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Thread: Younger adult Christians

  1. #1

    Younger adult Christians

    I'm sure many of you have noticed a trend among young adult Christians to soften the gospel. Here are a few things I've noticed. Feel free to add.

    1. An often unspoken universalism. No hell.
    2. God's love is preached, but to the exclusion of His judgment against sin.
    3. "I would never have an abortion, but I think a woman should have the right to make that decision for herself."
    4. God accepts homosexuality as an option. After all, a person is "born that way" and why should it matter who you love?
    5. Sex before marriage is okay.
    6. I don't need to go to church to be a good Christian.
    7. The Bible is fine, but you have to understand there are many "misunderstood verses" that can be explained if they're considered in the light of history.
    8. Capitalism is evil and based on greed. Socialism is more "Christian."

    Got any to add?

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  3. #2
    Oh yes, I've seen a lot of that.
    our enemy has been busy in our churches.

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  5. #3
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    Lack of submission to leadership or authority
    Inability to work as part of a team (independence)
    Not willing to grow as a person
    Lack of maturation in the Word

    Of course, a lot of this is because of weak leadership in churches, pastors that aren't mentored, and don't mentor others.

    Thankful I'm not in a place like that. We have a dynamic, growing church, holding each other accountable, etc. It's a tough church to be in, and is definitely not for everyone. Our church specifically started a "School of Formation" for gap year students, and anyone 30 and under. It's a school-year long curriculum that addresses a lot of those issues, plus many others.

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  7. #4
    Embarrassed by the "evangelical" Christian tag.

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  9. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by Bookman View Post
    I'm sure many of you have noticed a trend among young adult Christians to soften the gospel. Here are a few things I've noticed. Feel free to add.

    1. An often unspoken universalism. No hell.
    2. God's love is preached, but to the exclusion of His judgment against sin.
    3. "I would never have an abortion, but I think a woman should have the right to make that decision for herself."
    4. God accepts homosexuality as an option. After all, a person is "born that way" and why should it matter who you love?
    5. Sex before marriage is okay.
    6. I don't need to go to church to be a good Christian.
    7. The Bible is fine, but you have to understand there are many "misunderstood verses" that can be explained if they're considered in the light of history.
    8. Capitalism is evil and based on greed. Socialism is more "Christian."

    Got any to add?
    My issue is with the "millennial"-focused type of church...l've been seeing this more and more in terms of seeking a church (I've found one now). I find that as I get older, I need to be somewhere where there's maturity and clear direction from leadership (especially). Who/what a church or pastoral leadership spends time with is also a factor.

    --signed, a PROUD "Boomer"!

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  11. #6
    [QUOTE=Bookman;102359]I'm sure many of you have noticed a trend among young adult Christians to soften the gospel. Here are a few things I've noticed. Feel free to add.

    The OP's points desperate need to be elaborated from the perspective of young evangelicals.

    THE OP'S CONCERNS THAT I CONSIDER BASICALLY VALID, BUT OFTEN MISHANDLED IN CHURCH:
    3. "I would never have an abortion, but I think a woman should have the right to make that decision for herself."
    As I have demonstrated in another thread, both evangelicals and progressives can with some merit claim biblical authority for their pro-life and pro-choice stances.
    Old-time evangelicals are losing this battle due to their failure to recognize how the Holy Spirit clarified God's will and NT church teaching through early Christian tradition traceable to the apostolic age: e. g. "You shall not procure an abortion (The Teaching of the 12 Apostles 4:2 (c. 60-70 AD, though the final version of Didache can be dated to 95 AD).

    What traditional evangelicals don't get is this: they need to distinguish the proper Christian perspective from the problem of trying to legislate righteousness and ask, "In our democracy Does the church have the right to impose its pro-life views on non-Christians who reject biblical authority.

    4. God accepts homosexuality as an option. After all, a person is "born that way" and why should it matter who you love?
    I agree that gay sex acts are wrong. But by preaching at gays rather than loving and empathizing with them, anti-gay speech unintentionally comes across as hate-speech and unloving intolerance. Young evangelicals see this clearly and resent it. Also, traditional evangelicals need to concede that a gay-orientation can be innate and that Jesus does not condemn the gay orientation (see Matthew 19:12). The expression "eunuchs from birth" refers to men who, for whatever reason, are not naturally attracted to the opposite sex. Christians need to condemn same-sex sex acts, not the orientation as such!

