Faith in God or some other divine being dropped from 96 percent in 1966 to 83 percent. Twice as many teens today feel their parents have tried to run their lives too much (24 percent, up from 12 percent in 1966). Fifty years ago, the five most admired famous people were John F. Kennedy, Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, Lyndon B. Johnson and Helen Keller, in that order. Today, pop culture rules, as President Barack Obama, Taylor Swift and Beyoncé top the list, with Selena Gomez tying Lincoln for fourth place.Selena Gomez is just as admired as Abraham Lincoln? George Washington and Helen Keller are taking a back seat to Taylor Swift and Beyoncé? That's not just a problem, it's a catastrophe!
But let's focus for a moment on that first statistic. Belief in some kind of divine being (not even a belief in the God of the Bible) has dropped from 96% to 83%. What has been the result of this change? What other beliefs have been affected? Here are two:
- 50% of teens support murdering babies by abortion.
- 62% of teens support the twisted practice of homosexual "marriage".
Newsweek focusses in on race relations since that factored highest in the survey (even higher than it did in 1966!). That's understandable, but for the purposes of this blog let's take a long look at those two statistics above and what they signify today and for our future.
50% of teens support infanticide by abortion. That means one out of every two teenage kids you meet believe that tearing a child apart in the womb is no big deal. To them a baby that hasn't exited the birth canal isn't a person but a thing. Don't minimize this attitude. As I've written elsewhere, a generation that sees people as things has no compunctions against murder when they decide that some people are less than human.
The redefinition of what a human is is tied directly to the first statistic, a rise in atheism. Even more so when we realize that the "god" that a large majority of these teens "believe in" is not the God of the Bible but a "force" in nature or nature itself. If God is not the God of the Bible then we are not created in God's image. If we are not created in God's image we have no inherent value. We are simply sentient biological organisms no different than a dog or a bug and when a person isn't worth the time to society anymore they can be exterminated for the good of the many. As one of the most popular sci-fi franchises in history has proclaimed now for decades, "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one." So why not kill babies? They don't contribute anything. Why not kill old people? They're useless now. Why not kill the mentally disabled? They are leeches on society anyway.
And what about that second statistic? 62% of our teens in the United States say they support homosexual marriage. That's just the ones that support it. How many just don't care about it one way or another? Not only does this ignore the clear declarations in the Bible against homosexuality, it ignores nature as well. Like the apostle Paul said, they give up their natural state and burn in their desire toward one another, men with men committing shameful acts and even the women burning in their desires for each other. This kind of denial of even the most obvious biological distinctions comes from a worldview that denies God, denies objective truth, and believes that people are fundamentally not responsible for who and what they are. They no longer choose to sin, they are a product of their genes and their environment.
And even their genes are no longer determinative of who they are. If a boy with an X and a Y chromosome decides one day that he is a girl and his name is now Jane we are all obliged to call him by female pronouns, call him by his female name, allow him to walk into female bathrooms, and completely ignore what is blatantly obvious. We must treat him as a girl or we face social sanctions. The new morality demands that we live a lie and support others in their lies.
What's more, to point out the Biblical and logical problems with these positions is now considered "hate speech". Just by disagreeing with the blatantly murderous or illogical actions of others, those who adhere to a Biblical model are accused of hate and lumped into the same category as the KKK and the Nazis. No longer is tolerance of different ideas the highest value. Now the only value is toeing the political line, or else.
So what are we to do as Christians when we realize that these statistics show our country is not only in trouble, but racing at break-neck speed into disaster? Should we be angry or fearful? Should we hide? Should we run away? Should we strike back? None of the above! As Christians we are called to speak the truth in love. Our motivation is to redeem lost souls and protect people from the dangers of sin. We do this by presenting the truth.
And where do we get the truth? From the Bible. These teens desperately need to hear the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Their distorted views and failing ethics are not going to be resolved through therapy, better jobs, better race relations, a better environment or a just society. Their only hope is that they find forgiveness in the blood of Christ.
We must understand though that the opposition is growing and it's growing more vitriolic. We must walk carefully and ensure that we are not responding to sin out of hate. We must be aware that speaking up is likely to cause others to hate us more, not less. For some of us, we will likely face unemployment, prison or worse. That is to be expected, but we must make sure that when they do lash out against us they don't have a good reason for it. They should hate us for the truth, not because we hate them.
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