A couple weeks ago I mentioned a change in my "Life on the Goldilocks Planet" series - today I am going to explain what this change is and why there is a change.
One thing we all care about as Christian grandmas (or grandpas/parents) is for the children we love to be people who believe in, love, know, and walk with God. We want them to have a confident faith. Is there really anything which matters more than for our grown and grandchildren to be believers?
Of course not. All of my grandchildren were born between the years of 1999 and 2015 - this makes them part of Generation Z . . . or as they are commonly referred to, Gen Z. The children you love may be in this group, or older, or younger, but, regardless of the age of your grandchildren/children it is important for us to know the truth - as they grow older, ever increasing numbers of them are turning their backs upon the faith they learned as young children.
Barna says Gen Z are, "the first truly 'post Christian' generation." His studies show this one generation "identifies as atheist" at double the rate of the U.S. adult population. Read this again - yes it says at double the rate. The study shows, "Three out of four Boomers are Protestant or Catholic Christians (75%), while just three in five 13- to 18-year-olds say they are some kind of Christian (59%)."
If you look at the study (which you will find at this link) you will see the results show, "Teens, along with young adults, are more likely than older Americans to say the problem of evil and suffering is a deal breaker for them. It appears today’s youth, like so many throughout history, struggle to find a compelling argument for the existence of both evil and a good and loving God."
In addition, "significantly fewer teens and young adults (28% and 25%) than Gen X and Boomers (36% and 45%) see science and the Bible as complementary." In addition, "half of churchgoing teens say 'the church seems to reject much of what science tells us about the world' (49%)" and this also pushes them away from faith.
Barna is not the only one to notice these facts. John Ortberg says; "I’ve watched when very often those really bright young people go off and pursue education, go to college, begin to read, and discover they were misinformed. Then they think they have to choose between the Bible and truth. You don’t. We have to do better than that. I think that’s part of God’s calling on our church, to be a place of thoughtful faith, where we’re humble before truth."
As John Ortberg said; "We have to do better than that." We must do better. Yes, we absolutely must teach the children we love about the Bible and what it has to say. Yes, we absolutely must teach the children we love about who God is, why they are able to believe in Him with confidence, and how they are able to know and walk with Him. But, equally as important, we must teach the truth about what science is able to show us. We must be prepared to show them how God and science do go together and they do not have to believe only one or the other.
When I was a child, we did not have the advances in science which we have today. We did not know what we know today about DNA. We did not have the facts which show there really was a Big Bang, the Earth is 13.7 billion years old, and there is a fossil record which does show evolution is real. But we have these things today. If we continue to hold to things we thought we knew when we were younger, we will, as John Ortberg said, leave the ones we love to think they were misinformed and they have to choose between the Bible and science.
This has to stop. We are able to believe in God - He started everything and He chose to use evolution as His "paintbrush" to design and create the universe and the world in which we live. We need to teach this truth to the ones we love. The Big Bang could not have happened without God - and the precision in our world which shows up in each creature God designed also could not have happened without God. We are able to be in awe of our amazing God. We do not have to diminish Him and His incredible creation in any way. At the same time, we do not have to be afraid of or intimidated by Science. God made science. God and science do go together. We need to equip the children we love so they are able to grow up with a confident faith and understand how science shows them this.
So, with all of this in mind, I have gone back and edited my books so they show the truth about how God used science/evolution to create the world around us and everything in and on it. Now I realize some of you will think I've gone off the deep end and will want nothing more to do with me. I'm sorry if this is how you feel, but I will not write a resource which only serves to push young people away from God. I absolutely believe God created and designed everything - I just have to believe the science and believe He used evolution to create it all. If we equip the children we love with the scientific evidence and how we are able to know God is real, then we are giving them the tools they need to have a strong and confident faith of their own.
I encourage you to get the series for the children you love. I will continue to offer the digital books as a resource churches are able to use to equip parents and grandparents so they are able to hand down confident faith (you will find the details at this link.) I currently have seven individual books, and one four-book combo book available in print and digital copies.
We still need to educate ourselves so we are able to answer the questions our grandchildren/children may ask about how they are able to believe God is Good when there is so much evil and suffering in the world. I will be writing more about this in the coming weeks, but this series will help you teach the children and teens you love how they are able to have a strong, confident faith in God and not turn their backs on science. Get it and use it with the children you love.
No comments:
Post a Comment