    5. Sex before marriage is okay.
    Yes, a big problem! But young evangelicals often claim the real issue is whether their sexual relationship is the equivalent of marriage in God's eyes. They point out that the confirmation of what constitutes a true marriage varies from cultural period to period in biblical history and that there is no reason to accept modern legal criteria as the basis of real marriage. That argument might have some merit if they had honestly pledged a lifelong commitment to each other. Also, evangelical pastors are influenced by this question: "Do I really want to confront young couples living together outside of holy matrimony and risk driving the, pit pf the church and away from God?"

    8. Capitalism is evil and based on greed. Socialism is more "Christian."
    I oppose the goals of our socialist Democrat presidential candidates. This problem has been exacerbated by TV evangelical prosperity Gospel preachers. The older generation needs to address the young evangelicals' argument that the original Jerusalem church adopted a form of pure socialism in the sense of community ownership of goods and services (e. g. Acts 2:44-45).

    6. I don't need to go to church to be a good Christian.
    Such truancy is condemned by Hebrews 10:24-25. One statistic demonstrates just how serious an issue this is: 1/3 of Americans label themselves as "spiritual, but not religious." A major part of these are nominally Christian, but their experience of leaving church unfed has disillusioned them. The right kind of contemporary music makes little difference to this verdict.

    THE MOST MISGUIDED TRADITIONAL CONCERNS ABOUT YOUNG EVANGELICALS:
    1. "An often unspoken universalism. No hell."
    I disagree: their issue is not universalism per se, but rather the implied idea that there can be no release from Hell and that God's true love eternally abandons unbelievers of any stripe.
    Young evangelicals are turned off by the concept of a morally monstrous God who eternally damns honest seekers who reject the Gospel
    (a) because they were reared in a non-Christian culture or home,
    (b) because the Bible just doesn't ring true or plausible (e. g. on the creationism vs. evolution debate),
    (c) because they honestly believe the bible is full of historical errors, contradictions, and morally offensive teaching (e. g. that hones seekers can be eternally damned for living with limited rational and intuitive skills, anti-Christian cultural conditioning, and lack of exposure to a Spirit-anointed presentation of the Gospel

    "2. God's love is preached, but to the exclusion of His judgment against sin."
    Yes, that issue is valid concern. But young evangelicals often experience older church members as hypocritically judgmental and therefore take offense when the theme of judgment is vehemently preached from the pulpit. unless the judgment preaching is Spirit-anointed, it will like turn off many honest seekers and young evangelical Christians.

    "7. The Bible is fine, but you have to understand there are many "misunderstood verses" that can be explained if they're considered in the light of history."
    But that claim is valid: "My people perish from a lack of knowledge (Hosea 4:6)." Much of biblical teaching is misguided precisely because the preacher is virtually illiterate about the essential role of historical, cultural, and linguistic studies in illumining the true application of the text. The problem arises from attendance at mickey mouse Bible schools or seminaries that don't emphasize the need to learn biblical languages and background studies.

  12. #7
    What traditional evangelicals don't get is this: they need to distinguish the proper Christian perspective from the problem of trying to legislate righteousness and ask, "In our democracy Does the church have the right to impose its pro-life views on non-Christians who reject biblical authority.
    All laws are based on legislating "righteousness." Murder, rape, stealing are attempts to legislate righteousness. As are Civil Rights laws and virtually all laws.

    Christians need to condemn same-sex sex acts, not the orientation as such!
    Yes, I agree. I've mentioned before that if your church or ministry isn't reaching out to gays and lesbians, then I can't hear what you say when you condemn them.

    8. Capitalism is evil and based on greed. Socialism is more "Christian."
    I oppose the goals of our socialist Democrat presidential candidates. This problem has been exacerbated by TV evangelical prosperity Gospel preachers. The older generation needs to address the young evangelicals' argument that the original Jerusalem church adopted a form of pure socialism in the sense of community ownership of goods and services (e. g. Acts 2:44-45).
    Yes, but that was purely voluntary, not coerced. If people choose to have all things in common, so be it, but if someone else wants to opt out, so be it. Even Ananias and Sapphira were told that when the property was theirs, they had the right to do what they wanted to. It was lying about the money that caused their death.

    I disagree: their issue is not universalism per se, but rather the implied idea that there can be no release from Hell and that God's true love eternally abandons unbelievers of any stripe.
    Young evangelicals are turned off by the concept of a morally monstrous God who eternally damns honest seekers who reject the Gospel
    An honest seeker will respond to the gospel. That's a promise from the Word. If they think God is "morally monstrous" they don't understand God, nor sin.

