Teach Youth About Suffering?

My blog about how suffering shook The Beatles' faith received more feedback than the other blogs about the Fab Four combined. My son John 2 was very articulate in his feedback. I asked him to compile his thoughts for a guest blog post. Here it is. Enjoy.

Blog title:  4twelve or 3two?  

Which stance do we take when discussing difficult topics like suffering with students in the church today?  Is our position that of 1 Timothy 4:12 which challenges our students to be the leaders of the church they ought already to be?  Or have we adopted a 1 Corinthians 3:2 stance that withholds spiritual meat assuming the bottle is all they can handle?

Do we work from the assumption that hard topics like suffering must be dumbed down for our students to understand and/or accept?  The faith of today's students is so bombarded by the media, peers, social networks and educators that, perhaps, they're looking for a faith that stands boldly and unapologetically against the cultural tidal wave in which they find themselves.

We spend most of our time discussing how to sail clear of pain or how to row our way out of suffering.  Perhaps we need to spend more time teaching our students how to drop anchor in the middle of it.  Face head-on the difficult realities of pain, suffering and death discussing with clarity and sensitivity what God has to say about these topics.  Use our own personal sufferings as a playbook to coach them on how to weather the storms of life.

Dive deep teaching them there is a Rock that holds in the worst of storms.  Then when the storms come--and they most certainly will come--our students will know how to stand firm not only for themselves but as buoys to those nearby tossed about by the waves.

Such faith requires meat, not milk.  As they are transitioning into adulthood our students feel they are ready to take on the world.  Perhaps it's time we unbuckle the straps on their highchairs and replace their bottles with forks and knives.  Who knows, they might actually take the world... by storm.

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God Is Just Not Fair

So says the title of Jennifer Rothschild's excellent new book. I will not tackle the apostrophe debate in this post.

Jennifer is the most famous member of Second Baptist Church in Springfield. She hates when I say this, but it's true nonetheless. It is a high honor to be her Pastor.

I loved this book because it fights head-on against depression, a burden I battled till I was 35 years old. This is not an academic work; it is in-the-trenches reporting from the front line.

I ached all over when she wrote that being delivered from blindness may not be as hard as being delivered from despair. You can feel her agony coming off the page.

The book also makes you laugh out loud. Her husband Phil, in his underwear, once chased down a criminal. Yet this hero also drops his dirty clothes on the floor. One of my favorite stories is when Jennifer in public reached out to pat Phil you know where, but. . . Oh well, I will let you read the book.

By the way, the story of the blind lady on the bus and her Air Force husband will make you bawl. Great stuff.

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The Beatles And Suffering

What caused the Beatles to descend so deeply into immorality? I've already discussed no male Christian role models, and finding the wrong crowd. The next factor was; they were affected by suffering in their younger years which left them disappointed in the Christian understanding of God.

While young, John lost his mother and closest friend. When Paul, at age 14, lost his mother, he said he had prayed hard for her to be healed, but she died anyway. That was the end of his interest in God.

The fact that suffering affected their faith should not surprise us. Of people who consider Christianity as an option, the biggest and last hurdle they have to overcome is suffering. It's even a bigger stumbling-block than hypocritical Christians.

I have seen this firsthand in working with college students. Some refuse to believe, and some walk away from organized religion, because they decide a good God would not let bad things happen to people.

I do not know how we should try to stop this danger. My first thought is; we should do more teaching to our youth about suffering. But who wants to do this? It seems a subject too heavy for them. I will have to think on this one.

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The Beatles Found a Wrong Crowd

The Beatles' descent into immorality was hastened by their adopting the wrong crowd to be their peers. In their earliest days, they played small gigs in Liverpool, England, a city that at least had some semblance of morality and cultural expectations.

When they began making regular trips to Hamburg, Germany, they became immersed in a godless culture so wicked and vile that I will not even mention some of the vices, though 55 years have passed. The night life sins of Hamburg then would make the worst night life sins of the USA look tame now (maybe an exaggeration, but not by much).

Parents, pay attention. The crowd your children hang out with will profoundly affect them spiritually. Become your older teen's #1 best friend. Try to make it attractive for them to bring their friends to your house. Pray earnestly for God to send Godly friends into your children's lives.

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The Beatles: What Went Wrong

Twitter @john316marshall
www.facebook.com/john316marshallTo explain the moral collapse of The Beatles is a multi-varied story. It began with a crushing blow.

None of the Fab Four ever had a male Christian role model in their younger years--NONE. John Lennon attended church four times a week for years. His Pastor was sold out to Liberalism. His church choir director was an atheist who poked fun at Christianity. No one gave them vital spiritual modeling and training.

Men, listen up. Your children need for you to step up to the plate and be the spiritual leader in their lives. Research indicates children usually follow the religious habits of their fathers more often than of their mothers.

Why Read About The Beatles?

Twitter @john316marshall
www.facebook.com/john316marshallIt is a great and profound question. I myself wonder why a 62-yr-old Baptist preacher would care about a group that spearheaded much of our nation's spiritual decline.

I've decided it's not really about them. I think I want to understand me and my generation better.

Why did we change so radically? Why was "I Want to Hold Your a Hand" a dividing line in our lives? Why did an immoral group have so much impact on a church-raised generation? Can we learn from our mistakes of 50 years ago?

This book is extremely helpful this far. Stay tuned, Baby Boomer Beatles fans. I'll keep you posted.

Social Media Muddling

Twitter @john316marshall
www.facebook.com/john316marshallI can honestly say I tried my best to master this book. I did tolerably well in the first third of the book. That section dealt with blogging, Twitter, and Facebook.

After this, the book took off on tangents--I mean other social media outlets--I had never heard of. I gave up at page 114.

I'm glad I tried. I will never be a social media mogul, but maybe I can be relatively effective in a limited range of options.

I am grateful for Ruthie, Sam Arthur, and Katie Havelka. They have the patience of Job, and have never given up on me.