Wednesday, March 9, 2011

"Christian Universalism" The Hot Trend Among Christian Youth?

Posted by Christine Pack

A Christian youth pastor wrote me recently and shared that, from what he has observed, the hottest thing today among church-going youth is something called "Christian Universalism.  Do you remember from some of our earlier posts what this is also called? That's right, "Universal Reconciliation." And why is this movement sweeping through our youth and children? I think in large part it is because  Rob Bell, pastor, writer and creator of the mega-popular NOOMA videos, sowed the seeds for this thinking in his book Velvet Elvis (2005), a blockbuster favorite among Christian youth, when he wrote this:
"Heaven is full of forgiven people. Hell is full of forgiven people. Heaven is full of people God loves, whom Jesus died for. Hell is full of forgiven people God loves, whom Jesus died for." (“Velvet Elvis,” p 146)
Parents, we are now reaping the bitter fruit of this heretical, but seductive, false teaching that has captured our beloved children and turned their hearts and minds away from biblical truth.
"I know that, after my departure, ravening wolves will enter in among you, not sparing the flock." (Acts 20:29)
"For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ." (Jude 1:4)

We need to make sure that we are taking seriously our responsibilities as Christian parents.  It is not the responsibility of youth pastors to biblically disciple our children. It is not the responsibility of Christian teachers at private schools. It is our responsibility.
“You shall teach your children diligently about the ways of the Lord, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” (Deut 6:7-9)
We need to have our Bibles open – as well as our eyes and our ears - and we need to be testing everything against Scripture.  And if something has crept in that's not right, and our children have been exposed to it, we need to sit with them and help them see why it's not right. There are so many examples in the Bible of Godly parents whose children fell away, and we don't want to end up like those heartbroken parents.

So let's take to heart God's promise from Prov 22:6...
“Train up a child in the way he should go, and even when he is old he will not depart from it.”
....and let's be very serious about our responsbility as parents who love their children, and who desire for them to walk in the way of the Lord.


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