    Much of biblical teaching is misguided precisely because the preacher is virtually illiterate about the essential role of historical, cultural, and linguistic studies in illumining the true application of the text.
    I don't think that's as widespread as people might think. On the issues that really matter, the Word is clear. What we have now is a group of people who want to be Christians, but want the Bible to be understood in light of current culture, rather than understanding current culture by knowing the Bible. Will we allow the Bible to be judged by current events or will current events be judged by the Bible?

  13. #8
    Bookman:"All laws are based on legislating "righteousness." Murder, rape, stealing are attempts to legislate righteousness. As are Civil Rights laws and virtually all laws."

    The answer to the question of when a fetus becomes a person with an eternal destiny embroils one in a debate based on religious vs. secular assumptions. The proper question for the legal system is this: when does an act that causes death or prevents life become a "crime?" The answer to that question quickly leads to the thin line between religious and purely secular assumptions.

    "An honest seeker will respond to the gospel. That's a promise from the Word."

    Actually, no, it's not! Many honest seekers are convinced by their reflection and studies that the Bible is merely a collection of myth and legends about a tribal god with a narrow-minded self-aggrandizing tribal value system. You really need to get out more and try to evangelize well-educated honest seekers like I have!

    "If they think God is "morally monstrous" they don't understand God, nor sin."

    This brazen claim naively overlooks the problem and mystery of unfair suffering acknowledged by all Christian philosophers. The truth is, we can't explain why godly people suffer and the wicked often lead fulfilling relatively carefree lives. Nor do you have a sensible answer the question of why a God of pure unconditional love who wants everyone to be saved would create postmortem opportunities for the damned in Hell to repent and be transformed by the Holy Spirit's power.

    "On the issues that really matter, the Word is clear. What we have now is a group of people who want to be Christians, but want the Bible to be understood in light of current culture, rather than understanding current culture by knowing the Bible."

    As Text Critic B. F. Westcott famously observed, "The simple Gospel is not so simple as the simple would have you suppose." The meaning of theological and ethical biblical words is shaped by the cultural language games from which their meaning arises. There is often no precise one-to-one correspondence in meaning between modern English words and their nearest Hebrew and Greek counterparts. So proper understanding of Greek and Hebrew linguistics, culture, and historical background is needed before we can claim a clear understanding of the text. Lay readers of the Bible are generally unaware of the extent to which modern cultural word usage biases our interpretation of ancient biblical texts.

  14. #9
    "If they think God is "morally monstrous" they don't understand God, nor sin."

    This brazen claim naively overlooks the problem and mystery of unfair suffering acknowledged by all Christian philosophers. The truth is, we can't explain why godly people suffer and the wicked often lead fulfilling relatively carefree lives.
    If a person starts with the righteousness of God, the holiness of God, the compassion of God, they will not impute to God any sense of monstrosity. The right response to suffering is for Christians empowered by the Holy Spirit, follow God's lead in easing the suffering of others.

    For the rest of it, I think we are all prone to simply rationalize when we don't appreciate what the Scripture says. I think if we act on what we do understand in Scripture, we will stumble into more of God's truth. Revelation often comes as we move forward. If we still don't understand, don't explain it away or rationalize.

  15. #10
    Bookman: "If a person starts with the righteousness of God, the holiness of God, the compassion of God, they will not impute to God any sense of monstrosity. The right response to suffering is for Christians empowered by the Holy Spirit, follow God's lead in easing the suffering of others.

    Bookman: "For the rest of it, I think we are all prone to simply rationalize when we don't appreciate what the Scripture says."

    On the contrary, it is you who are rationalizing the fact that many honest seekers dismiss the Bible as a collection of myths, legends, and exclusivistic ravings of a false tribal god. Jesus said, "No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father (John 6:44)." We cannot answer the question of why the Father or the Spirit does not draw so many people to Himself. So we must honestly bow before that ministry and continue our witness in the hope that some will respond.


    Bookman: "I think if we act on what we do understand in Scripture, we will stumble into more of God's truth. Revelation often comes as we move forward."
    But besides "the fear of the Lord," the beginning of wisdom is knowing what you don't know and acknowledging the mystery of unanswered basic questions instead of pretending that the problems for faith are not significant and rationalizing away the difficulties. In other words, we must prize the quest for truth above comfort and learn to live with loose ends and inconsistencies in our Christian belief system.

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