New belief among teenagers. What do you think?

Fervent said:

That understates the practical issues involved.

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Life isn't a problem to solve, but an unfolding story to inhabit. Conflict, paradox, mystery, they are all part of life. Take this bit of relational wisdom as an example from the Scriptures:

"As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another" (Prov 27:17).

Western culture, with its idolatry of abstract philosophy and technical efficiency, resists this lived dynamic. We are now living amid what could be called peak ideological colonization—where systems, categories, and rigid frameworks crowd out the one thing truly needed: an imagination rooted in Christ-shaped love.

This love doesn’t seek to control or reduce, but to embrace mystery and nurture flourishing. The rigid categories so often wielded to limit human agency are just one symptom of a broader cultural problem—a devotion to system over story, technique over tenderness, control over grace.

FireDragon76 said:

Life isn't a problem to solve, but an unfolding story to inhabit. Conflict, paradox, mystery, they are all part of life. Take this bit of relational wisdom as an example from the Scriptures:

"As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another" (Prov 27:17).

Western culture, with its idolatry of abstract philosophy and technical efficiency, resists this lived dynamic. We are now living amid what could be called peak ideological colonization—where systems, categories, and rigid frameworks crowd out the one thing truly needed: an imagination rooted in Christ-shaped love.

This love doesn’t seek to control or reduce, but to embrace mystery and nurture flourishing. The rigid categories so often wielded to limit human agency are just one symptom of a broader cultural problem—a devotion to system over story, technique over tenderness, control over grace.

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This strikes me as the assessment of someone who has lived the negative of the West, and developed a bit of idealized fantasy about other modes of living.

Fervent said:

This strikes me as the assessment of someone who has lived the negative of the West, and developed a bit of idealized fantasy about other modes of living.

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No, it's somebody stripped of illusions.

What has the American love of pragmatic, rationalized efficiency done? It's destroying the planet, it's reducing human life in all its beauty and richness to an impoverished performance of consumerism, isolation, and mental illness. And many metrics of human flourishing back up that analysis. This isn't merely aesthetics, its a failure of human vocation.

FireDragon76 said:

No, it's somebody stripped of illusions.

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It's not the criticisms that lead me to that assessment.

FireDragon76 said:

What has the American love of pragmatic, rationalized efficiency done? It's destroying the planet, it's reducing human life in all its beauty and richness to an impoverished performance of consumerism, isolation, and mental illness. And many metrics of human flourishing back up that analysis. This isn't merely aesthetics, its a failure of human vocation.

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That's a bit of a different animal from your previous criticisms, and there's certainly some merit in such. But we've gotten a bit far afield from questions of what "human flourishing" means and how such things reflect on ethics in general and how to respond to transgenderism's attack on distinct objective categories.

Fervent said:

It's not the criticisms that lead me to that assessment.

That's a bit of a different animal from your previous criticisms, and there's certainly some merit in such. But we've gotten a bit far afield from questions of what "human flourishing" means and how such things reflect on ethics in general and how to respond to transgenderism's attack on distinct objective categories.

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Why does this require such a strong response? To what end? I honestly don’t see how engaging in this debate in that way really builds anyone up or advances genuine understanding.

FireDragon76 said:

Why does this require such a strong response? To what end? I honestly don’t see how engaging in this debate in that way really builds anyone up or advances genuine understanding.

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I'm not sure what you're refering to, but I apologize if I've caused offense.

Fervent said:

I'm not sure what you're refering to, but I apologize if I've caused offense.

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I don’t feel offended.


My earlier questions were rhetorical, though sincere, and meant to invite reflection rather than confrontation.


