Almost Christian

I began this week driving with fellow pastors down to Louisville, Kentucky to attend school at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. I must admit I feel and have felt like a fish out of water because in the "religious talk and jargon", I know the information and I belong in the school but it does seem like everyone else is on a "DSL CONNECTION" while I am on "DIAL-UP".

Its a three to three and half hour drive one-way to get to school so it provides a lot of time for reading, sleeping or conversation. The conversation is the car was about "Moralistic therapeutic deism", not normal religious jargon I use day to day.

One of the Pastors is a Youth Pastor and is going after a Master of Arts in Youth and Family Ministry. In his Program Development and Planning Youth Ministry Class, this concept came up.

Many church members do not expect much from their youth pastors or don't even have a youth minister position. It is seem as a position to help keep our children away from drugs, prevent pre-marital sex, and exhibit good moral behavior. We feed them everything but many times forget to "FEED THEM THE WORD OF GOD". Pizza parties, hot-dog and Hamburger cook-outs, doughnuts in the morning and candy and snacks in the evening but are we feeding them the real food.

One of the textbooks for this class that I had the chance to read on the way down and back to school contends that churches are teaching a "mutant" form of Christianity. The author contends American teenagers are embracing what what was termed "Moralistic Therapeutic Deism which is to say, "It's a water-down faith that portrays God a a "Divine therapist" rather than Lord and Savior, whose chief goal is to boost self-esteem".

We must teach our children more than just how to feel good or do good, we must arm them with what which is good from the Word of God. Pizza, Hamburgers and Doughnuts may get youth into the building but Pizza, Hamburgers and Doughnuts will not be able to answer the questions of Why did my mother and father get divorce? Why did my best friend commit suicide? Why did my best friend die of an asthma attack after smoking a blunt once?

We can't be afraid or ashamed to teach our youth the Word of God. They can understand, they can relate, they can remember it, in this we truly demonstrate they are the church of today. We need more than pizza!

Owens

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