Sunday.....Christianity.....The Challenge Of Youth

I've touched before of the fact that I am not very competitive. If I win a game I feel guilty and when the other person wins, I can enjoy it. I guess that I should admit that Trivial Pursuit does not fit in this description. Maybe it is because winning a game that involves knowing a whole lot about nothing produces no guilt in me. Somewhat related, I don't have to win arguments or debates. The reasons for this differ somewhat. It is human nature that in most cases when a person loses an argument they only cling more stubbornly to their belief. Ironically, when they win an argument (argument here being an informal debate) they are more likely to be magnanimous and without the perceived threat can actually consider the opposing argument. This is Sunday's blog so the topic is Christianity and the issues are generally doctrines and practices. The most frequently occurring theme has been the message of the sermon. Someone may have read my thoughts that the work of Christ on the cross should be the weekly theme in the sermon and all else can be built around that. They might disagree vehemently with this but will undoubtedly be aware of the absence of the cross in future sermons. I haven't written too much on predestination but the concept and it's alternative have been mentioned. Others detail the scriptural evidence much better than I can. I am happy if the concept is meditated upon at some future time, that being, we either do something towards our salvation that other doctrine must be concocted and built upon, or we do absolutely nothing prior to God's Spirit regenerating us which protects us against any reliance on ourselves. It also enables us to evangelize, free from the temptation to manipulate people into making a decision void of repentance. I've given only a couple of sentences here on two topics. If one is truly seeking answers or truth, they will research further. Now if everyone did what I am doing in this, we would have a whole lot meditating and no evidence but that's not the way it is. There has been a lot of research on why Generation X does not go to church. Let me segue this into a 1968 film that is categorized as a cult classic. The year saw assassinations, the Democratic National Convention in Chicago and protests against the war in Vietnam. It was a year of chaos. Christopher Jones played Max Frost in the film Wild In The Streets (you may remember the Yardbird's hit The Shape Of Things To Come.) The plot in a nutshell: a charismatic candidate is running for president...he seeks support from a popular rock group...the leader of the group (Frost) deceives him and leads his supporters into demanding the voting age be dropped to 14 instead of the 18 that the candidate was running on. The candidate wins...events follow and Frost becomes president and changes the mandatory retirement age to 30 and those over 35 are to put into re-education camps. Now to the reason I brought this film up. Max shortly becomes 30 years old and is one of the rejected! From my short experience into this cultural mindset, the young generally do not realize that their own youth is temporary and they have a whole life to live when it is over. The answer is not in celebrating with the youth doing their own thing for a little quid pro quo at the polls. The answer is more along the lines of joining us adults and learning for they will be in this much maligned age group (older adults) before they know it. As it relates to church; make it known to them that their are few things more satisfying than to see a young person trusting in Jesus Christ and loving His Word but that there is knowledge, experience and maturity to had and before they know it, they will be older and hopefully the church leaders, the parents and the very backbone of this nation. So they can go on a trip and when it is over, thumb home...or they can go on a journey to a destination, with more excitement and challenges than they can imagine where every age is represented, respected and depended upon.