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A coupe of weeks ago I spoke at Snellville Baptist Church in Georgia. The youth pastor, Jody Shelton, is a friend of mine. Check out his brief blog about my visit there. You can listen for free to the three talks I gave: (1) Shattering the Myths of Evolution; (2) Understanding Intelligent Design; and (3) Why the New Testament Can Be Trusted. Jody also gave a little shout-out for the Apologetics Study Bible for Students, which was just released last week. This Bible is revolutionary for students. I just received a message on Facebook from a fellow apologist, Lenny Esposito from Come Reason Ministries, who helped write some of the articles in the Study Bible. He received this note about the Bible from a brand new user: "Wow! I have not been able to put this book down!! As it is, God's word is the most priceless treasure we have, but having all the added help with the articles, study notes, twisted Scriptures, bones and dirt, etc....I just wanna go on a retreat and disappear with just my Bible and not have to ever stop reading! Thank you for your obedience and faithfulness to our Heavenly Father! Praise God!!" Check it out and spread the word! |
Comments
I wonder how often youth pastors feel unease when engaging in activities such as this. In the back of their minds they must realize that, were there to be more intellectual maturity in their audiences, then their talks would not come across as nearly as authoritative. In the back of their minds they must know that, if given before a panel of experts (i.e, not just their fellow pastor and apologist friends), their arguments just might be ripped to shreds. Shouldn't that produce a measure of ethical unease in any adult who indoctrinates youth?
To the comment above, I respect your observation about audience; it's true that we often choose our allies carefully, and like photographers, everyone uses the best lighting to capitalize on his best features.
But who is to define "a panel of experts" as you call it? I assume you mean agnostics, philosophers, real thinkers, or the enlightened.
As someone who's been educating high school kids for decades, there is no such thing as neutrality when it comes to education. All kids are indoctrinated, to use your term; it's inevitable. The real question is what will we teach them? Your condescension toward adults who love kids and help them grapple with tough questions saddens me. When you believe something deeply, you share that belief--who would do otherwise? This isn't State Education we're talking about.
I would rather kids be given reasons to support their faith. If the spiritual, rational, and intellectual rigor of their study renders that faith useless, then so be it. But if the rigor of their study renders that faith worthwhile, even better.
Caroline,
As someone with a concern for both youth and teaching, I bet you can appreciate the following two points.
First there is the case of the individual who has made it a part of his profession to convince youth of certain theories. Even an adult modest in both intelligence and education can, with a little bit of practice, build a repertoire of arguments for making his theories convincing before the youth. But suppose that such an individual carries the following suspicion in the back of his head: “the only reason I’m able to convince my audience tonight is because no other adult with expertise in the topic at hand is present to challenge my arguments.” I suggest that such a teacher of the youth should feel some ethical unease in his continued occupation. Before teaching the youth his controversial theories, he should desire to finish his own education in order to firmly settle in his own mind that the arguments he presents to the youth can withstand the full force of intelligent scrutiny. If he has done this, then good. But many have not.
Second, a teacher does real harm to the youth (and well as to the church and to the country generally) when he or she fails to influence them to identify and respect expertise. Your suggestion notwithstanding, I doubt that anyone here is enough of a skeptic about expertise to undermine this second point. These days we often see Christian ministers, trained only in Bible teaching and pastoral counseling, spewing out amateur opinions on everything from climate science to macroeconomics. When the real experts then disagree with these opinionated church leaders, the faithful flock dismisses the expertise, often at the prompting of Christian leaders who are eager to preserve their own influence. Some Christians even generalize their disdain for expertise, rejecting as a lie or a conspiracy anything scientific or learned not pre-approved by the appropriate Christian ministers and conforming to their own tightly clinched certainties. So, while there may have been an era when Christian ministers constituted society’s most educated and socially responsible, it clearly isn’t the case today. Today, as is evident in our political discourse, Christian leaders often show their greatest influence in keeping the populace backwards and ignorant. Hence the warnings to Mr. McDowell and his friends, and to their trusting, sometimes youthful, flocks.
A well written response. On many points, we agree. I agree that a teacher harms young people if he doesn't show them how to respect and discern the charlatans from the experts. I also agree that many (but not all) Christian leaders haven't done the hard intellectual work of grappling with their own faith. Thanks for articulating your views with respect.
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With respect, I think you misunderstand what Sean is trying to say. In his book "Apologetics for a New Generation" Sean makes the case that adults should present a more meaty version of scriptures and that apologetics arguments can be understood by students. Ethically, we should be engaging students (and adults) at a more demanding level. I think that adults should be exposed to the apologetics arguments and be willing to engage the questions and arguments of the new learners. They may hear a lot of "I don't know, but I will find out and get back to you" but with patience both student and adult will grow in their faith and stand tall when under attack. Those who have not grown past "...the Bible tells me so" need a wakeup call.
Took a lot of time to read but I really found this very interesting and informative, thank you buddy for sharing.
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I also found this post interesting. I listened to the talks and all of them were really inspiring. Thanks for sharing.
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