I am reading Erwin Luther's book, "The Church in Babylon," and he makes some important observations about why college students lose their faith on pages 85-88. The context is the courageous conviction shown by a young Daniel and his three companions when called to compromise. Why did these succeed when so many today fail?
"I have learned that doubts are often based on emotional struggles rather than intellectual arguments. If God does not seem to be meeting our need, we begin to have doubts. Atheism often rooted in anger and disappointment with God."
"A second reason students lose their faith is because of moral pressure, peer pressure, falling into sexual relationships out side of marriage, and not knowing how to bounce back from guilt and failure. ...I've often heard it said that most college students are not talked out of their faith, they are mocked out of it. ...Luther's colleague Philip Melanchthon offered this clear insight, 'What the heart loves, the will chooses and the mind justifies.'"
"There is a third reason... . We teach them in our churches, but we don't train them. ...Listening to a youth pastor, teacher, or a thirty minute sermon once a week hardly prepares our young people for the spiritual conflict they will encounter in college."
What will we do? It is time--way past time--to prepare our young men and women for the challenge they will face.
Yours for the Next Generation,
Dennis Thurman, Haywood Baptist AMS
