Christians are concerned that young people are leaving the church, causing a rise in the "nones" category (people who claim "no religions affiliation"). Atheists are gleefully trumpeting this increase, inaccurately claiming that the survey proves an increase in atheism. (What they conveniently ignore is that yes, some people do renounce the faith, but others are not currently attending a church while still having strong Christian beliefs. In some areas, it is difficult to find a Bible-believing church.) Various studies and surveys have been made in an attempt to determine why young people are shunning church attendance.
One of the main reasons Christianity becomes unpalatable is when adherents treat it like a buffet-style religion. "I'll take some mercy, resurrection, verses out of context that make me feel good, social justice, being inclusive, compromise with atheistic science interpretations, those are nice. Don't be giving me none of that eternal punishment, truth of Genesis, Jesus is the only way to salvation, authority of Scripture, and all that!" The very last item in the list is very important: people reject the authority of the Bible that they claim to believe. The Bible is God's written Word, and has a great deal to say about itself. We need to find out what it says and be uncompromising on essential doctrines. Further, we must know what and why we believe, so we can give answers and resources to people, young and old, who ask us.
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| Credit: Freeimages / Sufi Nawaz |
Two-thirds of young people are walking away from the church by the time they reach college age, and many aren’t coming back. As Already Gone has shown, many of these young people are leaving because they have unanswered questions about the Christian faith that led them to doubt God’s Word.To finish reading, click on "God’s Word: The Authority Over Us".
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Churches have offered many different solutions to combat this growing exodus. One popular so-called solution is to water down the authority of God’s Word. Proponents of this view argue that most people in today’s world don’t believe the Bible, so we shouldn’t treat it as if it were the absolute truth because this will drive people away.