Several years ago I had the opportunity to speak to an engaging group of Christians in Elgin, Iowa at the First Baptist Church of Elgin. The congregation was a wonderful combination of young families and older members who understand the challenges facing the younger Christians in their midst. I shared the overwhelming statistics chronicling the growing number of young Christians leaving the church during their college years, but many in the audience had already seen the departure firsthand. The dilemma was personal, and they were ready (and eager) to examine the causes (and the possible solutions). Before I shared my T.R.A.I.N. paradigm, I took a minute to describe the causal factors leading to the departure of so many young Christians. This isn’t rocket science; three simple truths combine to create the situation we see today:
And significantly, none of your alleged causal factors include "because its harder for modern Christians to hide the problems of the bible in this information-age".
But I see nothing in the bible that indicates illiteracy is a bad thing, or that it needs to be overcome. Illiteracy didn't stop the original Christians from allegedly possessing the power of the Holy Spirit to perform the work of evangelism and defending the gospel. See Acts 4:13.Our Christian Teenagers are Inarticulate and UninformedUnfortunately, most of the young Christians who graduate from our youth programs and enter college are surprisingly inarticulate about their Christian beliefs. Sociologists Christian Smith and Melinda Denton did an excellent job of reporting the problem in Soul Searching: The Religious Lives of American Teenagers. They discovered Christian teens have the ability to be articulate about a number of issues, but are seldom articulate when it comes to their Christian beliefs. Most could not describe simple principles and claims of Christianity, and even those who could, struggled to provide simple responses to typical skeptical objections they will surely encounter in college. Our students have not been trained with the university battlefield in view.
It does you no good to trifle that this only means Peter and John weren't formally educated in schools; apostle Paul twice referred to the illiteracy of his intended readers with no sign in the context that he thought this to be any type of problem:
26 For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; (1 Cor. 1:26 NAU)
16 When this letter is read among you, have it also read in the church of the Laodiceans; and you, for your part read my letter that is coming from Laodicea. (Col. 4:16 NAU)
Secondly, there is no reason why the average Joe living in Israel between 1500 b.c. and 200 a.d. should ever find it helpful to bother with learning to read or write. Peter and John were allegedly fishermen, and you can cast nets and haul fish all day every day without even knowing how to spell your own name. Unless your goal was to specifically become a person who needs to read and write, like a scribe, illiteracy was never deemed unacceptable at all in biblical days.
There is literally NOTHING in the bible expressing or even implying that
being illiterate is an unacceptable state of affairs that believers
have a duty to "overcome". Wallace continues:
University Campuses are Generally Hostile to ChristianityAnd make no mistake about it, the university setting will likely be a battlefield populated with people opposed to Christianity. Sociologists Neil Gross (Harvard University) and Solon Simmons (George Mason University) conducted a study in 2006 revealing 1 in 4 university professors are atheists or agnostics (nearly 5 times the ration in the general population. And according to an Institute for Jewish and Community Research survey of 1,200 college faculty members, only 6% of the professors say the Bible is “the actual word of God,” 51% say the Bible is “an ancient book of fables, legends, history & moral precepts,” and more than half of the professors surveyed have “unfavorable” feelings toward Evangelical Christians.
The NT nowhere expresses or implies that becoming educated by worldly standards should be seen as helpful toward the goal of dealing with hostile critics of Christianity. Therefore, under the conservative hermeneutic "where the bible is silent, we are silent", you are forced to agree that the NT has a solution for the Christian dealing with hostile critics of Christianity, and it isn't "learn how to read". For all you know, America's long-time fascination with reading is against your god's wishes, since apparently the only purpose literacy is intended to serve is so the child can grow up and "get a job" (i.e., help promote a decidedly anti-Christian form of greedy capitalism). Some would argue that we could learn to be spiritually mature much more efficiently if we forego buying a house and car, and simply choose to live on the street, especially since in today's world, to get a house and car require that you make committments that you have no rational reason to think you'll be able to keep. You only want a house and car because you desire ease of life, not because you wish to use them for "god's glory".
Sure is funny that as people get older their chasing after sin and vice occurs less and less. This is true even for non-religious people and atheists. Elderly people who are very sinful are mere exceptions proving the rule. Seems much more likely that mere aging, and not "god", are the reason why we chase after vice less often as we get older. So unless you think older people have less freewill than younger people, then god could have taken the chemical and physiological truths about older people and infused them into younger people, and presto, the younger people would pursue "sin" far less than they currently do...yet nobody's freewill would violated.Young Men and Women Are Eager to Chase Their Desires with LibertyMost of us, if we’re honest, understand the temptation facing young Christians, because we’ve also experienced such enticements. As fallen humans, we’ve all experienced the temptation of youth.
By the way, we all remember when we were little that one kid at school that just seemed to always stay out of trouble get good grades, etc. We also know lots of people who are free from spirituality/religion and yet who do not pursue worldly "vice". Whatever realities about their brains cause them to find vice unappealing, God could have infused this into all other people, and all other people would pursue sin far less, yet nobody's freewill would be violated.
