Author Archives

    Jonathan Morrow

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    What do students believe? What do they need?

    Here is some insight from a recent lecture by Sean Mcdowell for Stand to Reason.

    STR Cruise Lecture #4
    Save Our StudentsSean McDowell

    Judges 2:7 “The people served the Lord all the days of Joshua….Another generation grew up that forsook the Lord and did evil in his sight.”

    58-88% of Christian high school graduates will deny their faith within four years of college. The difference between those who falter and those who don’t is having an ingrained Christian worldview. It’s being able to think biblically about all components of life.

    32% of students who fell away did so because of intellectual skepticism, they didn’t think that Christianity answers significant questions about life. One of the primary reasons that ministry to teenagers fails to produce a lasting faith is because they aren’t being taught to think.
    There are two main areas of students’ lives that the church is missing. Students are hurting relationally. They’re separated and alienated from significant relationships with adults that will give them the support they need. And teenagers don’t know how to think. They don’t have the rational skills to develop a coherent worldview. Consequently, they compartmentalize their beliefs.

    A worldview is a mental map of reality. If our mental map matches up, we know the truth; if not, it leads to confusion. The more accurate our worldview is, the better able we are to live in the power of God for His Kingdom.

    10% of conservative Protestant students believe God created the world, but is not involved in it today.

    8% believe God is impersonal like a cosmic force. Put these first two statistics together and almost 1/5 of students don’t think God is involved in their lives. This has real consequences in their lives.

    One third say they maybe or definitely believe in reincarnation.
    23% are not assured of the reality of miracles. They apparently don’t believe the resurrection is real.

    42% are not assured of the existence of evil spirits. How can they deal with the onslaught of temptation when they don’t believe they are being tempted.

    Nearly half believe many religions may be true. They won’t evangelize and they may hold loosely to their convictions if they think there aren’t real consequences to them.
    People who have a biblical worldview are much more likely to act like jesus because they see such things as life, people, and crises differently than most people do.

    If we don’t intentionally and consciously train our children to have a biblical worldview they will unintentionally and unconsciously adopt contrary views. Our job is to train young people to know that they know truth. Our people are filled with people who know truth, but they don’t know that they know truth. And that’s where courage and conviction comes from.
    Which word is used more in Christian circles – faith or knowledge? Faith. Which is used more in the Bible? Knowledge. 1 John has the word “know” or a derivative in about 1/4 of the verses. Many Christian students believe Christianity is a preference claim rather than a truth claim.

    67% of college students said that faith is very or extremely important in their lives. However, when the same question was posed open-ended, what is important in your life, hardly any mentioned religion or spirituality. Few mentioned any significant way religion influences their lives. Religion is compartmentalized and doesn’t shape their lives. The language that dominates adolescent interests and thinking about life is personal feeling and desire. But that is also the case with adults. That’s where they get it.

    Engage in worldview discussions with children. The best way parents can help their children become and stay Christian is to engage in discussions about Christian values and how it interprets and directs life. Conversation is the best way to shape worldview. Discuss movies. Discuss decisions. Discuss ideas. Model and explain how Christianity provides solutions and ways of thinking about the practical aspects of life.

    Sean’s experience is that teenagers are more open and interested in discussions these things than we often think. They’ll respond well when engaged consistently and seriously.

    Welcome to College

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    Raising kids in a sexualized society

    Yesterday we talked about sexuality and TV. I came across this interview and these ladies raise some helpful points. Here was just one of the Q & A exchanges:

    Q: You say the “sexualization of childhood” affects boys, as well as girls, negatively. Can you expand on this?

    A: Boys learn to see girls as objects and judge and value them by how they look and how “sexy” they are. And boys are taught to conform to a very narrow definition of masculinity — being tough and invulnerable and aggressive. This can make it very difficult for boys to become men capable of having positive, caring, and connected relationships. This is a very high price to pay.

    If this is correct, and I think it is, we are training boys who will become men to see girls as objects. Then this unhealthy and ultimately destructive cycle leads to the girls–who want to be liked–focus primarily on how they look. We need to introduce truth into this cycle; people are intrinsically valuable because God made them in His image…not how they look or how well that perform.

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    Study: TV shows sex, but not in marriage

    Sex sells and it is everywhere. TV is powerful because for good or ill, it conveys images. But images are more powerful than simply ideas. Mainly because they, in many ways, bypass rational thought or interaction–they are simply perceived (like the awareness that a tree is in front of me). Images are embedded with an idea or cluster of ideas that lead either to life with God or without God. Dallas Willard writes, “Every idea system is present among us as a life force through a small number of powerful images” (Renovation of the Heart, 99).

    Few desires in life are as powerful as sexual ones. God has created sexual intimacy for a context suitable to human flourishing and delight–a married relationship between a husband and a wife. It is a GOOD thing! Sex is beautiful and provides life, light, warmth, laughter, and pleasure to a married relationship. That is the ideal. It is what we say yes to as Christ-follower’s. It is good indeed.

    Now images shape emotions and habits and values. So what are we learning on TV? Especially the next generation who quite honestly, many of whom have not thought rationally about sexual intimacy–what it is and is for. That is not a slam; just the truth.

    So a recent study comes out that shows that “Behavior that once was seen as “fringe, immoral or socially destructive have been given the imprimatur of acceptability by the television industry” and children are absorbing or even imitating it, the report contends.”

    They looked at 4 weeks of primetime TV shows and discovered among other things that:

    “The study analyzed four weeks of scripted shows on the major networks at the start of the 2007-08 season, noting content including depictions of sex; implied sex; discussions on the subject, and visual references to strippers, pornography and other aspects of sexuality.
    Among the networks overall, references to adultery outnumbered references to marital sex by 2 to 1. The “family hour” — the first hour of prime-time TV, which draws the most young viewers — contained the highest ratio of references to non-married vs. married sex, the study found.”

    Now I am not saying boycott TV. But we can’t be passive observers in media consumption–nor can we sit idly by while images are uncritically bypassing the rational process of our youth. To do so, would be to treat them in an unloving manner; we would not be telling them the truth.

    Please take a minute and read this article to make yourself aware of this so that you can think Christianly about your viewing habits.

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    Are Rejecting the ‘Bible’ and Rejecting ‘Christianity’ the Same Thing?

    I was reading The Reason for God and came across an excellent point and a helpful one as we discuss issues with our non Christian friends.

    “You may appeal, “But I can’t accept the Bible if what it says about Gender is outmoded.” I would respond to that with this question–are you saying that because you don’t like what the Bible says about sex that Jesus couldn’t have been raised from the dead? I’m sure you wouldn’t insist on a non-sequitor. If Jesus is the Son of God, then we have to take his teaching seriously, including his confidence in the authority of the whole bible. If he is not who he says he is, why should we care what the Bible says about anything else?”

    “Think of it like this. If you dive into the shallow end of the Biblical pool, where there are many controversies over interpretation, you may get scraped up. But if you dive into the center of the Biblical pool, where there is consensus–about the deity of Christ, his death and resurrection–you will be safe. It is therefore important to consider the Bible’s core claims about who Jesus is and whether he rose from the dead before you reject it for less central and more controversial teachings.”–Timothy Keller

    I think this helps us keep the main thing, the main thing–Jesus.

    (Just so I am clear on my position, I affirm the inspiration, authority, and innerancy of the Bible; but do not think it is necessary for someone to accept before trusting in Christ. The New Testament is historically reliable and there is much we can learn from it regarding the origins of and central claims of Christianity without first having to affirm its supernatural composition or origins).