Friday, 18 January 2013 06:45
A third of young adults in America say they don't belong to any religion. Why?NPR did a fascinating story on this phenomenon, interviewing six young adults in Washington, D.C. They came from Jewish, Muslim, and Christian traditions. One was raised Jewish; she still loves going to synagogue but describes herself as having an "agnostic bent." She goes to be quiet with her thoughts, but states, "I don't think I need to answer that question [about God] in order to participate in the traditions I was brought up with."
The Muslim considers the account of Abraham offering his son to be "crazy" and became an atheist because he couldn't believe such stories. The Catholic left her church because she disagrees with its beliefs on homosexuality. The Seventh-day Adventist couldn't understand why God allowed the suffering his family has endured. One young woman, raised by a Jewish mother and Christian father, lost her brother to cancer and "realized the purpose and meaning of his life had nothing to do with heaven, but it had to do with how I could make choices in my life that give his life meaning."
The sixth person interviewed has a tattoo on the inside of his wrist that says "Salvation from the cross" in Latin. He now says, "I don't [believe in God] but I really want to. . . . I think having a God would create a meaning for our lives, like we're working toward a purpose—and it's all worthwhile because at the end of the day we will maybe move on to another life where everything is beautiful. I love that idea."
These interviews illustrate a fact about the "non-religious" that many overlook. While 88 percent of them are not looking for an organized religion, 68 percent say they believe in God and most claim to be spiritual in some way. It's just that they believe they can define spirituality as they wish, without the traditions and hindrances of religion.
What do these stories have in common? Consider an analogy. As many of you know, our oldest son was diagnosed with cancer a year ago. He had surgery last February and radiation in March and April. His last MRI was clear, for which we are very grateful.
When we received his diagnosis, imagine that my family and I chose to stop believing in medicine. We could still go to hospitals without participating in their activities. We might reject his diagnosis and thus the science that produced it. We might not understand why doctors allowed our son to develop cancer. We could seek meaning in the fact of his disease rather than its cure. We could believe in the idea of a medical cure without participating in its process.
If we made this decision, which would we harm more—medicine or ourselves?
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When you really believe in something, sure, it may be hard to do what it requires (eg if I don't eat healthy and exercise I won't feel good), but you do it anyway. At least I do. I realized that I did not REALLY believe in God. I slowly allowed the doubts I had pushed to the back of my head my whole life to come forward and be examined.
As time went by, the answers from the perspective that there is no God made the most sense to me, I have long talks with my dad and sister about God. They are always trying to convince me with this book and that analogy and that other scientific explanation. But nothing has convinced me. My mind is completely open and willing to hear the TRUTH.
I think I speak for a lot of kids. You can try to make it sound like the majority have pride issues or just don't want to deal with the price of following Jesus or we think it's not cool. For some that may be true. But talk to us as we are: intelligent human beings who came to this point through a lot of thinking and examining.
Thanks Nick for your post. It was accurate.
so much worldly and things that americans allow to come in into their society is what is causing you young people to sway from the truth, e.g, gay, porno etc, these things are WRONG and no matter how they paint it, it is wrong and sinful, and swaying to that direction, you have no excuse before God.
I could see how you would feel this way. Sometimes growing up in a culture and accepting it because your circle of influence does can lead you later to question things. I think questions are good. It helps us discover and establish our identity and our the very core of the foundation of who we are, what will drive us, and how we will live our lives. I would like to say there is a simple answer - but it is a process. If God is real, then ask Him. If He is real then ask Him to speak to you in a way that you will know it's Him beyond a shadow of a doubt & to show you the whole truth. Do that and see what happens. If you mean it, then something will happen. On another note - I have to agree with Nick. questions have either been ignored or answered poorly. But that doesn't mean you throw the baby out with the bath water. You don't stop eating because you ate something that made you sick one day, or you don't like the taste of a certain food. You keep eating. Knowing God is an itch that must be scratched. You may delay seeking answers for a time, but when you get ready to breath your last breath - I promise you'll be more interested in having that question answered. You might as well start now.
