Culture Crisis by Robert T. Fertig

Author:Robert T. Fertig
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Goldtouch Press
Published: 2020-11-12T00:00:00+00:00

Skeptical Students:

A significant number of students that enter college as Christian believers, graduate as skeptics or unbelievers. Loss of faith is caused by peer-pressure, the secular environment, and most significantly, by skeptical teachers or negative role models. Students often encounter two extreme views that leave them confused and skeptical: radical fundamentalists in the hometown churches, and progressive humanism from secular professors at college. One preaches ‘hell and damnation,’ and the other teaches them about their absolute right to ‘freedom of expression.’ Guess who wins that contest?

Peer-pressure is a much stronger force than teacher influences alone, but the invitation to total freedom of expression, while away from home for the first time is too much to resist: ‘Mom and dad can no longer tell me what to do, or what not to do. I’m free at last. I’m free to do my own thing; to experiment with drugs, sex, booze and whatever.’

Fanatical fundamental evangelical ministers, or zealot priests, can do more damage to early youthful believers than all of the other factors combined. They typically start by citing the absolute authority of Sacred Scripture; that human reasoning cannot be trusted, and certainly will never lead you to God. They stress that the ‘Word’ is the infallible book of God; every word is exactly as He revealed it; you must accept all, without questioning.

This dogmatic approach by numerous preachers may convince less educated children and adults over the short-term, but they are building this belief on a bed of sand. Sooner or later educated students will see how irrational the hometown preacher was. This dogmatic method is a total turn-off for many of our college bound youth.

On the other hand, those college students that have received a solid foundation in the Christian faith during their early years, by both loving parents and preachers, that are receptive to all questions, will survive their challenging college experience. Actually, they may even be better qualified to help some of their skeptic peers.

In The Hidden Jesus by Donald Spoto, he wrote: “Christian faith is, in fact, fundamentally not a matter of the past but of the present. It is an experience of, and a relationship with, someone alive, someone whose existence in the economy of earthly life, the life in and of the flesh—in other words, bodily life as we know it—ceased almost two thousand years ago. Faith proclaims, in light of a mysterious but certain experience, that Jesus of Nazareth is completely transformed, forever altered.”

In the OT, faith is rarely mentioned. The word “trust” is used frequently, and verbs like “believe” and “rely” are used to express the right attitude towards God. The classic example is Abraham, whose faith was reckoned as “righteousness” (Gen. 15:6). At the heart of the Christian message is the story of the Cross; Christ’s dying to bring salvation. Faith is based on trust, where a believer receives God’s good gift of salvation (Acts 16:30-31) and lives in that awareness thereafter (Gal. 2:20; cf. Heb. 11:1).

Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.

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