Posted on Tuesday,

#20: Learning to Think in a Culture Ruled by Feelings

Learning to think in a culture ruled by feelings.

The words we use to talk about our faith shapes how the people around us approach Christianity.

Have you ever noticed how often people start talking about Jesus, the Bible, or God With “feeling” language?

“I just feel that Jesus would…”
“It doesn’t feel like God would…”
“I just feel that’s not what the Bible says…”

Feelings are great but they’re not the foundation of our faith

Now don’t get me wrong, feelings are great. But they’re not the foundation of our faith. And they certainly don’t determine what’s true.

Feelings come and go. They change.

Feelings are not wrong or right. They just are.

They’re a barometer of the soul. A snapshot of our internal life at a particular moment in time.

Thinking connects (more…)

Posted on Friday,

Will Your Teenagers Graduate from Their Faith After High School?

Welcome to College in Post-Christian America

This is a question I recently discussed on the Christian Parenting website.

Will your teenage son or daughter still be walking with Jesus when they graduate college? Or will they leave their faith behind as they walk off that graduation stage to start a new chapter of life?

As parents, we want what’s best for our kids. As Christians, we know that means following Jesus for a lifetime. That’s certainly what I want as a father of three. But we’ve also seen the stats and they’re not encouraging:

– Depending on the study, approximately fifty percent will disengage from their faith during the college years (there is no indication from the research that they are or will come back).
– Forty-seven percent of American emerging adults agreed that “morals are relative, there are not definite rights and wrongs for everybody.”
– Fifty-four percent of “conservative protestant” teenagers affirmed that there was more than one way to God.

Dear Parents: Welcome to College in Post-Christian America

Did you know that (more…)

Posted on Thursday,

Students Need A Real World Faith

All around the country high school students are getting ready to graduate.

Unprecedented freedom is just around the corner…they can almost taste it! Soon they will packing up and heading off to college–away from mom, dad, their youth pastor, church, and many of their friends. Are they ready?

Most likely they are not ready for the intellectual, spiritual, and moral challenges that are waiting on them. Around 50% will disengage from their Christian faith during the college years. But they can be prepared–or at least have a fighting chance!

Let me be honest with you. A small, graduation gift book with short pithy inspirational quotes is not going to cut it. That will evaporate in about 10 seconds. I know this from experience. I know what is waiting for students on campus. I work with this generation. We live in a post-Christian culture. That is why I wrote Welcome to College: A Christ-Follower’s Guide For the Journey.

Even if they just use it as a door stop until the day they need it, that’s OK. When they get challenged in class or when they are dealing with doubts or are tempted to compromise their moral standards it will be waiting on them in their dorm room when you aren’t there with them and they may not have the courage to ask for help.

I am gratified to have heard stories of Welcome to College helping students around the country stand strong in their faith and make wise choices. It excites me when I see youth pastors buy copies and give them away to all their seniors. Please don’t get me wrong, it’s not a magic bullet. But it covers pretty much any challenge a student will face in the college years.

I am passionate about seeing this generation own their faith. That’s why I wrote this book. That’s why I do what I do. This graduation please consider giving your son or daughter a copy of Welcome to College. Or have one mailed to a friend’s son or daughter. Whatever you do, please don’t let your student head off to college with just another Christian pep talk on graduation Sunday. Good intentions, emotions, and will power will only go so far. Training is needed. Check out this summer worldview and apologetics training opportunity that I am a part of. We’d love to see your high schooler!

If your son and daughter is not graduating yet, why not pick up a copy and work through it together? The chapters are very readable, only 3-5 pages each and cover 41 different topics. In the back of the book there are discussion questions to help with dinner conversations. Students need a real world faith. My prayer is that this book would help them along that path! (cf. Rom. 12:2).

“Wow! What a book! Quite frankly, this is the book I’ve been waiting for the last forty years to give to college students. It is the single best volume I have ever read for preparing students for how to follow Jesus and flourish as his disciple in college.” –J.P. Moreland, Distinguished Professor of Philosophy, Talbot School of Theology, Biola University

If you found this post helpful, you would enjoy How to Respond to the “That’s Just Your Interpretation” Objection

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Posted on Tuesday,

Which God Are We Worshipping?

Exploring the perfections of God is a wonderful way to express worship to God. After all, if we do not know the God who has revealed Himself to us…then which God are we worshipping? One of my favorite attributes is God’s self-existence. It blows the mind to think about…but is also an amazing source of comfort and confidence.

“God said to Moses, “I Am Who I Am. This is what you are to say to the Israelites: I Am has sent me to you.”—Ex. 3:14.

“For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son to have in himself.”—John 5:26

“The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breadth and everything else.”—Acts 17:24-25

“For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, … all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.”—Col. 1:16-17

“God doesn’t just happen to exist, as if by accident. Rather God exists by a necessity of His own nature; it is impossible for Him not to exist. Moreover, God does not depend upon any other being for His existence. God alone is self-existent, and everything else depends on Him.”—William Lane Craig

God is…period. And that is a glorious truth.

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Posted on Saturday,

Why the Church Needs Artists and Artists Need the Church

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Recently I came across a great post by my friend John Stonestreet at Breakpoint talking about the leading edge in cultural formation–the arts. It also talked about how churches can discourage Christians who are artists in their church (BTW – that is not a good thing).

Here is a partial (but very helpful) list:

First, they said, treat the arts as window dressing for the truth rather than the window into reality it’s intended to be. Second, embrace bad art just because it’s “Christian.” Third, value artists only for their artistic gifts, but not for the other contributions they can make as thinkers and servants with a unique perspective. Fourth, demand that artists only give answers in their work, but never raise questions. Fifth, never pay artists for their work—take advantage of them in ways we would never do with plumbers or accountants. And finally, only validate art that has a direct salvation application.

But equally important is for artists to learn that the goal of art (if Christianty is true) is not merely self-expression. Its about paraphrasing Reality.

Artist Makoto Fujimura argues that for the Christian, art must be more than self-expression. It must be communication, because as Christians we deal with objective reality. As one of my mentors once said, art’s job is primarily to “paraphrase reality.” I like that. We can present beauty without being trivial, evil without being gratuitous, and redemption without being hokey.

And the Christian artist is a communicator also because God created through communication—through His spoken word. The creative individual made in the image of the ultimate communicator must be one who communicates as well. Not just what we feel, but what is true and real. Art’s job is to paraphrase Reality. Now this doesn’t mean Christian art must be preachy or obvious, but it should make us think more deeply and better about life and the world.

Living out the Christian worldview means caring about ideas and the imagination. Its a both / and not an either / or.

Read the rest of the excellent commentary at Breakpoint

Read the article by Philip Ryken on the Arts

I also address the arts and the Christian worldview in my latest book.