Posted on 06/15/2009 7:30:42 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
What does the age of the Earth have to do with the exodus of young people from American churches?
Ken Ham, known for his Answers in Genesis creation-science ministry, says a major study he commissioned by a respected researcher unveils for the first time in a scientific fashion the startling reasons behind statistics that show two-thirds of young people in evangelical churches will leave when they move into their 20s.
The study, highlighted in Ham's new book with researcher Britt Beemer, "Already Gone: Why your kids will quit church and what you can do to stop it," finds church youth already are "lost" in their hearts and minds in elementary, middle and high school – not in college as many assume.
"A lot of the research already done has been to find out how many believe, how many support abortion, believe in the resurrection, say they're born again," Ham told WND. "But nobody has really ever delved into why two-thirds of young people will walk away from the church."
The first-of-its-kind study by Beemer – a former senior research analyst for the Heritage Foundation and founder in 1979 of the American Research Group – included 20,000 phone calls and detailed surveys of 1,000 20 to 29 year olds who used to attend evangelical churches on a regular basis.
The survey found, much to Ham's surprise, a "Sunday School syndrome," indicating children who faithfully attend Bible classes in their church over the years actually are more likely to question the authority of Scripture.
Among the survey findings, regular participants in Sunday School are more likely to:
* Leave the church
* Believe that the Bible is less true
* Defend the legality of abortion and same-sex marriage
* Defend premarital sex
(Excerpt) Read more at worldnetdaily.com ...
It all started about the time someone drew some feet on the bottom of a fish.
I had difficulty with the “Merry Christmas and Happy Ramadan” from the pulpit.
Because Churches have become political organizations advocating what GOVERNMENT should do in everything from taxes to abortion?
Young and old are addicted to entertainment. We (present company excluded) look for entertainment everywhere. Hence the idea of ‘church shopping’. People are not concerned with doctrine, learning the Bible, or conforming their lives to His will as much as they want to know, “What do you have for me?” The idea of becoming a Servant of Christ is alien and Sunday School (shudder...) is such a drag. Maybe if they would offer more MyFace or Look-at-me-book.
Simple. It's the schools, and the curriculum taught by "multicultural" homosexual recruiters, coupled with pop culture fixation.
The “Cs ” that always seems to be left out are Christ and Catechism.
“...children who faithfully attend Bible classes in their church over the years actually are more likely to question the authority of Scripture...”
Because Bible classes as taught in many Liberal Churches are actually cynical and weighted toward the study of human error in scripture, text preservation, and translations.
I left for 10 years because church was forced on me as a kid. Went back because my kids need it also, but they’re not technically “forced” to go; they enjoy it.
Baptist ping
Another symptom of the ‘compromise is always possible’ fantasy. Beliefs people won’t compromise are the ones kids remember. They know how to compromise for themselves, and if the church is just another hotbed of liberal guilt and moderate compromise, they figure they can join their own cliques’, why bother what they parents joined?
2 Tim 4:3-4
For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 4They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.
The Christian church's directive is to make disciples of all nations which I take to mean that the church's responsibility is to bring Christians to maturity, which will impact their thinking in all areas of their lives.
I find it hard to understand how mature Christians would support the Democratic Party.
**Among the survey findings, regular participants in Sunday School are more likely to:
* Leave the church
* Believe that the Bible is less true
* Defend the legality of abortion and same-sex marriage
* Defend premarital sex**
If this is happening in Sunday Schools then something is terribly wrong.
In contrast, people are flocking to the Catholic Church. It has stood staunchly AGAINST abortion, pre-marital sex, euthanasia, same-sex marriage, contraception, embryonic stem-cell research/destruction — for the truth of one God in three Persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The Mass is even coming back to more traditional words. Check on the thread posted below on the new Missal.
So you see, people are not dumb — they are following the truth.
My feeling is that the reason for children to leave the church is the same now as ever - they see hypocrisy all around them.
Any question of faith, any doubt, honestly discussed using Scripture, the tradition of the church over the years and using one's God-given ability to reason, usually leads to truth.
Mark 9:24 - “Immediately the boy's father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”
Sounds about right. I have never found in the Bible “Thou shalt be ignorant, and be prideful in thy ignorance”, but some strongest in pushing literal six day Geneses seem to think that’s a commandment. See the daily repetitive flat earth threads pounded like a drum on FR for illustration.
Of course that will push people away. And worse make questionable and undermine the more legitimate aspects of Christian teachings and philosophy. Just as turning FR into a rense.com type site fixated on Darwin undercuts this board. Substituting evolution for Bigfoot and UFOs.
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