Thursday's thought
Our blog is going well isn't it? It's certainly one of the more active blogs I've seen. As I said last sunday, I think there are two dangers with the blog; either no one will use it and it will just die away or it will only be fun, silly stuff and nothing meaningful that helps our faith. I'm glad there's lots of fun banter - that's important too (especially at the start) but I'd like the blog to help us talk about God and our faith too.
So today's thought:
I was reading an article in a magazine recently about talking to non-Christian young people about God. It said the main difficulty is that "young people today are not asking the questions that religion answers". People generally aren't interested in answers to questions they're not asking.
So two questions to start us off: What questions does religion answer? and Are young people asking them?
posted by Will @ 8:07 AM
5 Comments:
I think (no really - I do), that the answers Christianity (can we avoid talking about religion in general - that can only confuse the matter) offers are less attractive than the answers that society/the media claim.
Whilst secular society has the glitz and glamour it lacks the substance, whereas young people who are enshrouded in a environment of mass media bombardment don't see Christian values & practices as attractive because they lack that pizzazz, despite the fact that (we believe) they hold the substance.
Whilst I've not really touched on either of Will's questions so far I will attempt to in a point of illustration.
SEX (some filth for the filth fans here)
Whilst Christianity holds the stance that sex should only take place between a married couple secular society dresses it up as something that is a 'must-do'. This means that when young people face this dilema they have on one hand 'The Church' saying wait, and on the other hand everything else saying it's too good to wait.
Whilst I think that many more people see the value of abstaining from premarital sex they don't because they simply can't be bothered with the waiting, and are tempted by the constant media barrage of sexual images and stereotypes.
I could go on, but for the minuet I'll start breathing again.
So Christianity does answer questions that young people are asking but the media claims to answer them too and in a more attractive way. ok. What about big questions like "what happens when I die" or "Who created the world" or "whats the meaning to life". Do young people ask those questions.
Seeing as I was waiting for blogger to come back online I may as well post something.
I think in regards to the 'what happens when I die?' question, the attitude in people I see is that of 'life’s too short'
...and fair play to them, it is.
In an age where a full meal can be prepared in around 40 seconds, entire albums can be downloaded to an ipod in minuets, and listened to anywhere out and about, and people can post there inmost thoughts instantly for the whole world to see a the click of a mouse.
Easy, everything is easy, easy answers.
And the church has nothing but gruelling, life changing answers.
People aren’t interested.
They'd rather download the latest Gnarls Barkley single, eat a pot noodle and go on myspace to tell all their friends about how wonderful it was.
Ehh…
…So I think my point is that the church doesn’t provide any easy answers
Yeh that’ll do
I agree with Al - right answers aren't always easy answers.
That's what I was trying to say.
I think a lot of young people do ask those questions, but arent' prepared to make the effort to find answers.
Sounds about right. So it's easier just not to think about it all. Just do something easy instead.
OK - So this has all sorts of implications for what we do at church.
When I look around the hall on a sunday morning or evening - there are a lot of blank stares - particularly amongst young people I think - in fact many just get on with chatting to their mate, txting, anything but listening. Is that part of the same thing?
What about 13+? Supposed to be about the big important things in life (like God) but we all have an inbuilt preference to just chat about easier things instead. It's easier.
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