Teenage Theology

Youth Vesus the Gospel

Many Christians and even mainstream Americans were recently angered by the Miss USA pageant unfairly discriminating against the moral values of Miss California Carrie Prejean (see last week's blog). But equally disturbing is the reaction of young, self-proclaimed Christian celebrities who are taking the side of homosexual activist Perez Hilton, who led the attack against Miss Prejean.

The sad fact is, we shouldn't be surprised nowadays since most of America's youth receive little or no Biblical truth or cotton-candy, "ear-tickling" truth disguised as "Christian." Anti-religious government schools, church youth programs and the music that most parents let their kids consume have produced an almost pagan, go-with-the flow culture. Today, the majority of America's daughters - even those in the Church - are being heavily influenced by Hollywood singers such as Miley Cyrus and Heidi Montag, both who say they are Christians, yet hold non-Christian views on marriage. Right now, their pro-homosexual "marriage" values are reaching millions of young people through MTV and other media outlets.

This is one of the reasons we harp on 'family-integrated' ministry at Christ Community Church, to counter the sad fact that youth ministry and church has proven to be such an abject failure for so many families and young people over the last generation. Barna studies indicate that between 7 to 9 out of every 10 young people will 'reject" their professed Christian faith by the time they complete their freshman year of college. The very notion of youth ministry, which is non-biblical by nature, has fed into the notion that teenagers (another non-biblical concept) should be segregated from their families and mature and adult oriented doctrine with customized services and activities which are light on Bible and heavy on fun.

Christian youth identify themselves as believers, in too many instances they actually believe very little about God and His work in history. Some well-intentioned youth ministers have encouraged this hypocrisy by coating Christian discipleship in a varnish of entertainment. One expert explains, “Young people are drawn to excitement. They enjoy being involved in activities that are fun.” This may explain why another expert was led to announce at a conference, “Young people today will not listen to a message longer than seventeen minutes.” Their attention spans have been amused into submission. This has produced a youth culture that is heavy on style (see American Idol) but light on substance.

According to a sociologist from the University of North Carolina who has studied the "faith" of American youth today, their "faith consists of five basic tenets: First, God created and watches over human life. Second, God wants people to be nice and fair. Third, life’s ultimate goal is for each person to be happy and to feel good about himself. Fourth, God does not need to be intimately involved in anyone’s life—He is just there for emergencies. Fifth, good people go to heaven. Who is this God? the expert asks. Apparently He is the God of Dr. Phil, Oprah Winfrey, and Self magazine. Times change. So must God, it seems.”

Instead of Christ being the sovereign Lord to whom everyone, including teenagers, is called to submit, He becomes an instrument of personal growth. Teens may still profess Christ is Lord, but their lives and the ministries to which they belong betray a different perception altogether. Religious hypocrisy is encouraged when Christianity is seen as a panacea instead of a cross.

Miley wrote this Twitter message expressing her support for homosexual "marriage" to Mr. Hilton, who had publicly punished Prejean for supporting Biblical marriage between a man and a woman: "God's greatest commandment is to love, and judging is not loving. That's why Christians have such a bad rep. Jesus loves you and your partner and wants you to know how much he cares! Like I said everyone deserves to be happy. I am a Christian and I love you - gay or not. Because you are no different that anyone else! We are all God's children! I am not saying this so would be nice on your site though that would be nice jk;) but because the LORD has spoken 'luv cuz god loves."

Meanwhile, another self-proclaimed Christian in Hollywood, MTV's Montag, age 22, wrote this Twitter to Hilton: "God says in the bible that we should love our neighbor and he created us all as equals. I know in my heart that gays and lesbians should have the same government rights that Spencer and I will when we get married. So, yes, this blonde Christian believes in gay marriage and I hope to one day go to your wedding, Perez!!!"

Interestingly enough, Jesus said those who love Him will have and keep His commandments (John 14:21). Not to be lost in the din of youth group concerts and Disney trips is the majesty of Christ and the substance of the gospel. The church can too easily produce religious-knowledge hypocrites at a very young age, individuals who are able to say just enough to profess faith but know in fact very little about the faith they profess. Even worse, if the Church is not careful, it can produce a generation with a Christian veneer that is actually devoted to the church of Miley, Heidi or Oprah.