Sabotaging the Generations 2

So I never got around to writing this second piece the day after the first, but the loss of the next generation is a big concern of mine. If we continue down the path of decline of the Christian faith in the American evangelical church among our children and youth, Christianity will not have much of a future in the next 40 years! Just a small disclaimer: even in perfect parenting there is no guarantee of faith, children are responsible for their lives/eternities. However, we may also bear the guilt if we do not afford them with good spiritual guidance through consistent practice of the faith. Nor does marrying believers guarantee good parenting and commitment to pass on the faith. For hypocrisy is probably more deadly than express unbelief to our children.

The second way that we are seeing the next generations of Christians sabotaged is the intermarriage of faith and non-faith (or nominal faith). God warns of this in Deut 7:3-4 "Nor shall you make marriages with them. You shall not give your daughter to their son, nor take their daughter for your son. For they will turn your sons away from following Me, to serve other gods; so the anger of the LORD will be aroused against you and destroy you suddenly." And we see this played out all through the Old Testament, just like God said.

Yet we ignore this truth and the warning given in 1 Corinthians that tells us not to be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. We have all seen it: a young man "falls in love" (that's a whole separate blog) with a girl that is not following Christ (she maybe have a profession, but is not living it, or maybe she is lost altogether), and it may happen slowly (over years), or quickly (over months), but sooner or later it is easier not to fight the battle with her, and he stops following Christ.

Even if he persists in his walk with Christ, they get married, and the kids can tell that mom really doesn't think that it is important, and regardless of what they are told (for she may be outwardly compliant), they see the truth, and it sinks in. And when they are of age, well they choose their own way...

And the same is true for young women who marry unspiritual men. Now, who wants their kids to reject Christ and go to hell? Nobody! But by mingling faith/non-faith, we are sabotaging them. How do we avoid this? Teach this in our churches, enforce in in our homes. Teach them that if they don't date people with weak or no faith, they won't marry them, and their kids (our grandchildren) will not die lost. Make them see that eternity is in the balance!

And of course the ramifications are much larger than your kids/grandchildren. What about their grandchildren and their grandchildren? Once the baton of faith has been dropped, the lostness in the family will grow exponentially with each generation. And so your decision to marry a lost man/woman could (I say could because God can do anything), cost you hundreds of souls...

So STOP IT! Put away the foreign boyfriends/girlfriends among you that cause you to worship foreign gods, and forsake the One True God! Do it for your children, grandchildren, and their grandchildren.

Thanks for reading,