My responses aren’t meant to be evasive or obscure; rather, they come from a lived experience that recognizes life’s deepest realities are ultimately irreducible mysteries. Ultimately, this is a question of how we are formed as Christians to live faithfully. Living faithfully means embodying the love, patience, and humility of Christ in a world that often demands certainty and control. It calls us to hold firm to truth without sacrificing compassion or relational openness, recognizing we only see through a glass darkly. It means embracing paradox, mystery, and suffering as integral parts of our spiritual journey, trusting that God's grace sustains us even when answers are not clear-cut. In this way, faithfulness is less about winning arguments and more about witnessing to a lived reality shaped by divine love—a reality that invites healing, reconciliation, and flourishing for all.

I mean when I was young I use to think I was Elvis or Bowie lol. As a young teen your standing in front of the mirror with a fake microphone pretending to be a rock star. There have been groups like the Mods and Rockers or Punks who expressed themselves through a certain iconic identity. To say something about themselves.

But they were emulating humans, their pop icons. Young people still do that today and probably more than ever with the power celebs have today with social media and all that.

I keep forgetting that I grew up as a teen without the internet and social media. No mobile phones let alone smart phones. Now there instant connection to anything on the web if you have access to a smart phone. I see this generational gap with my son and daughter who speak another language with texting and social media.

So really theres been a whole generation or more that has only grown up with this tech and have known nothing else,

I can see this change and I am pretty familiar with tech but rarely use social media or blogs and all that. Compared to no internet it seems like a virtual world has been created where anything can come true because people have detached from the face to face and real world for so long now.

So along with the already developing identities that people were expressing the internet has taken this to a new level. But underlying this has been the cultivation of ideology which has shifted from the outside world, others and God to 'self'. Media has a strong influence on young peoples self worth and identity and we know this is all plastic and unreal.

Identity politics has also contributed where the identity is made the measure of reality. Its about feeling good, comfortable, safe to be able to express your real self in however you may feel that to be.

Its a sort of perfect storm for cultivating unrealities of all sorts.

I can see some paganism as well. I think in many of these pagan spiritual beliefs animals and humans are mixed as spirits and gods. You see the natives wearing the bear or fox skin or wearing the eagles feathers like they are taking on the animals spirit. I wonder if this is related but a different twist where young people are relating to animals better than humans. Some sort of spiritual and emotional connection.

Marlena Telep said:

Good morning, what do you think about the rather disturbing belief that's currently trending among young people on platforms like Tumblr, TikTok, and Reddit, in which members believe they are animals and record themselves walking on all fours on TikTok?

They call themselves Therians, and they truly believe they are animals, most often dogs, cats, or other popular mammals. Many of them believe they have "species dysphoria" and that their souls are not human souls but animal souls. I even heard of a case of a teenager who wanted to rip off her skin because she felt she was a dog, and dogs have fur.

Am I the only one who finds this a bit terrifying? Not to mention the large number of children and teenagers who follow this trend. Even ten-year-olds are posting about it on TikTok and even creating special masks to sell on platforms like Vinted or Etsy. I've even seen adults walking on all fours in the mall or barking at strangers or howling.

-Marlena Telep.

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Hi,

There is nothing bad about animals, they are still created by God just not in the image of God.

If you look at some of the most horrific times in history such as periods of large scale suffering and genocide, one of the elements that involve this is dehumanizing people and opens the gates to biological racism.

From a Biblical perspective well we are descended from Adam but also Noah and some combination of Shem, Ham and Japheth. Evolutionists do acknowledge that humanity largely came from a small fraction (Adam and Eve like) but they equate it more to genocide and violence instead. This worldview does not promote any inherent human rights and you can see that in Nations which do not have these beliefs such as North Korea people can suffer greatly as there is no such thing as God-given rights or anything unalienable.

Many people seem to think that religion dulls the mind, is the source of their problems well the new age people do but I think what they miss is that their points and causes of suffering are coming from sin, it comes from unfair policies, it comes from idolizing money at the expense of equity, making unjust rulings, all things that the Lord detests.

God cares very much about people and every issue that they face.

King Nebuchadnezzar in the book of Daniel had a period where he had a similar occurance happen. He had the mind of an animal and lived like one (Daniel 4:25-35) so this is nothing new under the sun, this type of trend was still around even in the ancient times.