Help your grand daughter understand this clearly and don't worry, she will be in good hands!
I agree, it's a true faith in Christ and walk with Christ that makes the difference. We need to ask young people what they think and know about God and go from there into explaining the Gospel. My kids do that with a street ministry group--they go 2-by-2 and talk with whomever they meet. They have been able to plant the seeds and God will water them. They have met up with several of them later and continue the conversation. Many have turned their lives over to God. It takes intentional ministry to make a difference in people's lives. We can't be complacent.
“Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it." Matthew 7:13-14
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me." John 14:6
“You have made us, O Lord, for Yourself, and our heart is restless until it rests in You.” St. Augustine
I'm thankful for my faith in God and I will not lose it. We all have questions but we can also look back at previous prayers He has answered and that is encouragement. Faith is a gift and I pray for a little more.
There are answers to our questions, but we must first acknowledge some spiritual truths:
(1) God loves us and has a wonderful plan for our lives;
(2) Satan uses our mortaliy to tempt us to rebel against God;
(3) rebellion against God is sin, and our sins sever our relationship with God;
(4) the Bible tells us "....the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord"
(5) John 3:16 says "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him shouild not perish, but have everlasting life."
God takes care of animals because they exist by His loving creation, but they were created to survive by instinct, not by their ability to relate back to God. We are different, and were created in the image of God, meaning we have the distinct privilege to relate back to Him.
Prior to Jesus' coming, God related to men who were receptive to a relationship with Him by service covenants (agreements). The covenants flowed out to the people as they followed the leadership of those in covenant with God.
Jesus came to earth as God's new covenant with man. You and I are able to establish a relationship with God by his Son Jesus, because Jesus paid the penalty for our sins when He died for us on the cross.
Pray, as I did, that God will forgive your sins. He will be true to His comenant. I am praying for you.
next, I would say that being scattered has alot to do with young people moving away from a relationship with God. And what I mean by this is that young and middle age and even children are getting to a point that everything is, "this second" when a question is posed there is time or thought give to answers, answers are just give. People are constantly on their phones, texting and speaking, they are on face book messaging scaddy-eight people at a time. While listening to the radio or I-pad and watching TV...nothing is given much thought, words are spoken with out the thought to consequences. Very few things are done with just one thing being done at a time. Well there is my thought...maybe I am getting to old at 58, I see things changing constantly. God Bless
It really sounds like folks want "God in a Box". He'll pop out and help them when they want but will stay locked away until then. Do you think maybe God has just about harvested all He wants?
on their early homelife and the example
of their parents Godly faith, interest in, and love for them as they grow up.
Courage will be the mark of the youth that successfully carry the Gospel. Will we as mentors and parents be encouraged by this tribulation, or will we become calloused?
Many young people are turned off with the more fundamentalist denominations. They want to be free; they don't want to have to measure up to any rule-keeping and they don't like hearing "judgmental" preaching as it seems "negative." I wonder if many of our kids are spoiled - and I don't think it was "taught" as much as it was "caught."
We're glad to hear that your son is doing well. With the meds, I'm sure there was a also lot of prayer involved and that's a great combination! In the case (in your essay) of the young woman whose brother died from cancer, it's interesting to see how she is processing that loss. I think that FAITH is one of the most difficult elements of Christianity to understand and embrace. Maybe our kids grew up needing more practicality....I don't know, but I see our kids' generation as thinking differently than we do.
These young people need to be exposed to influeces from those that are not shy about our witness. If we limit our witness to the location of the church, you are right....but if our bold witness is avasilable to them outside the confines of the church, the power of God and His mirascle of salvation is still available, not excluded by any location, and certainly not exclusive to any location.
We as Christians need to look for the shy, and make ourselves available to them in their difficulty to relate to the church located in a specific building and place. The church that Jesus established can be anywhere at any time when we lead others to confront their need for a relationship with God throuigh Jesus Christ.
