Posted on 03/05/2005 12:42:01 PM PST by Scenic Sounds
A new Barna survey is shedding some light on why some Christian children are losing their faith in modern-day America – it's the parenting, stupid.
Conducted by the California-based research organization in November, the poll asked over 1,000 American adults (comprised of 707 parents, including 366 self-identified born-again Christians) various questions relating to parenting and how best to raise the next generation. Tragically, the survey highlighted one disturbing fact: When it comes to parenting, there is little difference between Christians and unbelievers.
George Barna, who spearheaded the research project, didn't mince words in his rundown of the poll's results: "You might expect that parents who are born-again Christians would take a different approach to raising their children than did parents who have not committed their life to Christ – but that was rarely the case."
Barna's findings paint a bleak picture. Only one out of every five parents identified instilling a set of religious beliefs as an important part of raising children. Almost double the percentage of parents ranked a good education as a more desired goal for their children than having a meaningful relationship with Jesus Christ. When asked what makes a parent successful, only 4 percent identified prayer as an integral part of parenting and a scant 1 percent pointed to good character.
Even exclusively among Christians, the numbers were startling. "Only three out of 10 born-again parents included the salvation of their child in the list of critical parental emphases," Barna said.
Should that fact surprise us, seeing how enmeshed the Christian family has become with secularized culture? Examine most Christian households and you will find little difference between them and families composed of unbelievers. Fathers and mothers are still absent from the home from 7 in the morning to 6 in the evening; children are still plopped in day-care facilities until they are old enough to be shipped off to public school; teenagers are still expected to learn more from their peers than their parents; and the media are still greater implanters of values than the Bible.
No wonder the voice of the Christian church in America has lost its fervor.
Scripture continually warns believers to avoid conformity to secular ways. In Romans 12:2, the Apostle Paul encouraged the brethren to resist the pattern of the world and allow their minds to be renewed by the power of God. In 1 Peter 2:9, followers of Jesus Christ are called "sojourners and pilgrims" in the world and are encouraged to "abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation."
The American family is a fractured institution. The godless ideology espoused by post-modernists has served to shackle mankind to the evil of this world. Many are searching for answers beyond the emptiness humanism and atheism grant. In such an atmosphere, Christians have the unparalleled opportunity to display the transforming power that a relationship with God can have on the family. But it takes guts and firm commitment to raise children differently from the rest of the world. Although the blame for a child's unbelief cannot be laid at the foot of every parent, fathers and mothers do possess the greatest human influence in shaping their child's worldview.
Benjamin Franklin defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Today, Christian parents are exposing their children to the same influences as the rest of society – the same distorted public education system, the same lurid popular culture, the same false morality, the same humanistic philosophies – and yet they are expecting different results. Why should we be surprised when Christian youth recklessly abandon their faith in high school and college? Parents have immersed them more in the values of popular culture than in the values of Christianity.
After all, what do parents gain if they win a thousand souls to Christ but neglect to commit the time and energy necessary to evangelize their own children?
Bribing children into coming to church one Sunday out of each month is not enough. Depending on the church to take the place of parental spiritual teaching is not enough. Expecting a public school to teach your children anything other than relativistic humanism is not enough. Sticking them in a church youth group or shipping them off to a Christian private school is not enough. Even regulating their media intake is not enough. Why? Because God does not promise salvation or change through grudging obedience but through a meaningful relationship with Jesus Christ.
That's the greatest gift parents can give to their child. In our post-modern age of fractured families and disintegrating familial relationships, it's not just the best hope for real change – it's the only hope.
s a 19-year-old Christian homeschool graduate who has written for World Newspaper Publishing and is a regular columnist at AmericanDaily.com, IntellectualConservative.com and RenewAmerica.us. While attending college, he interns at a pro-family public-policy organization. Bass currently is working on his first novel.
David Bass is a 19-year-old Christian homeschool graduate who has written for World Newspaper Publishing and is a regular columnist at AmericanDaily.com, IntellectualConservative.com and RenewAmerica.us. While attending college, he interns at a pro-family public-policy organization. Bass currently is working on his first novel.
You do not have to be religious to be a good person.
My family didn't instill a large sense of spirituality in me when I was young. We went to church and prayed a lot, but we did not have very much parent-to-child religious talk. This did not drive me from Christianity, but drew me closer. Instead of being saturated by the commercialization of religion such as modern religious videos or music, I was taught by the preacher's sermons and the bible. Granted, in late high school I went through a phase of questioning how God interacted with science, but I think this just solidified my faith when I realized religion can't be explained by the laws of science. Parents do their children a disservice to force every aspect of their life to be immersed in religion, they should instill basic religious education and morality and let the kids know that God is what the household believes and lives for, but parents should let the kids find out on their own what it means to be a Christian and it will be more important to them.
Well, that's easy to say, but do you know of any Biblical support for that? ;-)
I fully agree and I believe that every good person goes to heaven regardless of their closeness with God.
1000 surveyed - out of how many million people?
California-based research organization - were the 1000 surveyed also from California?
"You do not have to be religious to be a good person."
Good? According to whom? (Your mother doesn't count)
What this reminds me of is the Army in World War II.
After they put just about every man in the Army, they discovered tha half the Army was below average in intelligence.
Once you get big enough, it's hard to maintain any kind of standards.
Both of your statements are unbiblical. But they are consistent with the philosophy of most Americans today.
The fifth paragraph is beyond disheartening.
Unfortunately, the Bible disagrees with you. You can't get there based on merit or simply being a "good person". There's only one way, and that's through Jesus Christ.
Point is, what's a "good person", and by whose standards are you judging their "goodness"? If you say "God's standards", then you have to accept what He says sin is, and what the criteria are for eternal life with Him. If you say "man's standards", then, well, none of us have a chance because we all can make the argument that we live "good" lives. To man, "good" is a relative term.
I'm not surprised by the research in this article. It just goes to show that the born-again parents probably aren't true converts in the first place. Any honest, truly regenerated person would first see to their own family before preaching to the rest of society. A true convert knows that they are seperate from society, and would raise their kids accordingly. A true convert would know what God's position is on child-rearing and would obey without a second thought.
This research shows the dangers in man-centered, "name it and claim it", emotionally-driven 'conversion experiences' as opposed to honest, humble, sincere callings.
BUMP!
I tend to agree with you. God will find each person and draw them to him. Forced religion will do more damage to a child IMO.
I was married to a very 'religious' man who pushed me away from God for many years with the constant assaults and condemnations and expectations that I just could not live up to.
I live in this world warts and all.
"These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up." ~ Deuteronomy 6:6&7
"Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it." ~ Proverbs 22:6
"Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord." ~ Ephesians 6:4
As Christians we're SUPPOSED to talk about it and impress it upon our families. Faith is not for spectators. God will hold us all accountable if we know His commands but don't tell others about them.
"Be merciful to those who doubt; snatch others from the fire and save them; to others show mercy, mixed with fear–hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh." ~ Jude 22&23
Um, wait a sec, if half of the Army was below average, and everyone was in the Army, then wouldn't the other half be above average? :P
Oh, you meant Gods definition...
...One that doesn't have a flexible acceptable level of evil.
Indeed - liberalism destroys everything - even religion.
And these are Christian parents??? That is just so sad.......... :-(
When asked what makes a parent successful, only 4 percent identified prayer as an integral part of parenting and a scant 1 percent pointed to good character.
Good grief. As if this article couldn't get more depressing..........
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