Got Hope?

I just heard a report on the radio this morning citing a study of roughly 20,000 teens. The results of the study seem to challenge the notion that teens tend to think that they are invincible.

I can remember doing some pretty crazy things when I was young. I suppose shortsightedness is the best reason I could give for actions that I would consider to be quite stupid today. Did I think I was invincible? Did I just not think at all? Hmmm.

Well, this new story gives us something else to think about. According to this study conducted by, Dr. Iris Borowsky, a researcher at the University of Minnesota, approximately 15% of teens think that they will die young (that's a large chunk of kids) and these youth exhibit a high level of fatalism. When asked why they were so fatalistic and negative concerning the future, the answer was telling. According to the study the teens simply think "there is no hope" and that "not much is at stake".

Where would a 7-12 grader ever get the notion that there was no real hope and nothing of real significance at stake?

Darwinian evolution is an educational institution in its own right today. Public education is required to teach this theory by school boards all across the country. The fact regarding the Darwinian model of evolution is not that it is conclusively true. Rather, the chilling fact about evolution is that it is being foisted upon the greater portion of our youth in America and around the western world.

Why would that be an issue here? Fair question, let me explain.

According to the Neo-Darwinian model, all life is a product of random chance evolution driven by natural selection. This is an expressly random process. There is no guiding designer. There is not even a blue print. All life simply came about by random chance processes and continues to change even today.

Now let's think about this for a second. If all life is random and up to chance, then it is easy to conclude that there is no God. If there is no Transcendent Creator responsible for all of what we see, then everything regarding ethics, righteousness, love, relationships, valor, justice, and anything else you can think of that is immaterial yet valuable to society, is necessarily transient in nature. What I'm saying is this. Nothing I have listed (the things that make life worth living) are significant beyond the random forces of nature, and if I have experienced any true value in life, it was just dumb luck and temporary at best. I would have been just as likely (maybe more so) to have experienced tragedy, injustice, rape, etc.

Furthermore, the evolutionary explanation, doesn't stay in the science room. It fuels an entire worldview that is itself without hope and self contradictory. An atheistic worldview cannot satisfactorily explain our existence and within its framework, any appeal for civility and respect for life on the part of our youth appears to be a effort to simply control them. In such a worldview, a teenager's natural inclination to rebel is justified by the proposed meaninglessness of life.

You know, sometimes I think adults really believe youth are stupid. We won't encourage them to get a job at a young age because we don't think they can handle it. It will damage there fragile psyche or something. After all they're only young once, right? Do you see how this attitude of nontranscendency filters into our value system? It's the idea that all that really exists is the material world, so get it now while you can. I have news for you. Teens aren't all that slow. They are learning and that's the problem. Not that they are learning, mind you, it's what they are learning that is the problem.

Who should be shocked at this study? We have been force feeding our children with this contestable theory for some time now. Should we really be so surprised when we see results like this? No, rather we could have predicted it. I'll make a prediction for you now. It'll get worse.

The scientists say that this study will help them to spot the "at greater risk" children early and perhaps save them from themselves. I have a better idea. Why don't we teach them that they aren't an accident and that there really is a good reason to live, and live a certain way? The Christian message of hope is good for society, good for our kids, and best of all...it's true and verifiable. Much more verifiable than Darwinist model of evolution is.

While I predict that the percentage of youth that embrace these fatalistic tendencies will grow, parents can do something that will help prevent their children from being sucked into this vortex of disillusionment. They can do their homework and present the problems of Darwinian Evolution to our youth and show them the reasons many of us place our faith in the Lord who is Creator of all.

And if we don't know why we have faith in God, perhaps an honest study of the subject matter might actually end in some of us older folk coming off our anti-depressants too.

If you want see how Christianity stands up to evolution go to: answersingenesis.org or christiananswers.net

You can contact me at aiiainstitute.org and let me know what you think or simply leave a comment below. I look forward to hearing from you.

PR

Baptism still has its significance

I am reminded that a simple baptism service has a very significant meaning. Baptism is an ordinance or as some denominations call it, a sacrament. It is just full of meaning.

First there's the mode. It's not the most important thing, but the mode does bear significance. Our denomination practices immersion baptism which symbolizes the death, burial and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. The picture of the person being immersed is that of a person dying and going down into the earth (elements) and back up in a newness of life. The picture is profound.

The Bible teaches us that a person who is a true believer is a person who is identified with Christ's death. That's the picture of baptism! It is Christ who died for us and we "die with Him" when we follow in baptism (see Galatians 2:20; Romans 6:4).

The person who is baptized into Jesus Christ is a person who has openly declared his identification with Jesus, claiming Jesus' burial and resurrection to be the substitution for his own. Regardless of the mode (sprinkling or immersion) the open declaration is present in what is referred to as believers baptism. I'm not addressing the issue of infant baptism as there is no possibility of open profession.

I wonder how many believers understand what they are doing when they submit to baptism. Do they think something magical will happen to them when they emerge from the waters? To be sure the moment is a celebrated one but it should be remembered that the real significance of baptism is not merely what it represents, it is also the statement that the person being baptized is making.

Let all those who have been baptized into Jesus Christ be mindful of the declaration that was made. Let us be careful that the declaration to be identified with Jesus Christ is not nullified by lives that are inconsistent with that declaration. And let all those who witnessed the baptism be mindful to pray for the edification (spiritual maturity) of the one who decided to follow Christ. As Paul said, we are one body. We need them and they need us.

Beginning to Blog

Hi there. Thanks for stopping by. I'm getting started so stay tuned for more posts to come in the future.