Volume 12, Number 1, July-August 2008
Why
Our Children Are Not Continuing the Faith
By John Qavah
Not long ago, I was sorting through some of my older
copies of The Journal (News of the Churches of God). I can no longer
remember what I as looking for because I got sidetracked when I reread one
article that was a report concerning a meeting that some
Apparently, they were
having an open meeting to discuss why no one’s children continued to attend
their parents’ church after they turned 18. What was especially noteworthy was
the report that out of 50 people in attendance, no one had their off-spring
with them! No conclusions were drawn by the time of the meeting’s end, but what
they did note were two very significant observations in that all who compose
the
1.
doctrinal differences – no one could agree
on a general body of doctrines (much less a specific body of doctrines), and,
next,
2.
the issue of the authority of the church –
nobody had any concrete ideas for resolving this dilemma, either, nor could any
agree on just who might be able to find an answer to these problems.
As I mulled this over in my mind (and remember, I am an ex-COG member) during Sukkot this past year, I had an “eureka” moment that cannot have come from anything other than Ruach ha-Kadosh (Holy Spirit). Thus, my present concerns are about the problems of not only those of us who are members or ex-members of this or that existing Church of God movement, but, I also now have concerns about potential difficulties that the development of another “Messianic Movement” will experience as more and more non-Jewish people join up with the new Messianic oriented groups of believers. In truth, it appears to me as if the problems I have mentioned that were discussed in the article in the Journal are a generational thing that extends across the board and they are problems that are so pervasive that very few sects, if any, will be left unaffected.
I know this article will not be read by the thousands or hundreds of thousands who seek the answer to what I consider to be this generation’s worst problem among believers, but, the real answer, as I see things, is not very complicated if we just simply remember our own experiences (at least for those of us who were not home-schooled.)
The
The problems are, in reality, multiple, and maybe what I have forgotten (and maybe some of you in the 20-40 year old range, also, have forgotten or failed to realize) is that the “free love principle,” the overwhelmingly and almost universal acceptance of sexually expressive things that we were first exposed to during the hippies’ era did not end with the termination of the 70’s. It has now continued well into the 80’s, 90’s, and even into this present decade virtually unabated.
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World
Friendlier than Church? Today,
a young person can go almost any place where other young people gather—either
physically or on the Internet—and make friends. For most of these young
people, it is not hard for them to find a boyfriend or girlfriend. Sure, this
young person will find selfish, evil, and unfriendly people out there. But he
or she can learn how to avoid them, choose other friends, and move on. But in
the church groups, someone can always say, “he plays basketball on the
Sabbath”, or “her parents use a different Feast Day calendar”, or, perhaps, “they
are members of that group”, and the person may be deemed unacceptable for
close friendship. It is unfortunate that in the non-Christian world, with all
its differences in beliefs and morality, that it is often more accepting of
our young people than are the differing Sabbatarian church groups, with their
comparatively insignificant doctrinal differences. —NSE |
Our teenagers are
looking for a mate and a career, but not necessarily in that order. That is not
the “new revelation” here. First of all, young people usually have to look for
these two things outside of whatever congregation they have attended because,
and we must face this issue directly and acknowledge it negative aspects: we
split up into church groups so small because of the two major problems I stated
earlier, that among Churches of God, our sons and daughters have few, if any,
other believing children to socialize and fraternize with! Secondly, and as I
addressed this issue in “Blueprints of the Kingdom”, we have sent our children
to public schools and because they don’t have any other believing children to
integrate themselves with, our children, therefore, seek to become included in
the world’s social system!! Young people aren’t exclusive-minded, like all of
us “righteous”
The history of the COG is plain. Why our children aren’t perpetuating the Faith is as plain as the nose on your face. And like the Anabaptists and Waldensians and Catharists who preceded the modern Churches of God, you, too, will become a page in history because of the fruit of that legacy has now been born. There is a way out, but the question is, will we be able to identify with and accept that way. What will you, as parents, do now?
(you may e-mail John Qavah at
ykqavah@yahoo.com) &
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Doctrinal Difference
Destruction If
church groups, in general, would acknowledge that we have all changed our
beliefs at various times and that others can be serving God even though they
do not see everything in exactly the same way we do now, we would have fewer
problems, internally, ourselves. But, the more common approach is to say,
“that this or that group has that doctrine wrong, so we have to meet and do
our Christian work separate from them.” Young people see doctrinal difference
as a means of exclusion and non-acceptance. So the very thing that the
parents want their children to do—study the Bible to learn the best possible
doctrine—becomes a thing that they now want to avoid. Young people do not
want to convict themselves of a unique set of doctrines that nobody else
believes in. If the young people continue to maintain any relationship with
God at all, they want to be a part of a church that brings many young people
together, that addresses their issues and that has some positive effect on
the world. Even though they may acknowledge that “church people” are more
truthful and kind than other non-Christians that they meet, they cannot
accept that the entire purpose of God, as many of us presently believe, is
“to teach right doctrine in only one of many tiny groups so that they will be
protected from the tribulation”—especially when that group has neither the
miraculous biblical power of God nor any significant influence on the world. —NSE |