A Letter to Young People
by David Quine
Today you are facing mounting opposition in the United States. It is your faith in one God and your conviction to the truths of the biblical worldview that are putting you at odds with our culture.
The secular worldview has our culture in its grip. Just how difficult is it to live within this culture? Many of you will be walking through the gates of a college campus in the near future. You will be walking into one of the most hostile segments of our culture. However, this hostility isn’t contained within these “sacred hall” of learning, it has spread deep within our culture. Being a follower of Jesus within our culture has become a high-risk adventure. This is the challenge–Hold on! Hold on to the core conviction of Christ and Christianity while living and walking in your social circles without compromising your convictions.
The question we must surely answer is, how should we then live?
There are many Christians your age, maybe even some of your peers, who are tired of being different from their social culture. They don’t want to be made fun of for their faith any longer. They don’t want to be excluded from the social events that sometimes come with being a follower of Christ. There is a social risk and danger.
So if you don’t want the risk–you don’t want to be excluded–you might be willing to make a few compromises in your conviction. It might seem small at first. But small compromises almost always make way for larger ones. Assimilating some of the thoughts and ideas of the secular culture into your belief system in order to avoid the “sneer” of your peers has always been a problem within Christianity. It’s nothing new, but it is very dangerous to your faith.
We are to be in the world, living as lights and salt. The problem occurs when we begin setting aside some of our conviction and accepting some of the things of the world. The problem is when we try to live with both worldviews at once. What are some of the areas where your peers are beginning to marginalize their convictions in order not to be embarrassed and to stay in the mainstream of their social culture?
It is important for you to think this through before you get yourself in a dangerous position, especially before you are confronted with the possibility of compromise.
Let me suggest a couple of areas of concern: “Jesus is the only way” is becoming “Jesus is the only way for me.” Do you hear the compromise? In order not to seem intolerant of someone else’s belief the prepositional phrase “for me” is added. Another variation of this compromise is to say, “Jesus is a way to God.” The small switch from the word “only” to that little word “a” may appear to be harmless, but they marginalize the truth claims of Jesus. It is a dangerous position to take.
Another area of change involves the notion of truth. “Truth is universal and true for all people in all places in all cultures throughout all time” is becoming “Truth is personal. What is true for me might not necessarily be true for you.” This switch from “universal truth” to “personal truth” may sound ok, because it is true that Christianity is personal and the truth is personal, but this change undermines the universality of Christianity.
By giving up certain core convictions of Christianity many of your Christian peers are no longer embarrassed within their social circles, but they are dangerously close to denying the essence of true Christianity.
These and other similar changes are sweeping through your Christian peer group with amazing speed. It is truly tsunamic in nature. Unless you are preparing yourself today, you may be easily swept away by its power and persuasion tomorrow.
Copyright 2014. Used by permission of the author.
David and Shirley Quine, parents of nine children, began homeschooling in 1980. David is the author of many popular homeschool curriculum and Let Us Highly Resolve. The focus of their writing and speaking is to equip the next generation to stand upon the biblical worldview.
David and Shirley will be presenting “Building a Unique Family Legacy through Literature” at the 31st Annual Christian Home Educators Convention.