Case in point: Cody a shy 15 year old young man I had befriended came to me and meekly, but respectfully, said, "Mr. Lawson, can I talk to you."
Sure, Cody, ,what's on your mind?
I need to know how to get baptized.
Thats easy, Cody, but we first need to talk about why you want to be baptized. OK?
Sure!
First,we must agree on some spiritual truths. Would you allow me to discuss them with you?
Sure!
First, God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life. Do you believe that?
Yessir!
And by the way, please know that I love you, too.
I know that!
(I will continue below, after this comment is posted)
I asked Cody if he had ever sinned?
Yessir.
So have I. We are human and all humans sin in one way or another.
Yessir.
I won't ask you to state your sins....it doesn't matter. Sin is sin. Right?
Right!
Our sins become barriers in our relationship with God. Does that make sense?
(Cody's pause made it obvious this was not clear to him.)
OK.....look it this way: The Bible tells us we cannot serve two masters. Sin is serving Satan and until the sin is erased, we cannot serve God. Does that make sense?
Yes.
The all important questions are: How do we erase the sin?; and what happens then?
The Bible is the word of God. It is our plan of action. Do you believe that?
Yessir!
The Bible says: "....all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of
God....". It also says "....but the gift of God is eternal life." Johm 3;16 says: "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
Yessir.
The Bible also says, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." We talk to God through prayer. Would you liked to ask God to forgive you and come into your heart and life?
Yessir.
Cody prayed a prayer of confession with a plea for forgiveness, asking Jesus to come into his heaert.
After we went theough the plan of salvation, Cody made his decision.
After counceling with our pastor and a discussion about the perpose of baptism, Cody went before our church to tesrtify of his salvation. He was no longer shy. The follewing Sunday morning, he was baptized, testifying again of the change in his life.
Cody truly blessed my life, but what happened in the rest of the story was a multiple blessing. During the mext few weeks Cody brougtt four of his friends and his brother to talk to me. I visited with them using the same basic plan of salvation. However, in each of the five instances, they testified that they had already been saved while tslking to Cody ....they had come to me because Cody asked them to in order to allow me to re-enforce what Cody had discussed with them. In essence, they testified to me as witnesses to what a shy 15 year old had done.
Cody has been an inspiration to our church, especially our young people, and he continues to witness. God has opened doors for him to witness to a greater number of youmg men and women. This once-shy young man is now the youth minister at a church in a community near us.
I think it is somewhat normal for young people to go through a period of questioning and struggling with their beliefs, especially when they are subjected to so many secular scoffers in the higher education institutions. I know that I went through such a time in my life. Sometimes the whole concept of God seemed so utterly fantastic that it seemed unbelieveable. But eventually as I looked up into the starlit night sky, I realized that there could be no other explanation. Creation declares His existence.
As a parent I realize that I could have been much more influential on my children. If one can find a good Bible believing church that is spiritually alive and make attendance a priority in your routine, then you have a good chance that your children will get enough of a foundation to weather the challenges and doubts they may have as they leave the nest. "Raise up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it."
I think it is important for children to see and hear their parents pray. That's an important reason to say "grace" before each meal. We should not only thank the Lord for our food, but we should also lift up those on our prayer list, pray for the peace of Jerusalem, pray for our country and anything else pertinent to that day.
I had thought that maybe these young people's parents were not good examples & were therefore viewed as hypocrites. But then my own 3 children left my christian religion. The oldest does go to another christian church, the 2nd says he's still of our faith, but never goes to church & the 3rd said she doesn't even believe in God ! I feel like a huge failure in living my faith & being a good example, & I just don't understand it.
This is merely an old guys opinion, but I have been around young people a long time.
Thanks for all you do.
