Writing at Discipleship Research, Ruth Perrin addresses the uncomfortable topic of acts of violence, committed by God in Scripture. She uses this topic to discern how young people tend to deal with such difficult parts of Scripture. Her keen insights deserve serious consideration.
From her research through focus groups, Perrin identifies 5 ways these young folks tend to grapple. These responses range from unquestioning acceptance to outright denial.
She moves from these observations to ask some great questions:
How SHOULD I help young adults make sense of the complicated, beautiful, ancient literature we believe was inspired by God Himself? How can we help our guys to do that well – not just be boggled, resigned or confused by how to make sense of the word of God?
And her conclusion:
This really matters – when faced with aggressive secular atheism and well documented biblical illiteracy we have to equip our young people to be confident in handling Scripture in a meaningful and life-giving way.
I commend Perrin’s article to your consideration. She is absolutely right: it really matters to equip our people (including our young people) to confidently handle Scripture in a meaningful and life-giving way.
