future (either for animals, or possibly humans). The Faux Modern era will be the era of working through the Created Organism. This, of course, will involve bioethics: how we ethically treat these organisms, human or otherwise.

6. Moral Uncertainty and Ethical Quandaries. If you think the current, post-modern, ideology is crazy in the ethical world (think of the debates on homosexuality, abortion, ecology, etc.), wait until the next era dawns. Many ethicists see the aforementioned topics as a thing of the past. The current thinkers are working through tomorrow’s problems. Here is an example: since we live in an era of relativism (truth is relative), and the Judea/Christian era has lost influence, the ethics and morals of the past no longer come into play, or have little influence in determining the future. This means that if one ideology (let’s say, homosexuality) is seen as acceptable, then, in a relative world, polygamy, bestiality, and such, must be allowed. For if society is not going to dictate truth in one area, should it dictate truth in any area?

Believe it or not, I can go on and on, looking at the arts, sciences, medicine, etc. Faux Modern ideology is just beginning to take root in our society, covering all areas of culture. Though this is just an introduction, the question arises, what should a Christian do? And what is the Church to do? Well, this is for another article, but a few things stand tall: teach the Bible as truth (God’s truth), love God with all of your heart, mind, and soul, and love your neighbor as yourself. How the Church involves itself with elements of Faux Modern ideology is yet to be seen. Yet, it is my hope and prayer that the Church would remain faithful to Christ and His word.

Concerning the world and its implementation of the ideologies, it seems to me that only three options arise:

1. Dictatorship. The world will turn to a dictator due to moral and societal anarchy to solve the looming crises

2. The world will seek truth outside of the established mind-set (plausibly returning to a Christian worldview),

3. The world will slip further into a segmented society, akin to tribalism and cultural anarchy.

Though each of these options are nothing more than educated forecasts, the reality is still set before us, and ultimately, in the Lord’s hands.

Brian Nixon is a pastor, writer, musician, and family man. He currently resides in Costa Mesa, California.