American Protestantism and its consequences have been devastating to Christianity (speaking as one myself).
The way you help your children keep the faith is by teaching apologetics. When they go to college (which they probably shouldn't), if they hear any kind of new argument against God, you have failed as a parent.
Of course, teaching apologetics requires knowing apologetics, which no American does, especially the pastors.
I'd go further and say that if an argument against God can sway your children against God, you have failed.
If the Marxist atheists which staff modern colleges don't allow themselves to be swayed by apologetics to turn towards God, why should Christians allow it to turn them away from God?
To the (small) extent I've started turning back towards the direction of God, it's not because of any apologetics or intellectual exercise. It's because I see obvious good and evil in this world with clear lines being drawn in the sand, and increasingly I'd rather be on the side of good.
I agree, but if your kids have never heard anyone who hates God speak, it will be shocking and possibly titillating. They'll want to know more. You should expose them to these arguments (and frame them as retarded, evil, and stupid) well before they first hear them in the wild.
For me it wasn't the ones who overtly hated God who had an effect on me: it was the intellectuals who feigned indifference.
Apologetics is useful from a pattern recognition standpoint, where if you hear a certain argument you are probably talking to an enemy agent. But looking back to my upbringing, I think there was too much emphasis on the arguments being "wrong" and not enough emphasis on the arguments being "evil". Of course they are going to be both, but at the time you hear an argument you may lack the intelligence or wisdom to see that it is wrong. And when that happens, you need to be able to fall back on "even if this is correct, it is still evil; and I reject it on that basis alone". Even a lot of Christians are uncomfortable rejecting something purely on the basis of good/evil without any sort of intellectual justification.
I would have benefitted from learning how to say "you may be right, and I may be wrong; but regardless I will still serve my Lord".
I’m 42 and grew up non denominational but started going to a Lutheran church a few years ago (one of the conservative branches of Lutheran church) and asked if I could do confirmation with the 6th and 7th graders. They let me and one of the lessons before we graduated was apologetics. Very good lesson. I really didn’t hear about it much growing up I just believed because he did. Reading CS Lewis helps with that understanding as well
CS Lewis, Paul's letters in the NT, and Aquinas, in order of difficulty. If you have kids, LotR can be used allegorically (sorry JRR!) to explore some ideas, though Lewis' fiction is basically purpose-built for that, and are generally easier reads (so you can use them with younger kids).
When you come to understand the 'problem of evil' is a massive, secular cope, you're on your way.
Doug Wilson is a pastor online who tackles modern issues and he is pretty accessible. He'd be more for an adult looking to dig deeper, though he also has home school material i haven't looked at yet.
Get out of denominational churches then. I went to a Church of Christ (no, not the denomination) and most of the "sermons" and classes were just that, or talking about how half of y'all in the congregation were going to hell too because you don't really give a damn about God and his word.
Rough stuff to hear, but probably true. Bible says the Way is straight and narrow, and most who call Gods name at the end of days will be rejected .
I've only met one pastor who had a sufficient grasp of theology and history to deliver those messages.
I've had a pastor tell me to my face that they are cautioned against such messages because modern churches are corporations and they don't want attendance to drop.
European Protestantism is if anything, even worse. Not quite as bad as Episcopalianism or the United Church of Christ, but close enough.
I've said before that if Luther knew that this was what Protestantism would lead to (and I don't mean at all to suggest that the Catholic Church is free of nonsense), he'd become a partisan of the pope more fervent than Johannes Eck.
American Protestantism and its consequences have been devastating to Christianity (speaking as one myself).
The way you help your children keep the faith is by teaching apologetics. When they go to college (which they probably shouldn't), if they hear any kind of new argument against God, you have failed as a parent.
Of course, teaching apologetics requires knowing apologetics, which no American does, especially the pastors.
I'd go further and say that if an argument against God can sway your children against God, you have failed.
If the Marxist atheists which staff modern colleges don't allow themselves to be swayed by apologetics to turn towards God, why should Christians allow it to turn them away from God?
To the (small) extent I've started turning back towards the direction of God, it's not because of any apologetics or intellectual exercise. It's because I see obvious good and evil in this world with clear lines being drawn in the sand, and increasingly I'd rather be on the side of good.
I agree, but if your kids have never heard anyone who hates God speak, it will be shocking and possibly titillating. They'll want to know more. You should expose them to these arguments (and frame them as retarded, evil, and stupid) well before they first hear them in the wild.
For me it wasn't the ones who overtly hated God who had an effect on me: it was the intellectuals who feigned indifference.
Apologetics is useful from a pattern recognition standpoint, where if you hear a certain argument you are probably talking to an enemy agent. But looking back to my upbringing, I think there was too much emphasis on the arguments being "wrong" and not enough emphasis on the arguments being "evil". Of course they are going to be both, but at the time you hear an argument you may lack the intelligence or wisdom to see that it is wrong. And when that happens, you need to be able to fall back on "even if this is correct, it is still evil; and I reject it on that basis alone". Even a lot of Christians are uncomfortable rejecting something purely on the basis of good/evil without any sort of intellectual justification.
I would have benefitted from learning how to say "you may be right, and I may be wrong; but regardless I will still serve my Lord".
I’m 42 and grew up non denominational but started going to a Lutheran church a few years ago (one of the conservative branches of Lutheran church) and asked if I could do confirmation with the 6th and 7th graders. They let me and one of the lessons before we graduated was apologetics. Very good lesson. I really didn’t hear about it much growing up I just believed because he did. Reading CS Lewis helps with that understanding as well
Lewis should be required reading in any church.
Agreed. We read Mere Christianity in one of our Bible study groups. As a kid my mom made me read Screwtape Letters and Pilgrims Progress by Bunyan
this is an important point
And I wouldn't even know where to begin.
CS Lewis, Paul's letters in the NT, and Aquinas, in order of difficulty. If you have kids, LotR can be used allegorically (sorry JRR!) to explore some ideas, though Lewis' fiction is basically purpose-built for that, and are generally easier reads (so you can use them with younger kids).
When you come to understand the 'problem of evil' is a massive, secular cope, you're on your way.
Doug Wilson is a pastor online who tackles modern issues and he is pretty accessible. He'd be more for an adult looking to dig deeper, though he also has home school material i haven't looked at yet.
Get out of denominational churches then. I went to a Church of Christ (no, not the denomination) and most of the "sermons" and classes were just that, or talking about how half of y'all in the congregation were going to hell too because you don't really give a damn about God and his word.
Rough stuff to hear, but probably true. Bible says the Way is straight and narrow, and most who call Gods name at the end of days will be rejected .
I've only met one pastor who had a sufficient grasp of theology and history to deliver those messages.
I've had a pastor tell me to my face that they are cautioned against such messages because modern churches are corporations and they don't want attendance to drop.
Our pastor says fairly often that "Not everyone who sings about heaven is going there."
And the more and more I hear about some of the churches and "preachers" from people here? The more I thank God for blessing us with the one we have.
European Protestantism is if anything, even worse. Not quite as bad as Episcopalianism or the United Church of Christ, but close enough.
I've said before that if Luther knew that this was what Protestantism would lead to (and I don't mean at all to suggest that the Catholic Church is free of nonsense), he'd become a partisan of the pope more fervent than Johannes Eck.