A few days back I pointed you to a Wall Street Journal editorial asking “Why are young people leaving the church?”
A new article entitled “More Teens Becoming ‘fake’ Christians” just appeared at CNN.com. You can read it here. The author correctly diagnoses the problem. But does she get the solution right? What is good about her solution and what is missing ?
Your observations will be appreciated.
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I think the article nails down the problem fairly well. The issue is a lack of theology. Most of the Children's curriculum out there is bad – if not horrid. It does a good job of teaching virtue and morals, but God is not normally the central character in a story. If God is central, it us usually in the role of a candy coated friendly guy in the sky who loves us, and doesn't get much deeper than that.David may have slain Goliath, but he also penned the Psalms — many heartfelt songs of anguish and doubt yeilding to faith. Kids aren't taught about that kind of faith or of a God that would let his people suffer through things like David endured. When they escape from the candy coated shelter and experience feelings like David did, but don't know God as an all powerful all seeing hebrews 12:7-11 type of Father, they just figure that the nice guy in the sky must not be real after all. And for the most part they are right. The mythical unoffensive God that loves like the hippies do is indeed nonexistent.
A lacking of theology and a Biblical understanding of the gospel is surely detrimental to youth following Christ throughout their lives. However, the author has left out any mention to the work of God in the lives of young people. If children are born again by the power of God's Holy Spirit, children will NOT leave the faith. Of course a theologically faithful presentation of the gospel leads to new birth, but once regeneration has taken place, young people will find ways (with honestly varying degrees of success) to grow in the faith through all of life.