John Casey
you. You are confusing Seventh Day Adventists with Mormonism. Your pemise that the Jewish faith is of satan is
absolutely wrong. Satan was not the author of Judaism, God was and Christianity is the offspring of this ancient Hebrew
faith. Judaism serves as a basis of all biblical understanding
by which Yeshua/Jesus Himself practiced under. God sent Yeshua/Jesus to point out the one thing they never understood
as a people, most were blind to it. There were many truly righteous jews, like Abraham, Moses, David and others all the way up to the time of Christ. All of these were Heaven bound.
It would be good to study with an unbiased heart rather than
to make proclamations you have little knowledge of. The Catholics, regardless of what you think have contributed
greatly in defense of Christianity. They have a bad history but
there are many among them that seek truth and are born again.
If you know anything about Catholic history, then you would know that what remains today as a faith underwent viscious Satanic Attack for over 1500 years. This same Satan is repeating his same attacks on modern protestantism. Jews,
Catholics and Protestants along with other forms of the Christ-
ian faith have been under attack for thousands of years by the same entity. I do agree with you on moslems. Regardless, we
all must repent.
Church. It appears that you have been judging the Church and faithful believers ever since. It is rather apparent, that your knowledge of scripture is limited by your judgements, for had you judged rightly you would have never left the Church in the first place. I have a relationship with God and know who my master isfrom years of faithful service. Somehow in a perverted way you think Jesus associated with what you call low life. The bible does not say that at all. The bible states that Jesus came tothe faithful and all who will may come to him, this includes all
those willing to hear the truth. Those not willing to hear truth either avoided him, didn't want to hear it or sought to kill him. In the end, they chose to crucify Him. My God is not named Allah, my God is a jealous God and it is He that says to not worship any other god. I know my God's name, do you? Don't tell me about Jews, I am a freind to many, and I deal with many rabbi's. I have had very close associations with moslems and I know what they believe, I have studied the Koran and the pillars of the muslim faith, why?, because I care for souls, not wanting to see one perish. I have witnessed to Jew and muslim alike and changed destinies. What have you done ? You see in WWII, I would have been a victim of Hitler. I will let you judge the rest.
Dot and I rejoice with you in you son's healing. We believe every healing comes through God. He often intervenes in a miraculous way, and these mirscles are obvious in their singular evidence of His power. In other cases, God's miracles in creation, discovered and utilized by the medical profession, are the instruments of healing. In either case the truth of the source is clear.... God still works in miraculous ways, regardless of our ability and/or desire to acknowledge the trurh.
I speak of that which I am assured by my own personal miracle experiences. For instance, God saved my life at the age of eight from the disease of polio in 1944....a year later he saved my soul when I gave that physically redeemed life to Him by the spiritual healing power of redemption through His Son Jesus. I could go on for pages. As a matter of fact, I have gone on for pages (406 pages actually) in a book I wrote about the healing miracles of Jesus in the New Testament and the many miracles in my life.
In regard to the NPR survey: Although the limited numbers may not give evidence of prevalence of either viewpoint, the respnses certainly give evidence of our failures as Christians to fulfill our cammanded obligations from God toward our youth....through our homes, our churches and our communities. There are ample miracles in God's transcending and intervening arsenal if His disciples would take up the battle.
their ancestral faiths, the aboriginals in Australia and New
Zealand, Shintoism in Japan, various beliefs in other oriental cultural religions, and virtually every faith and religion in the
world. All faiths and religions are battlegrounds against humanism--a Communist/Socialist belief system. Cultures
throughout the world have been invaded in their educational,
social and political systems. In every culture their is a presence
of a requirement of reeducation for those who do not adapt to
humanism. Often this is offered up as an alternative to punishment of some type. The judicial world offers these alter-
natives as well, under the guise of psychological counseling and
group therapies or alcohol counseling under psychological
supervision. Many criminals, in an attempt to avert harsh
punishment plead for psychiatric treatments and counseling.
Psychiatric and psychological training exists for students on
every level of the public school experience and in colleges
and universities across the nation. This is a massive initiative.
