It’s a Different World
Wayne Turner

            Baby Boomers were born into a pretty scary world.  World War II was barely over, the Korean War was underway.  The Cold War cast the menacing specter of nuclear war over the world.  The Cuban missile crisis brought the world to the brink of disaster.  It isn’t surprising that it was also a time of religious interest and with it conservative family values and morals. Church attendance boomed.  Television featured wholesome families like Ozzie and Harriet, Lucy and Desi and the Cleavers.  Innocence seemed to be the theme of the day.

            In the 1960’s, all out war was being waged in Vietnam.  Protests, peace marches, race riots, drugs and hippies marked the beginnings of a social and moral revolution.  Young people spoke of “free love.”  General interest in faith and church peaked.  Many people still reacted negatively to those who were seen as loose and promiscuous.

            The decades that followed saw the relative innocence and domestic calm shattered by events like the Oklahoma City Bombing, the 9-11 attacks and war in the Middle East.  HIV/AIDS became epidemic.  Interest in the Bible and faith ebbed, as large numbers of people abandoned churches.  Moral values took a radical turn away from their conservative past.   Increasing sexual openness and activity gained acceptance from a greater part of the main stream population. The “sexual revolution” has especially attracted teens.  In early December, 2009, CNN reported on a study published in Pediatrics which said that by the time the young people in the study reached 9th grade, one-third had already had intercourse.  By grade 10, the number increased to fifty per cent!  And, in a somewhat ironic note, the study found that by the time parents sat down with their children to have “the talk” about sex, 40 per cent had already had intercourse. 

            In an interview published in MACLEAN’S in March 16, 2009, psychologist and teen-expert Michael Bradley said that in an American study, one in four teens had an active Sexually Transmitted Disease (STD) not including syphilis or gonorrhea.  Bradley describes a teen world that many adults couldn’t even dream of – in their worst nightmares. He speaks of “party sex” where middle-school girls are “becoming the predators, sexually … approaching boys for party sex, telling them it’s fine and harmless.”   He mentions that even girls are watching porn, and that “we are beginning to see a new phenomenon of porn addiction and sex addiction even in teenage girls.”  Many teenagers know kids who are “potheads and pillheads and alcoholics at 15.”

            One might reasonably ask, “Where are the parents?”  Bradley notes that teens are skilled at “flying under the radar.”  In other words, adults are generally unaware of the real world, the hidden subculture, in which their teens live.  It is only natural for parents to assume that their children are growing up in the same world they did.  The main themes – sex, drugs, alcohol – sound similar.  Yet, the reality for teens today is much harsher and more difficult.  Complicating the problem, according to Bradley, is that many parents are more concerned with trying to be friends with their children and overindulging them than teaching them responsibility, how to work and to learn resilience in the face of adversity and denial.

            As Christians, we understand that this is not merely a social or moral problem.  It is a spiritual war for the souls of young people, as well as their hearts, minds and lives.   The loss of faith and Biblical values as well as the abandonment of churches in the parents’ generation has led to a subsequent spiritual and moral vacuum.  Satan is using this vacuum to persuade the following generation that moral absolutes are an outdated vestige of a narrow and repressive past.   Many teens and young adults today have seldom, if ever, gone to church.  They are unfamiliar with the most basic ideas, even something as simple as prayer.  Churches and the people who attend them may seem irrelevant and unreal to parents and teens.

            We are faced with a paradox.  On one hand there is a great opportunity – a whole generation of people which needs, but has had little exposure to the Gospel.  On the other, we are challenged by their distance from us.  Stereotypes and pre-conceived ideas abound in both directions.  The gap can only increase if we are unable to reach out effectively to them.  The direction this will take is seen by the fact that there are already congregations with few people under 55. 

            Bradley suggests that adults treat young people with respect.  Despite what may be seen as crazy, immature behavior, they are “developing an adult brain, thinking critically, making decisions, and the world is throwing a lot of challenges at them.”  It is by communicating respect, value and love that adults can even begin to connect with them. 

            Working with today’s young people can be very challenging.  They are different from us and what we were when we were younger.  They are being bombarded from every direction by ideas and values that come from a world without God. Yet, they are only in the early stages of being shaped as adults.  Christians who are open, caring and sensitive can have a positive influence on the direction they ultimately take.  May we see past the rough edges and occasional poor behaviour and choices to the eternal souls within.