Answers Aren’t Always the Answer

Just read an article that when disaffected young people were given the opportunity to explain, in their own words, why they left the church, they claimed it was because the church wasn’t offering cogent responses to the criticisms of science re: creation and other implausible Biblical truths.

The conclusion of the article was that the Church needed a solid apologetic.

I’m not convinced.

I’m not convinced because the conclusion of the article is based on the assumption that, given the right information, young people, or old people for that matter, will make righteous choices.

If that were true, all the money spent on the “Just Say No” campaign over the years would have turned around the current drug crisis crippling our nation.

James K. A. Smith, in his treatise, Desiring the Kingdom, undermines the age-old philosophy that we become what we think… handed down to us from the likes of Plato and Descartes. Smith argues rather that we become what we love…and that our love is shaped by our practices.

If that is true it should radically change the ministry of the church to young and old.

Instead of concentrating all of our energies on information, we would be looking for what shaped the hearts and affections of the people in our churches.

I am not saying there is no place for reasoned apologetics. I just don’t believe that it is the solution for anyone tempted to leave the church or the faith. I believe what these young people are missing, who are leaving the church, is a passionate love relationship with the Lord experienced in the church, or going on in them.

I am not absolving the church of responsibility.

On the contrary, I am convinced that in too many cases the church is failing today’s generation. But it is not for lack of knowledge. It is for lack of Spirit birthed passion.

Like the church in Ephesus, we have abandoned our first love and today’s young people can spot a fake from a mile away.

But…love will seek answers or be the answer, not just walk away.

Plus, answers are not always the answer.

The solution, in this case, lies in the heart.

In John 10:38, Jesus didn’t present a reasoned apologetic for the doubters in the crowd around him. He told them first to believe and then they would understand.

Jesus gave Ephesus the solution to their heart problem. He told them to remember the height from which they had fallen, to repent for the coldness of their heart, and to return to the things they did at first…when their hearts were ablaze with love for God.

That’s the answer!