Ever wondered why children appear to not know or place as much importance on God’s written Word as in generation's past? According to Impact 360 Institute, a staggering statistic has revealed a dramatically progressive decline from where once 51% of baby boomers held a biblical worldview to now only 4% of gen Z-ers hold that same worldview.
FOUR PERCENT!?! What happened?!?
As I read a bible verse to my kids one day, it dawned on me. I’m a gen X-er and grew up in church. When I was a kid, I couldn’t search for a verse or topic on google. I didn’t have a bible app to pull up a verse on demand. I memorized the books of the Bible on Wednesday nights through Bible drills.
My bible was its own separate resource. A physical book. A complete work with a beginning, middle, and end - all to be taken in context. My Bible was seen as sacred and to this day, while I appreciate the convenience of google searches and the Bible app, I still prefer to physically hold and read from my Bible when possible.
Today's youth and many young adults have:
-> never known a time when God’s Word could not be pulled from a phone.
-> never had to know where in the bible a verse was which disregards a verse's context completely.
-> never known a time when God’s Word was not linked to a device where any information from any resource can be found and read on that same level.
Could this be why:
-> there is now less sacredness, separateness, and credibility to scripture?
-> our children and confessingly us find it more difficult to separate what the world says from what God says? Feelings from truth?
-> Moral relativism and progressive thinking are coming into the Church with the Bible being seen as more of an ala carte resource?
There is an all-out battle going on and it’s not against flesh and blood. A spiritual battle against God's Word. A battle not only for our children, but also for a generation of parents overwhelmed in how to train the next generation up in how to maintain a biblical worldview in an ever-increasing atheistic culture.
There is an all-out battle going on and it’s not against flesh and blood. A spiritual battle against God's Word. A battle not only for our children, but also for a generation of parents overwhelmed in how to train the next generation on how to maintain a biblical worldview in an ever-increasing atheistic culture.
Return back to the Word
Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. (John 17:17)
Pray the Word
so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it. (Isaiah 55:11)
Partner in pareneting with the Word, discussing it in light of today's culture.
Give ear, O my people, to my teaching; incline your ears to the words of my mouth!I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings from of old, things that we have heard and known, that our fathers have told us. We will not hide them from their children, but tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might, and the wonders that he has done (Psalm 78:1-4).
Don't be overwhelmed by the Word.
But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you (John 14:26).
If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him (James 1:5).
RECOMMENDED READ AND STUDY
This fall,
Kings Cross Church (Charleston, SC) will be hosting a Mama Bear Apologetics study on
Sunday Afternoons.
Train yourself. Equip your kids.
for details.