A week ago I happened to be driving with my teenage nephew when he quietly asked me my stand on so-called gay marriage, homosexuality in the Church and evolution. That jump started a spirited on -line debate on so-called same sex marriage that for me was and remains particularly disturbing in that the young people in our limited online audience seemed to be lined up on one side against me. Equally disturbing to me was the fact that this wasn’t someone who was asking me for guidance or direction on the issue, but somebody who had decidedly made up his mind. It was an emotionally frustrating exercise. This same kid who, a few years ago had been my ally on certain conservative issues has gone liberal.
What exactly happened?
Cases like this are not isolated. Young people from Christian homes and good churches go to high school and college and come back disillusioned, discouraged and doubting their faiths. Some of them leave their conservative and/or biblical values altogether, disenchanted, as it were, by the so-called “intolerance” of Christianity for the secular and humanistic culture of today.
America’s educational system runs on the framework of secular humanism, promotes diversity and multiculturalism over patriotism and elevates the evolutionary framework while it denigrates intelligent design. It encourages safe sex with little or no emphasis on abstinence. It has removed God or discussions of God from its classrooms. The list goes on.
Unfortunately, a majority of us do not have the option to enroll our kids in Christian schools. Thus, our children spend the crucial 17 years of their lives in the public school system. Just imagine the potential repercussions! It is a difficult situation to be in.
On the other hand, isn’t it not that the education of our children should start and continue to be in the home?
It is not enough that we send our kids to Sunday School or church. As our children mature emotionally and mentally they will most likely question what they have been taught. They will test the veracity and relevance of truth as they know it to be. And as parents and guardians we should encourage them to do so. We should engage our children in the cultural and political issues of the day and challenge them to tackle the existential questions of life from the framework of God’s Word. We should present them with the evidence of our faith and the many infallible proofs that support our beliefs. We should train them and equip them so that they are “ready to give an answer to the hope that is in them.” I Peter 3:15. It is our moral obligation as parents. It is our moral obligation to ourselves.
When my nephew asked me to give just one scientific evidence for creation, I had been unable to provide him with just one fact. That is because I was not “ready to give an answer to the hope that is in me.” How much more difficult it is for our kids who are bombarded on all sides. Unless we have trained them, and equipped them they are not able to engage the culture, who like the snake in the garden of Eden pose them with the question “Is it really so?”
We pray that our children will have godly teachers, but the sad fact is, they are a rarity. And if there are any, they are essentially gagged from presenting their views in our schools these days. We pray for our schools but our schools have become the devil’s instrument in the systematic indoctrination of our young.
It starts with us, as adults. For my part, I was plagued with the burden of having lost that opportunity with my nephew when he was younger. For years I did nothing to share important biblical resources that might have made a difference. It behooves me now, late as it may, to do it.
Let us give our kids the resources to be able to defend their faith and views. Books abound that tackle homosexuality, evolution, same-sex unions, abortion, etc., from a biblical perspective ; the internet is the quickest route to find Christian websites that deal with the questions and issues plaguing our society ; Christian apologists are many who are out there answering from the Bible the deep and tough questions of life, and then there is Christian radio and TV.
We should have serious conversations with our kids about what we believe, why we believe what we believe. We should teach them and help them to defend our values and, more than that, practice what we believe. Christianity is revolutionary by its very nature; and the Bible is absolutely relevant to the times.
We should start early and remain tenacious and steadfast to this mission. It is alarming the growing number of young people who call themselves atheists and agnostics. You will find that a majority of the youth espouse liberal views. As Christian parents, the question we should ask ourselves is: will we abdicate our moral responsibility towards the next generation?
Our faith is an absolute part of our lives. It shapes our political and social views. Our faith should be relevant. Jesus dealt with the philosophical and socio-cultural issues of the day. We cannot leave our faith behind the four walls of our homes. We cannot compartmentalize our faith from the rest of our lives. Without a doubt, our testimony speaks louder than our speech, but in the words of renowned Christian apologist Ravi Zacharias it is wise in these times to “challenge believers to think and thinkers to believe.”
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