California Christian Apologetics Conference (III)

We had to wait for Saturday to roll around (and cough up 40 big ones!) to enjoy the third session of the Apologetics Conference. There were significantly less people there on Saturday unfortunately, but hopefully many were ministered to and challenged by the first two sessions on Friday.

For the third session, we had the privilege of hearing once more as a group from Sean McDowell, who titled his talk “Equipping Youth With a Biblical Worldview.” To start off, he started with some statistics about how many believers reportedly leave the faith due to “intellectual skepticism” (32%!!!). Now, I have my suspicions as to whether or not that’s truly the reason they left; however, the point remains at least that we should be able to take that excuse away as a legitimate one. He then made the observation that most couples, after experiencing the loss of a child, struggle to even stay together. Most relationships cannot make it. Yet some do. He said that his research led him to the conclusion that those couples who have a worldview that can make sense of pain and tragedy beforehand make it. That, of course, would be the Biblical worldview, which only 9% of evangelical adults and 2% of evangelical youth have. It is worth noting that “evangelical” is defined in this poll far more narrowly than simply self-identification. There are 9 questions asked of which all have to be answered correctly in order to consider someone evangelical. What exactly they are evades me, but it was quite surprising when I heard them.

We then got quizzed about what we felt were the beliefs of Protestant Youth on the following topics. My guesses are in white and the correct answers are in red.

Deistic God - 10% 10%
Impersonal (Energy Force) - 10% 8%
Reincarnation - 15% 33%
Psychics or fortune-tellers - 25% 21%
Miracles - 35% 23%
No Evil Spirits - 30% 42%
Many Religions true - 35% 48%
Buffet Religion - 40% 36%
Jesus Sinned - 5% 46%
No Resurrection - 25% 51%

Can you believe that? I mean, on every turn, I was either spot on (that is, within 4%) or over estimated the number of people with orthodox beliefs. The majority of protestant youth today do not believe in the resurrection! This historic event is absolutely central to the Christian faith. Without it, we are damned (1 Cor 15). It’s no wonder we’ve got a crisis in our country. The next statistic was absolutely shocking.

Young people without a Biblical worldview are 600% more likely to commit suicide. Amazing!! There were tons of other statistics like that showing that having a Biblical worldview does affect the way you act. Of course, with indwelling sin everyone will fall at some point or another. The point is not that with the “perfect” worldview, we will be perfect. That will only happen at death. But it sure does help to have the right perspective, because then your desires won’t be able to justify themselves as easily with lies about reality. I’m also going to assume that the percentage of people who are actually Christians is greater among those with a biblical worldview than among those deemed “evangelicals” by this poll.

Karl Marx believed he could change the world with only 26 soldiers. But why 26? That’s the number of letters in the alphabet. He knew all about the power that ideas and words could have on people. This is why the Bible says in 2 Cor 10:3-5, “For though we live in the world, we do not wage war like the world does…we demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." Our job is to teach people that they can know the truth. And furthermore, that we can know that we know the truth. 81% of youth (not necessarily religious youth) believe that religious truth is relative. It belongs in the upper, private sphere of opinion and faith, whereas scientific knowledge belongs in the lower, public sphere of common knowledge.

Faith is very or extremely important in the lives of 67% percent of conservative protestant youth. Most youth pastors might rejoice over this and conclude that we’re making progress; however, on open-ended lists of important things, Christian Smith says that religion rarely ever shows up! So what this statistic tells us is that in the religious sector of their lives, religion and faith are very important to them. However, when it comes to having an effect on everyday life, religion and faith have little or no effect. This is what’s commonly known as the Christmas-Easter Christianity, or the Sunday Christian. You’re religious in the religion part of your life. Everywhere else, though, you leave religion out of it. For example, a 14-year-old boy said, “Church makes me learn about God and Jesus but has no effect on my life.” Or take this quote from a 17-year-old: “Religion influences me in the things I choose not to do, um, like bad things, like murder or something…” (!!!). Well… great! I’m so glad that you’ve found the motivation to not kill anybody! There is clearly some sort of disconnect in people’s minds about what role Christ is supposed to play in the life of the Christian. In all the interviews conducted, never did teens express that religion summons people to embrace an obedience to truth regardless of the personal consequences or rewards. When hundreds of Christian teens were asked what Christianity was all about, the following number of people mentioned the following subjects:

13 obeying God or the church
12 repentance
7 resurrection of Jesus
2 Kingdom of God (These both Mormons)

Versus…

112 Being made happy
99 Feeling Good about oneself
92 Feeling better about oneself and life

There is only one way to begin tackling this problem. Nancy Pearcy said, “We must begin by being utterly convinced that there is a biblical perspective on everything – not just on ‘spiritual’ matters.” And to support that, Sean gave us Col 2:3 – All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” are in Christ. All truth is God’s truth. If something is Biblical, it is true; and if something is true, it is Biblical, whether implicitly or explicitly. After this short ::cough:: overview, Sean gave us 3 main practical ways that will help us think like a Christian.

First, realize that there is a Biblical worldview for everything. Whether it be health, science, or government, there is a Biblical worldview on everything! For example, communism failed because it misdiagnosed the nature of man, which a Biblical worldview could not have missed. Man is wicked above all, his heart is deceitfully wicked (Jer 17:9).

Second, realize that all of creation comes from God’s hand, and most of what we might consider bad or dangerous is only that way because it is a good thing that has been twisted. Rather than sleeping with our spouses we sleep with anyone, or rather than working for the Lord we work for ourselves, or rather than playing music for the Lord, we fill our head will wholly unedifying lyrics and ambiance.

Third, ask great questions. This not only helps you increase your knowledge base, but also ensures that you understand people better. Rather than asserting wrong facts, you can make progress in a discussion and only be discovering truths about the person you’re speaking with.

To finish off, Sean ended with a final exhortation. “We have to insist on presenting Christianity as a comprehensive unified worldview that addresses all of life and reality.”

Otherwise, you’re just emoting.