Places where Christian counseling should have, would have or
could have been. These have become the sole domains of
humanist propaganda that seek to keep Christian or any other
religious system away from their doings. Retraining alienates
our young people from religious tradition.
I'm actually still thinking about the analogy in this essay. It may be stretching it a bit, but my take is that if we choose to stop believeing in God, we could still attend church, we might enjoy the music, etc., but we would not reap God's (greatest) blessings. Just a thought.
On another note, my 24-year-old son and I just had this conversation:
me: if you knew the cure for Type 1 Diabetes (he was diagnosed at age 11), what would you do?
him: I would tell others about it.
me: what about for yourself?
him: I would cure myself, of course.
me: well that's what I have.
him: (confused look)
me: I have the cure for eternal death and I now that I have cured myself, I must share that with everyone, especially loved ones that I want to live with eternally. So, for that reason, I will not stop speaking about Jesus when presented with an opportunity, until you profess your belief.
him: I get it Mom. I don't know what I exactly believe, but I know you love me and I love you too.
To answer from our minds or soul we give place to the devil to entrench the enquirer in his own soulish answers.
WAIT I SAY ,ON THE *LORD* . Jude 20 first recourse with asking for wisdom enjoined. Shalom.X Ed.
While we know these things with Peter I put you in rememberance.2 Pet 1:13
I think there's much correlation between this study and the decline of Americans making commitments, whether that's to people, beliefs or organizations. It's documented that Americans' involvements started declining in the early 70's, whether that's joining churches, organizations like Boy Scouts or other non-profits (Rotary Club, Masons). It would be interesting to compare the overall decline of such organizations against the decline of organized religion as well as the decline of the nuclear family.
I wonder if there's any sociological analysis forecasting where these trends will take America?
I didn't write a part of that sentence as I intended. It should have read:
I believe they will be in for a huge surprise when they meet God and account for the way they have harmed others with their tongues and misused used their faith to the detriment of the teachings of Jesus. Strictly my opinion and sorry for the confusion.
I have read your reply. Your sentence in your first post, "The behavior and actions of the Christian conservatives and their incessant attacks on President Obama..." should, then, have been corrected to say, “In my opinion...SOME Christian Conservatives with far right views...”
I certainly agree with you that "Judgement ought to be left to God."
It is my opinion that when we harshly criticize others whom we perceive as bashers, we are no better than they are. We all have opinions, many have very strong feelings, and we have arrived at these opinions through our own processes.
Yes, the matter is closed.
President Obama's own words:
"I’m a Christian by choice. My family didn’t, frankly, they weren’t folks who went to church every week. My mother was one of the most spiritual people I knew, but she didn’t raise me in the church. So I came to my Christian faith later in life. It was because the precepts of Jesus Christ spoke to me in terms of the kind of life I would want to lead. Being my brothers’ and sisters’ keepers, treating others as they would treat me. I think also understanding that Jesus Christ dying for my sins spoke to the humility we all have to have as human beings, that we’re sinful, and we’re flawed, and we make mistakes, and that we achieve salvation through the grace of God. But what we can do, as flawed as we are, is still see God in other people and do our best to help them find their own grace. And so that’s what I strive to do and pray to do every day. I think my public service is a part of that effort to express my Christian faith."
I am happy at the moment to receive your encouragement massage of hope though your website. we are well kept through the grace of God.But we need to learn more about God but we do not have bibles and relevant books.our church is new and most of the church member are unable so we do pray and having hope God inspire you to help people know Him by helping our church.God bless you all humble brothers and sisters in Christ.
James
God bless
Sharna
In your analogy the patient must go to the Doctor and receive treatment, but the patient must also change his lifestyle in order to make time for the doctor and proper treatments. The Doctor makes a obvious mark on his life.
Many Christens today don't show the mark Christ has made in thier lives.
