We had a high school revival among the juniors and seniors that swept the school.
Everyone was on fire for the Lord and we even expanded our church because of it.
Well, it's been two years and most of us went to college. Well, to make a long story short, only oneof us still claims to be a Christian.
When I talk to the others, they just said it was a phase! Most of them are atheists now and a few are agnostic.
What happened!?!? Does getting an education mean losing your religion?
2007-03-07 20:15:50 · 33 answers · asked by John Galt 2 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Yes, getting an education often does mean losing your religion, because it teaches you to think critically and use logic. It teaches you what a faulty argument is, you learn about psychology, sociology, biology, all kinds of things that explain what you thought the Bible explained. You enter a world where ignorance is not encouraged and unfounded assertions are subject to ridicule. You are no longer surrounded by like-minded people, and you begin to suspect that you have been living a very sheltered and narrow life.
I loved college. It made me feel dumber than I'd ever felt in my life. I grew up and smartened up there, and so have your friends.
2007-03-07 20:18:32 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 5⤊ 5⤋
You nailed it on the head yourself, or your friends did, it's a phase caused by the mood of the crowd, which can sweep you off your feet and cause an emotional high that some never recover from. Man can tell himself anything and believe it if there's a mob mentality to encourage and nourish it. The approval and acceptance of others is a powerful motivator!
Education alone will not cause you to lose your religion. It will however, open you up to the fact that there is infinitely much more to the world than the primitive explanations that your own particular religion has to offer. With any luck, it will cause you to think for yourself and feel and have the confidence to trust it without guilt. If you feel a need to feel guilty, feel guilty for not sticking to your guns and defending what you yourself know that you yourself actually believe. What you believe should constantly be changing, it's called education and enlightenment. Anything else assumes to already have all the answers and that is the road to intellectual suicide and moral arrogance. Belief based on knowledge instead of word of mouth and superstition is the most satisfying emotional and intellectual feeling you can ever have. You have one life to live, so live what YOU believe.
2007-03-11 07:22:58 · answer #2 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Getting an education doesn't have to mean losing your faith. What does sometimes happen is that people get swept up in the emotions that come with revival meetings and they don't glean much substance from the Word. Then they head off into life and are confronted with difference situations and scenarios that test their faith... and having not built a very strong foundation, they crumble. Sad, but true.
And to be honest... it's not their fault... it's the fault of their local pastor and the evangelists running these revivals. With little focus on the historic and scientific evidences that lend more credence to Christianity, people who are swept away in the tide of emotionalism have nothing to stand on when the music dies down. The Bible puts it like this "When the waves and wind came and beat upon the house, it crashed to the ground - and it was a horrific crash".
The Bible cautions us to "Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it". Admittedly there is a lot of work being done by evangelistic movements, however without the TRAINING that the Bible calls for, all the work turns to nothing because there is nothing upon which to build.
The Bible instructs us: Study to show yourself approved unto God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, but is able to rightly expound upon the Word of Truth. God wants us to look into history, science, archeology and so forth... the answers are there if you approach the subect with an open mind. But, if you don't have a firm foundation... what you are looking at can quickly and easily lead to confusion and doubt.
Best Wishes.
2007-03-07 20:29:38 · answer #3 · answered by Rev T L Clark 3 · 2⤊ 2⤋
With an education comes riches, and with riches come keeping up with the Jones, no matter how much you have. Then sadly God takes a back seat with most, because they feel they can do without him.
Matthew 13:22
As for the one sown among the thorns, this is the one hearing the word, but the anxiety of this system of things and the deceptive power of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful.
Matthew 6:24
“No one can slave for two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will stick to the one and despise the other. YOU cannot slave for God and for Riches.
2007-03-07 21:06:21 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I'm afraid you've discovered the nature of religion, and especially christianity there, my friend. Popularity...All those people were afraid to go against what everyone else was doing. Think about it...if you were a muslim, how would your family react? What if you were white/black/mexican/chinese.....what if you weren't "the norm?" You'd be pressured to become the norm, wouldn't you? Christianity is the predominate religion here in the US, so a lot of christians use peer pressure to try to force everyone into saying they believe, whether they do or not. Look at all your friends...how many of them made REAL changes after that revival, and how many of them just started wearing a "WWJD" wrist band and talk about how they're trying not to cuss any more? Status and public opinion are the real gods of christianity, my friend, and THAT's the truth. Your friends' educations at college are not what freed them from their community's religion, it was being away from the peer pressure, and being somewhere where free thinking is allowed. You don't believe me? Ask one simple question, around your friends that went to college, and then around your family that stayed, or your church group....just ask "What if god was wrong, and this is all a mistake?" Who cares what the answer is, look at their reactions...your friends will think about it, and then probly dismiss it, just as quickly, because it doesn't matter.....the others, they will gasp (if you ask in church especially, for some reason, you have to behave better in certain buildings, lol) and they will begin to look at you differently...you know they will. They'll immediately begin blabbering off condecending scriptures....you don't even have to try it, you already know I'm right.
2007-03-07 20:28:59 · answer #5 · answered by Doc 4 · 2⤊ 2⤋
My brother in-law is a Professor and a Christian too. He is a Scientist (Dr. of Nuclear Physics). Christianity is a"calling" by God the Father, not a choice on a whim nor a decision based on emotionalism. (See: Book of John, Chapter 6, verse 44) Without God drawing an individual to Him - the relationship is non-existent therefore, fickle - nothing to do with education ("calling" part that is).
2007-03-07 20:32:33 · answer #6 · answered by guraqt2me 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Notice you use the word "religion"? This is the worse thing that ever happened to mankind. Religion is not what will keep you with the Lord. This is something that you have to do all on your own, education or not. God wants to hear from you through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. Amen!
2007-03-07 20:36:46 · answer #7 · answered by Dakota Lynn Takes Gun 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
College does seem to present an agnostic or atheist point of view. But if one was truly on fire for God they will come back eventually. Maybe being an atheist is cool right now but that too shall pass when you remember the happiness you shared with HIM.
2007-03-07 20:36:03 · answer #8 · answered by Godb4me 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
i won't ask you to convert to my religion like what some others ask you to do. I find that soooo typical of them.. and my religion doesn't want us to force anyone or ask anyone to join it. It should be done by someone's own will.
Stop advertising your religion.
i suggest you learn more about your own religion. there are still many things you need to know before you can decide whether if it is for you or not.
You are already in a college..so I think you should be matured enough to know what you want.
always reserve some time for your religion.
2007-03-07 22:51:43 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Education does not mean losing your religion.I am an example of that.
There is no such thing as a phase of Christianity.They were the ones who received the word,but were not grafted onto the root (Jesus) so they withered and died.
1 John 2:19 "They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be shown that they all are not of us"
2007-03-07 20:24:36 · answer #10 · answered by Serena 5 · 1⤊ 2⤋