I am pleased to publish another excellent article by Jonathan Sarfati of Creation Ministries International. Jonathan’s biography can be accessed by clicking his name at the top of this article. Be sure to keep abreast of the latest trends in the Evolution/Creation debate by subscribing to Creation magazine, link below:

https://creation.com/magazines

Gibber! Gibber!

Chugley

Emotional highs are not enough!

Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind … (Romans 12:2)

by Jonathan Sarfati

CMI speakers often minister to churches with few young people.¹ We often meet anguished parents whose adult offspring have abandoned the faith in which they were raised. Yet many churches do have vibrant youth programs, so what could have gone wrong? Plenty! If the programs concentrate on entertainment, then kids might find they can be entertained better by the world. Or else they concentrate on emotional commitment, but emotions are fickle. But what about training kids in what Jesus called “the great and first commandment”: to “love the Lord your God with all your … mind” (Matthew 22:36–38). This must include helping them think through questions they often raise.Some parents and pastors think that this abandonment starts with their children asking questions about the faith. However, without thinking, how can they develop “the mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:16)?

Questioning is a good thing

Some parents and pastors think that this abandonment starts with their children asking questions about the faith. However, without thinking, how can they develop “the mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:16)? Rather, we should be more worried if they are not asking questions. As we have discussed previously,² this is a likely sign that the children are just borrowing their parents’ or church’s faith. But a borrowed faith will not last long after leaving home.

Unanswered questions are a bad thing

According to one of the leading Christian apologists outside CMI, Nancy Pearcey:

Studies find that the main reason people abandon their Christian upbringing is unanswered intellectual questions. The researchers were surprised; they expected to hear stories of relationship issues—people saying they’d been hurt or emotionally wounded. But the reason given most often by those who de-convert is that they could not get answers to their doubts and questions.³

We know this from countless letters. E.g. a while ago, a teenage girl wrote to CMI:

I would ask questions about absolutely everything around me, and that naturally spread to asking questions about the Bible. My family couldn’t answer me when I asked where ‘Mrs Cain’ came from, or how all the animals fit on the ark. … They discouraged me from asking questions about the Bible, telling me to ‘just believe’. … So I learned that the Bible was a nice storybook … over time, I became more of an agnostic, though I called myself a Christian to keep my family happy. Faith was fine for less intelligent people who needed that crutch, but I considered myself above that.⁴

Answered questions really make a difference

Emotional intensity is not enough to block out questions. If anything, it leads teens to redefine Christianity in purely emotional terms—which leaves them vulnerable when they finally do face their questions.—Nancy Pearcey

However, she continues

[I] found the URL for CMI in a book I was researching, and browsing your Q&A page, I was surprised to find the answers to the questions I had been asking for over ten years in literally the first day I was at your site. … I found myself with no excuse to disbelieve. A few months later, I became a Christian. God has used your ministry to affect so many lives, mine among them.⁴

And over a decade later, she is still going strong, working as CMI’s New Testament specialist.⁵ But many teens in her position are not so fortunate. As Nancy Pearcey says, many church youth groups still ignore intellectual development:

Youth groups rarely encourage young people to grapple with tough questions. Instead the goal seems to be to engineer events that ratchet up emotional commitment. But emotional intensity is not enough to block out questions. If anything, it leads teens to redefine Christianity in purely emotional terms—which leaves them vulnerable when they finally do face their questions.³

We have answers—but they must get out there!

Now we have more creationist answers than probably at any time in history. But what use are they if people are not exposed to them? The same goes for defenses of Christianity in general, as Pearcey says:

The good news is that in recent years, apologetics resources have become far more available. The bad news is that many churches continue to ignore those resources, treating Christianity as though it were primarily emotional.²

Creationist and general Christian apologetics are connected, since creation is foundational for Christianity, as shown in the new commentary on Genesis 1–11, The Genesis Account. This also shows that Christianity is a system of Total Truth,⁶ making objective claims about history, the future, and morality, as well as providing the basis for science. So Christianity is not limited just to a privatized belief with no effect on the real world. But likely thanks to our ministry in churches, which is possible thanks to your support, our material is getting to unexpected places. One example is a recent debate between Christian apologist Frank Turek and atheist Michael Shermer, Is Morality Better Explained by God or Science? Although Turek opposes biblical (‘young earth’) creation, he used a clip from our DVD Evolution’s Achilles’ Heels on the Darwinian basis for the Nazi Holocaust.⁷

Once again, thank you for standing with us.

First published: 28 January 2016
Re-featured on homepage: 6 June 2023

References and notes

1. Sometimes this is not a bad thing, e.g. sometimes these are churches in country areas, and the young adults have simply moved to city churches, but still kept the faith. Return to text
2. Bates, G., A ‘no brainer’ test for measuring the faith of our young ones: Are your children (and grandchildren) asking the right questions? CMI Newsletter, July 2014; creation.com/no-brainer-test. Return to text
3. Nazworth, N., Young Christians spiritually failing in real world because youth groups depend too much on emotional high, says Nancy Pearcey (interview), Christian Post, 14 April 2015. Return to text
4. Cosner, L., ‘No excuse to disbelieve’, creation.com/lita, 6 February 2004. Return to text
5. Lita Sanders, B.A. M.A., (biography). Return to text
6. The title of a fine book by Pearcey (2004). Return to text
7. Turek, F., Turek–Shermer Debate: Is Morality Better Explained by God or Science? crossexamined.org, 25 April 2015 (about 42:15 into the video). Amusingly (but truthfully), Turek refers to my comments as “a Jewish man explaining what Hitler did.” Return to text

 View All

 Facebook  Twitter  Pinterest  Reddit  LinkedIn  Gmail  Email App  Print

Related Articles

• When the emotions are gone, what’s left?
• CMI shows questioner that Christian faith is logical
• What? A Christian mind?
• Loving God with all your mind: logic and creation
• Who has an answer?
• The Importance of Evidence
• What percentage is acceptable to you?
• A ‘no brainer’ test for measuring the faith of our young ones
• Vital information for pastors, leaders, and parents!
• “What?… Teach my children unbiblical ideas?”