Vine Antonelli, author of “9 Reasons People Don’t Believe In God,” asserts that 60% of all atheists grew up in the church. Imagine if 60% of Cubs fans grew up in the homes of Cardinal fans. There would be more disinheritances than Baptists sitting in the back pew!
It’s a sad statistic. What happened in the churches of all these atheists, causing them to walk away from the faith they grew up with? Many possibilities exist—some of which have nothing to do with religion.
But a general reason may exist. As we raise our children in our churches, almost all our curriculums center on Bible stories. That statement is eliciting a boisterous ‘duh’ from an estimated 100% of everyone reading this blog. Certainly, indisputable value exists in our youngsters learning all the powerful stories of the Bible. None of God’s Word returns to Him void.
However, if the entire curriculum for our youth centers on the ‘what’ of the Bible, we will always be in danger of losing our young people. It’s important to teach the ‘what’ of the story of David and Goliath? It’s also vital to teach our youngsters the ‘why’ of this important duel.
For example, a teacher takes his teenagers through the story of David and Bathsheba. Then the teacher says, “It’s wrong to commit adultery. So don’t do it.” That’s the ‘what.’ But where’s the ‘why?’ According to our teenagers, David and Bathsheba lived way, way before cell phones were invented. So what’s the story got to do with them today?
The story of David and Bathsheba provides an excellent opportunity to dive into the sanctity of marriage, the power of a couple living solely devoted to one another. They should also learn the horrible ramifications of infidelity. Finally, do they understand God’s design laid the groundwork for the possibility of an incomparable relationship between a man and a woman if they devoted themselves to each other?
Recently, our troop of teenagers at Rozetta Baptist thought it would be interesting to find out how other religions differ from Christianity. I would have done them a huge disservice if we only discussed the ‘what’ of each of the religions. We needed to dig into the ‘why’ of each of the religions.
As they’ve studied the ‘whys’ of each of the religions, they’re seeing the big differences in those religions compared to Christianity. They’re finding out how vastly unique Christianity is compared to any other religion. Most importantly, they’re discovering how the ‘why’ of Christianity is vastly superior to the ‘why’ of any other religion.
You’ve figured out my hope, right? That not one of them will join the 60% of atheists who have walked away from the Christian faith. Instead, they will find indomitable strength in the truth of the faith of their youth. Never overlook this: it’s the ‘why’ of the Christian faith which most strengthens and enlivens them. The ‘why’ reveals everything.
That’s much better for them than latching onto the words of the late atheist William Provine: “There are no gods, no purposes, no goal-directed forces of any kind. There is no life after death. When I die, I am absolutely certain I will be dead. That’s the end for me. There is no ultimate foundation for ethics, no ultimate meaning to life, and no free will for humans.”
One more tidbit about Mr. Provine. He’s one of the 60% of the atheists who walked away from the church of his youth. He grew up in a well-known mainline denomination. It would be interesting to examine the curriculum he grew up with and how it was taught to him.
Finally, I’m a staunch believer in the ‘easy yoke and light burdens’ promise of Jesus. To grasp the depth of any of His promises, a person must dig into the ‘why’ of the promises. Otherwise, they could all be labeled as merely hopes rather than realities of amazing potential.
Jesus never offered the gray area of hopes. He straight-forwardly provided promises of certainty. It behooves all of us to find out the ‘why’ of those promises. Understanding them leads to the life of the ‘easy yoke and light burdens.’