Musings from a Youth Pastor to no one in particular

Monday, March 30, 2009

I am thinking that the gospel is an “all-in” proposition, a little bit of a bizarre, radical message that is hard to swallow. The reason it is so hard to swallow is because it is very upfront about all of it’s assumptions and claims about what is really true about the universe. To reject the gospel because it is hard to accept – i.e. it sounds ridiculous as an explanation of God and reality – is to assume that there is a more logical approach to reality.

I only wonder if many of those teenagers who see Christ as a crutch, or old-fashioned, irrelevant, and not applicable to their lives – if they have actually considered the alternative. If Jesus Christ is not really the Son of God, and the bible is a load of nonsense, then what IS true about the universe? Is IT real? Am I real? If not, then what is this thing that I am living, called life? What does it mean? What is it’s purpose? Where did I come from, if not from a creator God? Is the claim that the universe was produced from a gigantic cosmic explosion really enough of an explanation to satisfy my question as to why I feel such things as love, fear, anger, hate, pride, and loneliness? Does the thought of being evolved from a puddle of single-celled organisms really lead up to a satisfying explanation as to why I have the ability to feel very real emotion? And if everything is merely by chance, then how do I explain this gnawing sense that some things are right, and others are wrong? And how could I say that a loving God would not allow evil if there is really no such thing as love or evil? Where do I even GET these ideas?

The message of Christ is hard to accept, because it asks teenagers, especially, to begin to think clearly, critically, sharply about what they believe, in a world where thinking and believing are based so much on self-preferences and emotions that may or may not have anything to do with reality. Christ challenges people to rethink their idea of justice, when someone wrongs us. And it happens a lot. Are we really justified to judge, or are we not just as guilty of some other, similar action? He challenges teens to rethink who is really boss around here. Most teenagers I know – myself included, when I was in high school – have the desire to break out of their parents “bondage” and to be their own person, because the people who seem to be running their life apparently know nothing. The idea is basically to choose your own destiny and path in life. Jesus comes down strong with a message that says “who is God here?”

The gospel is hard to accept, because it forces teenagers to think, who previously weren’t really thinking at all, but were letting the rest of the world do the thinking for them. They just go with the flow, enjoy what they like, hate what they don’t like, and give no thought as to where this joy and hate came from.

The alternative to the gospel - that being, independence from God - is really an alternative that doesn't give you all of the facts right up front.Every philosophy of life has, at it's very core, a presupposition that you have to look at.

For example, when someone says "be what you want to be", what is at the core of what they are saying? They are saying you have the choice, because there is no God to determine your direction in life.

When someone says "I'm not religious", all they are really saying is that they just kind of make up their own truth because they really don't prefer to believe in something that doesn't let them be their own god.

I remember when the Fredericktown Football team put out tee-shirts that said "be a part of something larger than yourself." What is that, but the very core of religion? And what IS that "something" that is "larger than yourself?" Football? Family? Friends? Really? What happens when all of these things - all these people - are gone and you are still standing there? NOW what are you living for?

When someone says "a loving God would not let evil to exist, and so He must not be real", they are saying that there is such a thing as love and evil, without explaining where these ideas came from, if it weren't for a Divine Creator.

So you see how the gospel of Christ is straightforward about His claims, but the alternatives that the world offers are deceptive, because they don't tell you the whole story.

If you are not a thinker, the gospel is not for you, teenager. Just go back to your video games and forget about any of this. But if you care about eternity, if you sense God turning on the light and telling you "wake up!" Perhaps it’s time to become a thinker, and think about the gospel. Jesus didn’t die for nothing. But if you’re not careful, you might.

MAN, do I ever love you!