RE: [asa] Youth leaving churches because of old earth

The problem with this is that if we can't do any better than three mutually exclusive datasets in a world where their choice will make or break their career, then I agree with them in their decision to leave the church.

If pastors and the church can't figure this out then I don't blame anyone for not having any respect for them and not trusting them.

They are not only not relevant but actually counterproductive by obfuscating what should be a cut and dried issue.

I count myself among these you are lamenting and I put the onus on the church to be the solution.

Thanks

John

On Sat Aug 8th, 2009 10:39 PM EDT James Patterson wrote:

>It seems to me that this baby/bathwater problem is even more serious right
>now because of a seemingly growing inclination among many of the young to
>instantly turn off the voice of (respect for) anyone who self-compromises
>their message by uttering something that immediately registers as untrue, is
>accompanied by an unwelcome (to the hearer) agenda, or fails to connect
>however tenuously with the questions floating around in the hearer's
>recently discovered and dynamically growing internal worldview.
>
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>Jim, agreed.
>
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>One thing my wife has mentioned several times, with which I agree, and that
>gets back to the "are they really a Christian if they leave the Church"
>issue. Many of these young adults go and taste the world, and find it
>distasteful. It does not sit well with what is written on their hearts. They
>gain perspective, insight, learn to see that man and the Church are not
>perfect. Some also learn in time that, despite its problems, the Church is
>(vastly) better in an imperfect form than no Church at all.
>
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>I know that's what happened with me.
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>Despite all our debate about how God did it, we agree that God created us.
>We really should be able to figure out a way to provide to young people
>convincing evidence that - despite the fact that we can't agree on HOW - he
>DID create us. The problem is that they (the "average" college student) need
>evidence.and we have (at least) three different datasets.
>
>
>
>James Patterson
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Received on Sun Aug 9 13:22:59 2009