So many parents today don’t take their children to any religious services. These children are growing up without any meaningful connection to God, to purpose, to eternal Love.
I’ve heard many parents say “you don’t need God to be a good person.” That may be true. But I would ask them then to define “good” without God? That’s a little more difficult. Many of these parents are essentially adopting some of Christianity. They want some of the rules such as be kind, share, and forgive others. They are accepting some of the rules of Christianity but without the graces.
Despite being the right thing to do because God did make the world and all of us, the Federalist reports that “research shows that children who attend weekly worship services have higher GPAs, score higher on standardized tests, and are less likely to be held back a grade. They also are more likely to achieve a bachelor’s degree in college.
Have you seen this reported anywhere in the media? Nope.
In a 2018 study, Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health found some surprising benefits to children and adolescents who attend weekly worship. It turns out that children and teens who attend church grow up to be young adults with higher rates of reported happiness and life satisfaction. They were less likely to suffer from anxiety and depression, less likely to use illicit drugs, and less likely to engage in early sex and contract sexually transmitted infections.
In addition, these same young adults were more likely to embrace volunteering and reported feeling a sense of mission and purpose than their non-church-attending counterparts.
With all of these positive outcomes for children who attend weekly worship, should we be surprised that children who do not have a similar structure in their lives experience an inverse phenomenon? Is it any wonder that anxiety and depression among children and teens are on the rise when every day, their still-forming brains are bombarded with information about doom and destruction while they drown in a sea of gender confusion and racial animus?
We think we can combat all the negativity by telling children: “You are perfect! You are awesome! You keep being you!” We put these pithy platitudes on T-shirts and backpacks and stickers with unicorns and rainbows. At the end of a bad day, our kids know that this is no substitute for the real deal.
Children know they are not perfect, however. They know that not all is right with them no matter how many participation trophies they’re handed. They know they are sinners. They feel they have fallen short somehow. They feel despair and have no place to bring it.
So they turn to medication, therapy, surgeries to chase down that ever elusive feeling of happiness.
Imagine what a burden could be lifted from our children if they had a place to go each week that offered them that grace. How much better could they cope with a bad day, knowing that each moment offers a fresh start? How much more resilient could our children become?
Parents, we put our children at a disadvantage when we do not give them the very thing they need for their mental and spiritual health. It is time to put a new priority on the family calendar every Sunday. If we won’t do it for ourselves (and we should), let’s do it for our children. The next generation depends on it.
In short, if you do not teach your child to rely on God, they will rely on the world. The Kardashian, Big Media, Big Tech world that offers jealous, envy, greed, and anger at others.
If you teach your child that God is dead, you’re essentially raising them in a world in which love is dead. Without God, “love” is whittled down into simple preferences and passions. Love, untethered to God, can be the most destructive force on the planet. If you love something or someone more than God or morality, what won’t you do to defend it? Without God, there is only ignorant armies clashing at night.