I would like to encourage the reader to be a Moses. There are so many Joshuas that need mentoring and support. Please find a way to be involved in one's life. Volunteering in Church programs and Vacation Bible schools are a great place to start :)
In his Epistle, the Apostle Peter instructed us to give others good reason for the hope we have in Christ, but to do so with "gentleness and respect." Unfortunately, in the eyes of many non-Christians today, the church has done just the opposite. In Unchristian, David Kinnaman, president of the Barna Group, has complied startling research among the unchurched and learned that Christians are too often known for the issues they stand against, rather than the hope which they stand for. According to the research, believers are seen as too judgmental, too political, and often hypocritical. If you are a Pastor, lay person or youth leader you will not want to go without the details of this critical study. Uncover for yourself the latest research on the unchurched in Kinnaman's must-read book.
" to extend the hospital metaphor... People can believe in hospitals and their medicine but they don't need to go when they don't need help. That would make them junkies.
"What Dennison seems to infer with this hospital analogy is that one must attend church in order to be religious, that seeking religion on one's own terms is somehow inferior to listening to someone else's interpretation of religion. I think this does a large disservice to finding a solution for a more spiritualistic society - why are people being driven away from a communal experience of religion? How can we change that communal experience to better serve the individual, thereby increasing the religious conversation?"
Dr. Denison, how would you reply?
The other thing: Believing in God is not the same thing as believing God.
I believe young people are leaving church because of distrust towards the church as an institution. To compare with medicine. I watched my younger sister receive cancer treatment, I watched my parents agree to all the doctors requests and instruction, and I unfortunatly watched the treatment take my sisters life. I'm not saying this is always the case or the doctors' hearts are in the wrong place and I am definatley not trying to blame. What I am trying to say is when you witness a large, trusted institution fail, there is going to be a search for a different option.
A church should encourage trust in God, not trust in the church, the church will always fail. I believe too much time has been spent trying to make churches "right" and I believe my generation is the result.
The answers to the question about why young people are leaving religion are not simple. I recognize that our replies reflect our life experiences in our generation and in our culture.
I read a lot of criticism here about churches. I live in a city blessed with many fine churches. My church isn’t perfect – no church is perfect - because the members are human. If we fall down, we get back up and we keep trying. If I weren’t happy in my church, I’d be looking elsewhere. When we've grown up in a paper cup society, there's a tendency to just throw something away when it doesn't seem to be working. I can't judge that.
Our kids' generation often describes their parent's generation as judgmental and negative – an attitude that seems, frankly, rather judgmental and negative. I admit our kids are somewhat spoiled; my daughter’s attitude is, “of course, we’re entitled.” My kids are good people and I’m thankful they’re still in church. Their church is very “contemporary” and different from my traditional church, but their pastor is solid and excellent. I’ll continue some opinions in Part 2 when the website allows.
My kids’ pastor is great, but I hear some on TV that preach positive thinking and rarely mention God. Can we mention God's suggestions for a worthwhile lifestyle? Maybe that's judgmental and negative.
There are other differences in the more contemporary format but I must edit. They seems to be little ministry (except for prayer) for fellow church members. My generation visits fellow members in hospitals, etc., etc. Our daughter tells us that their generation just doesn’t do that. (What did you say about spirituality without the traditions and hindrances of organized religion?)
I’ve been fortunate not to have had a bad church experience and I’m sorry if you or your kids have. I see many generational components that influence the spirituality of our young people’s generation. There are many excellent posts here. Robert M. has posted some interesting data and logical explanations. It’s important stuff, folks.
Someone here spoke of youthful sense of entitlement. We have entitlement in Christ. But we decline to receive it. We do not have abundant life in Christ, rivers of living water flowing from our innermost parts.
And we wonder why they are rejecting a life that we ourselves never received?
Have we not read the Bible which says "The name of God is blasphemed among the gentiles **because of us**" ??
They are tired of hearing it. They want to see it. If we can't show it such as they can see it (ie the fruit of the Spirit) we do not have it
And the rest is simple logical consequence