And by the way, I need not pander to freewill anyway: sometimes the more loving thing to do is to force the loved one to conform to your demands, such as having a rebellious drug dealing daughter involuntarily committed, or having your thief-son arrested and put in jail. So I don't understand your hang-up about "freewill". God would be even stupider than you if he went around always thinking that refusal to violate a person's freewill is always the more "loving" thing to do. And if Romans 13:4 is true, it is "God" who wished for earthly authorities to violate the freewill of other people we call criminals. And if God really did command Moses and Joshua to massacre the pagans, gee, did that involve violating anybody's freewill?
Apparently, your bible-god is far less worried about respecting freewill than you think.
And your trifle that god's ways are mysterious does nothing to intellectually obligate the skeptic, even if it might make people whose minds are still trapped by fairytale theology, to breathe a great sigh of relief. Mormons could also invoke god's mysterious ways to explain why there's no South American archaeological support for exclusively Book of Mormon claims, but then again, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to recognize when the gods-ways-are-mysterious excuse is being abused as a cover for one's inability to overcome an argument.
All very good reasons for the Christian to notice that they are far too concerned about worldly matters and they aren't serving Christ as well as they can, if they attend college. NOBODY attends a secular college in order to grow closer to Christ. They do it for no other reason than to help ensure they'll have a decent income in the future...a decidedly "earthly" priority the NT nowhere endorses. Yes, you need to pay your bills. No, you don't need to take out a mortgage, have a car, or any of the other vanities made possible by the modern world.For many of our Christian students, their college years are the first opportunity they’ve ever had to be free of their parent’s consistent oversight. It’s also a place filled with attractive young people, many of whom don’t share their Christian worldview. Consider the strength of the temptation and imagine the selfish value of an alternative worldview allowing young students to chase their passions and desires without restriction, inhibition or guilt.
Sorry, atheism doesn't have a "moral code". Morals are relative, which is why 10 atheists would disagree with each other on a host of moral issues. But if you paint atheism as a "code" that tells its followers to just indulge in whatever they feel like doing, I'm sure your already entrapped cult members will clap rapidly enough to generate more book-sales. And we already knew that your "apologetics" was never aimed at informed skeptics anyway, you only preach to the choir.For many, atheistic naturalism, with its alternate creation story, moral code, materialistic values and goals, is an incredibly attractive alternative to Christianity.
The fallen inclination to chase our selfish desire is common to all of us, but it’s a critical driving force for many young students.
Blame it on god, who refuses to use his magic fairy dust to successfully overcome a sinner's freewill resistance. See Ezra 1:1.
It’s time to align our churches and ministries to engage the most important demographic within the Church: young Christians.
Sounds to me like in your better judgement, the younger Christians are not spiritually mature enough to justify their trying to beat back the forces of darkness with "apologetics". And it's perfectly clear in the NT that personal holiness must first exist before you can presume to teach others, as hypocrisy is a sin.
The NT views the office of Christian teacher with grave solemn seriousness, James 3:1. Something tells me that spiritually immature youth probably shouldn't be trying to do battle with the devil?
That's not how Paul thought the youth should be reached. He taught that their issues must be addressed at home, where the intent is that their home-education will help them be holy adults, Ephesians 6:1-3.It doesn’t take a researcher with a PhD to understand the forces at work here. In fact, the dilemma can be characterized with a simple equation:College EquationMost of us ought to be able to predict the sum in this equation; it should be easy to anticipate the outcome. Take a closer look at all three “addends” being added in this equation. Which of these three additive realities can we, as parents, youth pastors and leaders, impact or change? We can’t change the hostile nature of the university campus or the human nature of our young Christians. If we want to alter this math equation, we’re going to have to get involved with the first addend. We’ve got to do whatever it takes to inform, equip and engage young Christians in a rational, evidential investigation of Christianity.
Wallace, it sure is funny that you give not a single second's consideration to the hypothesis that "college" in modern America is so filled with anti-Christian sentiment, the truly spiritual Christian will find non-Christian colleges to be off-limits.
But if you had considered this, you hurt your own reason for living: The more Christians simply stay away from sources of sin, the less they need your books and speeches.
Jesus was worse, he encouraged people to give up custody of their own kids just to free up more time to go following him around. Notice "children" in the list of farms, houses, and other things Jesus wants them to give up so they can achieve the goal of eternal life and more:
29 "And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or farms for My name's sake, will receive many times as much, and will inherit eternal life. (Matt. 19:29 NAU)Wallace, you don't tell parents to seriously consider giving up custody of their kids just to make more time for Christian "ministry", so you aren't giving the needy Christian people the harsh lesson they actually need.
Translation: "I'm a salesman. Like all salesman, I seek to convince you a problem exists, and that I have a solution you can purchase!"It’ll be tough enough for our students to resist the temptation to abandon their Christian worldview when tempted by their own desires; especially given the nature of university life and the encouragement they will receive to pursue their passions. But, it will be even easier to walk away if our students aren’t even sure why Christianity is true in the first place. It’s time to align our churches and ministries to engage the most important demographic within the Church: young Christians. It’s time to get in the game, redirect our efforts and start training.
Sorry, Wallace, but if the Holy Spirit did just fine for 2,000 years without needing your marketing gimmicks, the sad fact is that you represent nothing more than somebody who has chosen to jump on the capitalist Jesus bandwagon, selling Jesus for profit, while making sure to allocate your fair tax-burden to other people who aren't dishonest enough to use religion to escape their civil responsibilities.
