The New Challenges

I recently had a conversation with someone who sees himself as a sort of evangelist for moral relativism. His mission is to "teach people" (his words) that the world would be a better place if we all realize no one's right, no one's wrong, no-thing is wrong, and all our values are merely beliefs that are no more than our opinion. Is he a liberal philosophy professor? Nope. Kooky hippy hanging out in the park? Hardly. He's a trainer at a local gym. He chats with people about these things while he trains them.

And he's an example of the minefield the world has become. It's not everywhere you go, but it can be anywhere. The world is now full of people who think Christianity is not the solution but the problem. And they're coming for the children.

Over the past few decades the kind of questions people ask about Christianity have changed. People used to ask "is it true?", which is why something like The Da Vinci Code was so inflammatory. Now they're asking "is it good?" which is why things like this are affective.

They post memes and pithy tweets and short TikTok videos that take smarmy shots calling Christianity mean or silly. They're the kind of thing a 50-year-old would just roll his eyes at and move on. But they're not talking to 50-year-olds. They're talking to 15-year-olds. These are the questions Millennials, Gen Z, and now Gen Alpha resonate with. And they're asking them in the places where these age groups spend their free time.

Half-truths are always the most effective lies, but they don't mind bald-faced lies when the need arises. In either case, they can spin a lie in 30 seconds that takes thirty minutes to debunk. Which is part of why these things are so effective: People's attention spans have gotten too short for that 30 minute response.

Am I telling you this so you know how hopeless the situation is? No. I'm telling you this because I think there's something we can do about it.

Have you heard the phrase "action beats reaction"? In the worlds of combat and policing, it's known that if you're reacting, you're already behind. Your opponent took the initiative, picked the time, set the ground rules, and you've got to catch up to survive. Or you can get out ahead of this thing and be the one who initiates the action.

I believe we can and should inoculate our children, grandchildren, and the kids in our churches against these attacks. We can prepare them by talking about these issues beforehand. Then, rather than being this "amazingly insightful" question someone raised one TikTok, it's a silly question they've already talked about and thought through.

Failing that, if these people's ploys find them first, we can be ready to talk about it. We shouldn't be thrown into a tizzy. Rather than freak out, we should be able to calmly respond, "Oh, yes, that is an important question, but I think it misses an important perspective ..."

How do we do all of this? We prepare.

I found after several years of writing this blog that when my kids asked me questions, I'd already thought a lot things through and could fairly quickly articulate answers. That happened in part because I used a collection of the questions people were asking as fodder for blogs. But the questions are changing. Thankfully, someone's compiled a new list. Broadly speaking, they're asking "is Christianity good?", but they get much more specific. You can find the list here, and I strongly recommend spending some time looking through it and thinking about these things.

This blog will begin to try to offer answers to some of those questions. Maybe young people will google the questions and stumble across these pieces. That'd be awesome. More likely what will happen is when the young people in my life ask these questions, I will be able to access what I've thought through and pull together a coherent, gentle response in a timely manner.

And hopefully my answers will make you think about these things. What did I miss? What did I phrase poorly? How would you answer that question? Think these things through now so when the need arises you've already spent some time considering the question.

Because one thing hasn't changed: The young people in our lives need to know that their doubts are not unusual, unique, surprising, or bad. They need to know we've wrestled with these issues, too, and see good reason to hold on to Jesus and his church.

No, we're never going to be able to answer every question, especially not preemptively. But we can communicate to the next generations that answers are out there if they will take the time to look. If they can learn that, they won't be taken in by hucksters on social media — or in the gym. Then they'll be in a good position to pass this on to the generation after them.


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