Here’s a podcast from the master of evidence-gathering and case-making himself, J. Warner Wallace. In this episode, he tries to convince Christians to take the questions that young people ask seriously, and explains what is likely to happen to them in college.

The MP3 is here.

Topics:

• our nation is becoming more and more secular
• secularism makes it harder for us to defend our faith and values in public and influence the culture
• why is secularism happening? it’s because young people are walking away from the faith
• young Christians are leaving the faith in high school and college
• this is where the real battleground is – and that’s where apologists need to focus
• we need to be focused especially on junior high school and high school, and to a lesser degree college
• it’s good that we have lots scholars working physics, philosophy and biology
• but what we really need is ordinary Christians to get serious about apologetics and work on young people
• some people believe that there is no great youth exodus problem: are they right to doubt the statistics
• it’s undeniable that young people are inarticulate about their faith – that much is certain
• what young people in church actually believe is not Christianity, but moralistic therapeutic deism
• young people: life is about feeling good, being liked, and nice people of all religions are saved
• young people think that there is so little substance to Christianity that it can’t even be discussed
• the focus among young people today is not on true beliefs, but on being kinds to others
• even in churches, there is higher respect for helping others than on having knowledge and evidence
• instead of focusing on the worldview that grounds good works, the focus is on good works
• young people have learned to minimize discussions about specifics of theology
• teachers and college professors are hostile to public expressions of evangelical Christianity
• television is also hostile and much less Christian than it used to be
• even if young people come back to the church, they come back for the wrong reasons
• the adults come back for tradition and comfort but they don’t really believe Christianity is true
• they want to pick and choose what they believe based on what they like, like going to a buffet
• they return to church when they have kids so that their kids will absorb values – but not truth
• that’s what we have sitting in the pews: people who think Christianity is false, but “useful”
• and that’s why so many christians are so liberal on social values (abortion, same-sex marriage)
• they don’t really accept the Bible as authoritative, they pick and choose what they like and don’t like
• if Christianity is taught as “useful” then they will dump it when they find something more “useful”
• people who leave the church are exposed to Christianity, but it doesn’t stick
• young people lose their faith before college, and then when they escape the nest, they act it out
• the disconnecting from the faith occurs in high school, but it only becomes public after they leave home
• young people are becoming more focused on redefining “the good life” with consumption and materialism
• the typical experience of young adults involves alcohol use, drug use, and recreational sex
• young people actually want more than niceness – they want real answers to serious questions
• young people have doubts and questions, but no one in the church or home is equipped to answer them
• adults have to be involved in the education of young people
• parents who are engaged in teaching their children Christian truths see much better retention rates
• we need to stop teaching people (one-way preaching) and start training them (two-way interactive)
• when you give a young person a definite goal – a fight with a date certain – then they will be engaged
• when people know that they will fail unless they can perform, then they will be more engaged in learning
• church needs to be in the business of scheduling battles, and then training young people for the battles
• there is no sense of urgency, risk and purpose in young people, so the teaching is not effective

I’m sure that you’ll enjoy this very practical podcast.