Saturday, December 13, 2014

Who Will Cry For The Children?



The result of numerous polls  reveals that the majority of young people who grew up in the church leave it soon after graduating from high school, and most of them will never return.   I've seen statistics that speculates that the rate is as high as eighty percent.  The reality of this sets in when we look at the makeup of the congregation of our home church. This shocking reality should cause us to take a long, hard look at how the church "ministers" to youth.  Why do they leave? While I'm not a professional statistician or a sociologist, I have interacted with young people and observed how the church relates to them, and I have come to conclusions that won't be very popular with some.  Here they are.

When our kids are elementary school age, they go to Sunday school and Children's Church which is great.  However, what are they taught?  By the time they reach fourth or fifth grade they have heard the story of the Walls of Jericho, Jonah and the fish's belly, the parting of the Red Sea, Joseph and the many colored coat, and David and Goliath a zillion times. Oh, the story is presented in a more advanced level as they get older, but it is still the same story. By the time our kids finish elementary school, they have been storied to death. And they are bored.

The Bishop  entered into the fray and level a stinging indictment against all mothers and fathers whose children no longer go to church.  The church would not be suffering the decline in youth participation, he inferred,  if mothers and fathers would bring their children to church.   He stated that the dropout rate was around sixty percent, which I think is much higher.  To validate his position he quoted  Proverbs 22:6  Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.  The blame was placed on the parents and he rested his case.

What the illustrative Bishop failed to acknowledge that raising up a child takes more than the teaching of the parent.  When a child is born,. Figuratively speaking,  a conspiracy is entered into by the parent, the preacher, the schools and the people that this child will come in contact with during its formative years.  These entities will take charge of this child's mind, shape it and possess it.  To successfully raise up a child takes the interaction of all of these entities.   If any one of these entities  failed to do their job successfully,  the process suffers.  Many of our children fail in the educational system because they do not realize the relevancy of a good education and the system's inability to impart this knowledge.  There is also a lack of spiritual knowledge   disseminated  within the religious community.   The dissemination  of spiritual knowledge is more than telling a story of Jesus walking on the water.  Why did the journey began, what transpired along the way and how this all will end is the basis of spiritual knowledge.

The Bishop said it and I was not impressed.  When asked why young people of today do not include going to church as a part of their lifestyle, he placed the blame on the parents.  Mother and fathers, he said do not bring their children to church like they should.   His statements were a stinging indictment  on all of the mothers and fathers who brought their children up going to church only to see them walk away from the church.  To validate his position as a man of God, he again quoted Proverbs 22:6  Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. And agan he rested his case.

Some years later, while researching my book, “My Search for the Real God”, I posed the question again that most religious leaders still skirt around.  With no definitive answer forthcoming I was left to formulate my own.

First, they have never been challenged in their faith. They haven't been taught theology and doctrine and thus are clueless on what they believe and why they believe it. When challenged by a college professor or coworker about matters of faith, specifically Christianity, the only answer that can be given is indoctrinated clichés.  , Then doubts creep into their minds and they see no great reason for their faith. They never had anyone explain theology and how it relates to all matters of life, and have not dug deeply into the Bible. Their church experience has left them empty, and they find no relevance in following Jesus.

Second, they have not seen authentic discipleship lived out by adults in their lives - at church or at home. They see the adults in church bickering about the color of the carpet, the loudness of the music, and the length of the pastor's sermon. They see adults who gossip, criticize, and live lives that are unholy. Young people are very impressionable, and when they see adults clueless about their faith and living like the rest of the world they think "Jesus really doesn't make a difference, so why should I follow Him?".  And they plunge headlong into the "goodies" the world dangles in front of them.

We are losing our kids to the world, and we scratch our heads in confusion and anger and wonder why. Many of us have failed our kids both intellectually and practically.  Many churches of today are embracing the entertainment aspect of Christianity to attract our youth back into the church.  Is this the hope of the church?
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I strongly believe that we need to teach our youth theology, not entertainment, so by the time they graduate high school, they have a firm grasp on what they believe and why they believe it. Our kids are hungry to know the truth, and we must be the ones to teach them. Before the scientific age, people derived a sense of purpose from their spiritual belief system. The encounters with ghosts, demons and other spiritual apparitions heighten their ancient belief in the hereafter.  In today’s society the belief in the spiritual world is limited to a somewhat token belief in God, ghost and spirits are nothing but a figment of a fertile imagination.   The spiritual belief system has come under attack, by the failure of many to understand the teaching of science.    As scientific knowledge has been increased, biblical knowledge has been increasingly rejected, or simply forgotten, resulting in widespread lack of understanding of why humankind existed in the first place.  

When the question is asked, do science and the Bible agree, without any serious contemplation of the adverse effects, it is stated that science and the Bible disagree.  With this attitude our young are sent to schools where they receive an in-depth study of the teaching of science.   Science teaches its students to believe in that which it can prove and to discard that which cannot be proven.  This attitude has allowed our younger generation to discard the teaching of the Bible without resorting to the cavalier approach of the sixties that declared God to be dead and redefine God as a state of mine.

In the ancient days the belief in the spirit world was just as important as a belief in the natural world.  Today the belief in the spirit world has been debunked and left unbelievable even by many Christians.  Matthew 14:26 presents a striking example of the disciples expressing their belief in the spirit world. “And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear.”  Now Matthew 17:3 gives us an example of Jesus holding a conversation with two deceased religious leaders. “And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him.”  There really is no need to try and explain this.

The false teaching of the Bible has presented God in an unbelievable manner.  As the physical world yielded up its secret, humanity became less central in the ultimate scheme of things.  Lack of knowledge or a clear purpose in life has resulted in a kind of existential anxiety with diminished inspiration about and toward life. Anxiety breeds moods of depression.  It is hard to be positive in a universe void of purpose.  It is hard to be upbeat when science has made it possible for the human race to destroy itself.

 There is hope.  Jesus Christ tells us, “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly” (John 10:10).   This highjacked and misused scripture should be the bases of our hope, not a promise of financial security.  To have hope, we need to learn God’s purpose for human life.  The Bible teaches us about God’s purpose.  God’s design includes a plan that offers eternal life to everyone who believes (Romans 6:23), and defer to everlastiong punishment to those who forsake him.

The young Sunday school student looked up at her mother with glowing affection as they toured the museum exhibits.  Her mother was also her Sunday school teacher at the local church and she was sure her mother knew the answer to her question.  Her Science teacher had given her an answer that to her young mind, she was not satisfied with.  When they walked into the display room the huge statues of the dinosaurs stood in full majesty.   Mama, the young girl said while tugging at her mother’s hand, “Why are there no dinosaurs in the Bible?”  The mother answer, "The Bible and science don't always agree."

To be continued