In May, my son Tyler and I headed off to Washington to attend an event sponsored by the Colson Center. The topic for the conference to consider was “Is Christianity Good for the World?” “Of course it is!” is what we Christians say. But John Stonestreet, the president of the Colson Center said that many non-Christians are no longer asking if Christianity is true, but if it’s even good.

I found this article from Thinkapologetics.com helpful as I meet with younger Christian and non-Christians some of whom are wrestling with this idea as well.

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In 1964, Bob Dylan wrote this powerful and prophetic warning to parents in a song:

Come mothers and fathers throughout the land.
Don’t criticize what you can’t understand.
Your sons and your daughters are beyond your command.
Your old world is rapidly aging.
So please get out of the new one if you can’t lend your hand.
For the times, they are a-changin

I just read Gen Z by Barna Research. It’s a short, but frightening guide book to this new world our teens are living in – what they believe and what they no longer believe.  

But why in the world would a 71-year-old guy read it?

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A year ago, I met with the presidents of two well known denominational seminaries. I was introducing them to the ministry of The Center for Faith, Sexuality and Gender, www.centerforfaith.com. The Center’s ministry is educating pastors and their people to be more kind and understanding of LGBT+ people and their families, while still holding the Bible’s historical teaching of marriage and sex.

Each of the denominations these seminaries represent had a number of churches who were affirming. That is they believe the Bible allows same-sex marriage. The lines were being drawn, with churches were being encouraged to join with one camp or another and these seminary presidents could see trouble coming. Their question for me was, “How can we reconcile these two opposing views in our denomination?” My answer surprised them.

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When I was in 10^th grade, I was an odd kid. My parents were simple, blue-collar people while I dreamt of being rich, so I hung out at places where rich people hung out. I’d go to restaurants in our downtown area and watched how successful men dressed, how they entered the room, how they greeted their friends, looked them in the eye, and even how they handled a knife and fork.

I began to dress differently. I wore long sleeve cotton shirts rolled up at the sleeve, in the heat of summer instead of t-shirts like all my friends. I dressed like the Kennedy’s at Hyannis Port. I was an early incarnation of Richey Rich (but without the money!).

The point was to “fake it until I made it.” In doing so, I became more self-confident. I began to believe I could attain that for which I so desperately longed.

I did something similar when I first came to faith.

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