When I was in school, my generation said, "Why read the book when you can read the Cliff's Notes?" There was no such thing as Bible Cliff’s Notes. Today you can purchase “The Bible for Dummies” anywhere. I am also concerned that daily online devotionals and Bible Q&A's are displacing sound teaching for Bible 'bites.’ Of course there’s a lot of good stuff on the internet, but there’s just as much bad stuff.
If they are not discerning, Millennials will be ripe for deception, easily intimidated by intellectual ‘scholars’ who despise the inerrancy of Scriptures. “in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons" (1 Tim. 4:1). And there’s plenty of that on the World Wide Web. Recent surveys show that many Millennial Christians do not participate in local church because they go to church online. I think Albert Mohler got it right when he said “YouTube is a terrible place to go to church.” Whatever happened to Sunday School and Wednesday night Bible study?
Greg,
ReplyDeleteJesus pronounced a state of blessedness upon those who "...hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled." Perhaps the clue for the Church is to stirr up the hunger in Millenial Christians for how good it is explore the "ancient paths" of "good, old-fashioned Bible reading, study, reflection, and meditation."
How does hunger get stirred up? 1) Seeing the "table" set; 2) smelling the food being prepared; 3)working for the Lord and needing replenishment that only His Word can provide; 4)tasting the food and realizing that it is the best thing you have ever tasted in your life and, 5) it is time (breakfast-time, lunch-time, etc.). You can obviously add to the list of things which make you hungry, but these were those that occured to me.
Taking the example above, God has mandated for us to duplicate the art of creating hunger. Yes, it presents its challenges with all of the competition for the Milllenial's attention, but that does not decrease our obligation to fulfill our commission.
God may have rested on the seventh day of creation, but He is not in a passive state, waiting for things to happen so He can react. He is still busy creating, using our hearts and minds to manifest His ever-expanding creativity. We need, therefore, to engage ourselves in the creative processes that He has provided to answer the world's cry for demonstrating the power of God's Word to give and sustain life and that more abundantly!
Stan
Great response from you, Stan. As I read what you said about 'hunger,' I realize that is what we are suppose to do, as "salt" we are to make others hungry and thirsty for God. I hope the things I write stir people up too! God bless you Stan.
ReplyDeleteGreg
Greg,
ReplyDeleteThe only time I watch church on youtube is when I miss a service at Abundant Life. I watch the sermon with my notes from growth group to catch up on what is taught.
I watch the message over and over throughout the week to be sure I understand what is being taught and to "listen" to what God is saying through my Pastor.
I do have a friend or two who say they prefer to listen to podcasts than sit in a church. I discourage them from doing this! Being a person that is healing from intimacy issues, this is a no-no! We are to sit in a church with real people and learn together and from each other, I think.
Thank you for stirring up thoughts!
Anau
Yes, indeed there is much good on the WWW that will facilitate our growth in knowledge. But there is no substitute for face to face fellowship, is there!
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