So for some people it could be a form of repentance or helping them to develop empathy, for others I think it is a push from society to de-humanize humans, it is different things for different people but God cares about everyone.

FireDragon76 said:

Don't give it too much relevance. Tiktok and social media can amplify unusual beliefs or attitudes in ways that aren't helpful, or actually reflective of the real world. Furthermore, some people subconsciously or conscious are using Tiktok to get attention. Attention, positive or negative, gets monetized on these platforms.

I've seen alot of purple haired types at my local coffee shop, with more nose rings than my shower curtain, but, I've never met one of these "therians".

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This. I'm friends with plenty of people with dyed hair and piercings--while I've never really dyed my hair other than dying it black a couple times when I was younger (in HS I tried to bleach my hair, which in the late 90s was super in fashion, the result was bright orange deep fried hair, so I haven't tried anything too crazy since); and until just a couple years ago I had several piercings--ears and eyebrow, I removed them when I was hired onto my current occupation. I don't know if this comes to a surprise to those familiar with me on this website, but I've tended toward a more "alternative" aesthetic, and a part of me is still that punk rock and ska loving kid listening to Five Iron Frenzy and NOFX in the late 90s and early 2000s. So dyed hair, piercings, tattoos--that describes most of the people in my life for the last two+ decades.

But just to contribute: Never met anyone that thinks they're an animal. I know that "furries" exist, but it is an incredibly small subculture. Over a decade ago people who supposedly identified as animals or fantasy creatures calling themselves "otherkin" was a thing in some niche online spaces--but it was never a thing. If "therian" is the term used for something similar these days, then it's definitely in the same vein: niche online subculture with a handful of online spaces.

What there definitely isn't: Hordes of teenagers galloping around at all hours of the night and this being some great worry that parents, civic leaders, or society in general should be concerned about.

It's kids being weird, and of the tiny, tiny, tiny number who are currently part of this subculture, we can all sleep comfortably at night knowing that 99% of them will grow out of it by the time they either graduate high school, or somewhere along the way in college.

Now, if your 40 year old child still living in the basement (who doesn't have any debilitating mental trauma or illness) who refuses to get a job, and insists they are StarPuppy3000 or something, well ok, probably time to nudge them toward therapy. But kids? Kids are kids.

-CryptoLutheran

ViaCrucis said:

It's kids being weird, and of the tiny, tiny, tiny number who are currently part of this subculture, we can all sleep comfortably at night knowing that 99% of them will grow out of it by the time they either graduate high school, or somewhere along the way in college.

Now, if your 40 year old child still living in the basement (who doesn't have any debilitating mental trauma or illness) who refuses to get a job, and insists they are StarPuppy3000 or something, well ok, probably time to nudge them toward therapy. But kids? Kids are kids.

-CryptoLutheran

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That's a good point. Being overly concerned or controlling is just as bad as being indifferent.

There's a growing trend towards telling children "you are whatever you identify as". There's various forms of it. Transgenderism, therianism and so on. It's where fantasy and even dysphoria are to be treated as reality. And failing to so shows a lack of love empathy, compassion and so on.

Fervent said:

Depends on what we're talking about. While the numbers of trans individuals is rare, the impact on culture cannot be denied. And it's far more than simply a matter of sexual mores, but a question of truth itself since "male" and "female" are objective statements not simply a matter of opinion. So a large part of the conversation is about embracing post modern theories of truth that focus on subjective perceptions and deny that there is such a thing as objective truth.

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No, just that the conservative version of Christian doctrine is not necessarily objective truth, especially with regard to conventional gender performance.

Fervent said:

So it's not as simple as a humanitarian question, but a question that very much undermines theistic belief at its core. So there is an existential threat to it, just not when it comes to women's sports.

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If your "theistic belief" is so vulnerable to unconventional behavior of people you don't even know, perhaps it would be best if you just abandoned it altogether, instead of waiting for it to be undermined.