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eljeffe

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13 weeks 5 days

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02/29/2012 - 1:36pm

great commentary tim - your argument is right on so many levels.

here are eljeffe's "dos centavos:"

i think the thing that everyone is missing is that most churches have children's and youth ministry programs that do little or nothing to prepare teenagers for the rigors of intellectual wrestling with matters of faith.

do children and youth matter in the family of faith? yes, but who puts their money where their mouth is? children's ministries are primarily arts & crafts centers (at best), where kids get shown videos and the teachers are in prayer that the kids will stay quiet and not hurt themselves or other kids until their parents get back. the kids are sent home with a coloring sheet with a bible verse on it, and we parents think they had some sort of lesson that will build them up in knowledge and faith. but we don't complain because we'd hate to be in the position of teaching those classes too.

youth ministries are entertainment centers where adult aged adolescents try to show teens how "cool" being a christian can be even though most of the youth's peers equate "cool" with independence from their parents/getting drunk/stoned/laid/having the latest & greatest phone/apps/music/etc... ask a graduating senior from your church why Jesus died on the cross, and I guarantee you they'll say, "to forgive our sins." But is that really WHY Jesus died on the cross? Most parents feel that the youth ministry is successful if their kids graduate high school as virgins who have never been drunk or stoned. how youth pastors ever had the ego strength to believe they could compete with hollywood is beyond me. most teens enter college with no true biblical literacy, no understanding how relevant Christ and the good news is in today's culture and when they get out on their own and begin their individuation process, they see the hypocrisy of the church leaders. they see the hypocrisy of their parents. they see the hypocrisy of their christian friends. they see the hypocrisy of their own lives, and they are faced with the truth that we're all sinners - that nobody is perfect - no church is perfect - no system is perfect - but because we glorify the perfect people in our churches and make our churches out to be these perfect places with our "US (Christians) and Them (Others)," false dichotomy (either you're with us or you're against us), they feel that they're one of the Them who can never be perfect, and they choose the path of least resistance which starts a rapid free fall to the bottom aided by the millstone that we the evangelical church have put around the necks of these weaker brothers & sisters.

what we need to do is quit giving out the answers. for 18 years kids in sunday school/children's ministry/youth ministry are taught the answers-the answers we want them to hear, that we feel they need to know and they become great at regurgitating answers, but have they truly learned? How do people know they need to care about the answer we've given if they have no idea or ownership over the question? if we never teach or give them the freedom to to ask the questions (even the tough ones) - or when they ask the tough questions we just give them pat- or non-answers, we've done them a disservice. when we don't help them learn how to articulate the questions that lead to the answers they need to live a life of following Christ and we leave them to do that on their own, then the answers we've given won't carry the weight they require because they don't fit within the framework of the question they've articulated for themselves.

All that being said, the problem with this approach is that many of us in leadership in churches (yes people like you and me and paulep) haven't figured out the questions for ourselves and we're too afraid to admit that because we don't trust that we'll be able to keep our jobs if we're honest, so we keep the smoke screen in tact giving the answers and protecting the virginity of our youths, at the expense of their (and most likely our own) souls. Remember if we hold to Christ's teachings it will show that we're his disciples and we'll know the truth. And the truth will set us free! --ej

 Don't Blame College for Young People Leaving the Church view
02/22/2012 - 12:02am

he thought it was so good he posted it twice!

 He Said, She Said: Driscoll's "Real Marriage" is Really Not view
02/21/2012 - 11:55pm

"That is often true, which is why Christians should seek out Christian therapists and be discerning about the therapists they see."

What is often true? That sex therapists often offer advice that directly contradicts the bible?  Really? That's like saying "it is often true that Muslim politicians are jihadists." Or that "often Catholic priests are sex offenders." 

Have you ever consulted a sex therapist?! Be careful - you're typing as though you actually know something- about sex therapy and the nature of the relationship between a psychological professional and their patient. Gross generalizations are used by the religious right and left to make points that are generally dismissed by those in the middle who need to know Jesus, but are boxed out by the self proclaimed "know it alls."

 He Said, She Said: Driscoll's "Real Marriage" is Really Not view
Election 2012