XII. YOUTH AND UNBELIEF

CHAPTER XII YOUTH AND UNBELIEF

It is common knowledge that there are many young people who experience a fierce conflict between faith and unbelief. In this struggle some succumb. In many cases, they lose their faith while in college. Why is this so? And what can be done to deal with the problem and to keep faith in college? It is due in a large measure to the fact that children pass from the place of dependency on their parents to a period of questioning which involves an effort to stand on their own feet. This period can be dealt with so that disaster does not finally result if the situation is rightly understood and correctly approached. Let us first consider unbelief as related to the transition which takes place in the life of the adolescent as he endeavors to think for himself. Then let us see how one can keep faith in college.

I. THE AGE OF SELF-ASSERTION AND UNBELIEF

The boys and girls finally reach the age when they more and more assert their own personality. They begin to stand on their own feet and think for themselves. This is commendable and necessary, but it is also a time which demands a great deal of wise understanding on the part of the parents. It also means that before this time arrives parents by word and example must have instilled into the character and habits of the child those principles which will act as stabilizing influences and which although they may swing away from them for a time, will help bring them back to an even keel. The parents who have been in the confidence of their children are the ones who, during this period of the struggle for independence, will be the ones who are given by the children access to their problems and thus opportunities to vide--not dictate--them.

It is at this age that many individuals begin to feel that their parents have been dominating them and that they are somewhat old fashion and behind the times. It is told of Mark Twain that when he was entering this period that he was surprised at how dumb his daddy was, but that within a few years he was amazed at how much his dad had learned. In other words, he had passed through the period in which he felt that his parent was somewhat behind the times, and later had entered into the one where he recognized how little he knew and that after all his dad knew a great many things. The adolescent is also passing through a period in which restraint becomes more and more irksome and seems less and less reasonable. For that reason they often rebel against the authority of the parents. "If parents are wise enough to sense the need for reasonable readjustment of authority at this period, serious consequences are averted." They must recognize that more and more the child must stand on his own, and that they must give assistance that will help him in doing so, not that will hinder and arouse his resentment.

"The next line of defenses which are attacked are those of religious authority. For religion is a real regulative power in the life of a child. Here, however, open revolt does not accomplish the desired object. For one's own conscience is such a large factor in the problem that some other tactics must be adopted. It is for this reason that the subtle strategy of psychological camouflage is employed. While the problem is distinctly psychological, yet the intellectual difficulties which the progress of modern science and Biblical criticism have created, furnish a most convenient excuse for rejecting the authority of religion. If to the assertion: 'I do not think everything wrong you and father do,' is added: 'I do not believe everything you and father do,' the childhood defenses of home and Church are shattered. And the external authority which might have suppressed the growing individuality of the child is forced to allow this new personality to become a cooperator in making and exercising voluntary control.

"Up to this point, however, the young are only feigning intellectual unbelief. Genuine intellectual difficulties which strike deep down to the very roots of their religious faith are still unknown. Their real problems are moral and spiritual, and they know this perfectly well all the while they are trying to camouflage this fact by throwing up a barrage of intellectual difficulties between them and their elders. Genuine intellectual difficulties are rare among uneducated adolescents. They do not develop sufficient interest in the intellectual probems involved to make that phase of the problem of any vital importance. This is the reason they enjoy shocking their elders with their new ideas and denials. As soon as the religious worker understands this truth, it is a simple matter to dig down and find out the psychological trouble which is masquerading in the garb of intellectual unbelief. Little serious attention need be paid to the religious doubts and denials of this group of adolescents. For theirs is really pseudo-unbelief or rationalization." Wyckoff, of course, does not mean that one should not point out to them the peculiar fallacies which underline the criticisms of religion which they have heard elsewhere and pass on to the adult. But he means that one should recognize that there are problems of adjustment beneath this brazen exterior; problems which need wise, patient attention; and which must be looked for beyond the bare statements of the young person.

This stage of unbelief, however, can develop into something very serious if the child is constantly exposed to an atmosphere which is anti-Christian and which endeavors to drill into the student intellectual reasons for unbelief. In many colleges this takes place. The child is no longer under the influence of the home which gives attention to his religious life, but is placed in an atmosphere where even when religion is not opposed, in various subtle ways, at least it is not encouraged and opportunities for spiritual growth are neither required nor made available in the general environment that is maintained by the college itself. The professors occupy high positions of authority in the minds of the students and they may hang on every word as a "thus saith the Lord." The material that is presented in class lectures may be presented with an anti-Christian bias, for the biases of such teachers will come out in their lectures as well as in the material which they require the student to read--the textbook and other assigned readings. The student has to study these things, for he must meet material on tests which are taken out of these readings. And thus while the spiritual life is receiving little or no attention, or food, the anti-spiritual is receiving a great deal of attention and food; and what we feed ourselves intellectually we think on; and as a man thinketh in his heart so is he.

The material presented to students, who are passing through this period of reaction against restraint, may be such as to state definitely that the facts are against religion; when in reality all that is against it is not the facts, but the devilish, blind, bias, of some unfair college professor who makes ex cathedra statements in such a way as to mislead the student. For example: "When Professor Leuba sums up the theological situation in these words 'Theism having become logically impossible and pantheism being practically insufficient, where shall we look for a religion of the future?' he is serving up the unripe fruits of scholarship to his students. When such statements as the above are heard in the class room or read in his book on A Psychological Study of Religion (see page 321), the impression is given that to the informed, theism has 'become logically impossible' as a tenet of reason and faith. But what right has a college professor to inculcate that idea in the mind of the student? The verdict of scholarship and science has not yet been rendered in favor of atheism. And it is farther from favouring that theory than it was at the beginning of the century. A statement such as Professor Leuba makes above, might be justified in the company of his colleagues and peers, who are in position to weigh its evidence, and defend their religious beliefs; but immature adolescents have no defense against such generalizations." Especially when the student is in an unsettled and impressionable age, and when the platform of the professor is surrounded with all the "halo" for him that once surrounded the pulpit of the preacher when the student was younger. Men of the type who do such things are far worse enemies to the welfare of humanity, to its social and moral progress, than gangsters. People as a whole know that the gangster is wrong, but the professor of the above type is supposed to represent scholarship, and an unbiased attitude. Furthermore, the attitude of the relativity of morality which some of these professors inculcate justifies in reality, although they may deny it, the moral code of the gangster. Proof of this state went will be advanced in the book, to be published by the author the Lord willing, on Christianity's Challenge to Pragmatism and in The Faith and Fruits of Atheism.

In order further to elaborate and illustrate the point under consideration Wyckoff put in this way: "Doubt is the natural intellectual hunger of the healthy-minded adolescent. (He is beginning to think for himself and thus to question some of the things which he has been told in times past, J. D. B.) The interrogation point is the hand that beckons the hungry mind to the banqueting hall where modern thinking has spread a most bountiful and appetizing feast of good things. It is not to be wondered at if the hungry mind of the modern adolescent prefers these new, freshly prepared viands of the present, to the cold, or warmed-over left-overs of the intellectual feasts of our fathers. All this they may be allowed to enjoy, without having their doubts nourished into positive unbelief. It is only when abnormally stimulated by certain intellectual ideas that adolescent doubt develops into positive unbelief. For psychology has clearly proven that this same adolescent period is the period of conversion. Doubt is a peculiar mental, chemical solvent that has the power to soften beliefs and ideas so that they are capable of being remoulded. When in this plastic condition it is not a difficult task to remould such beliefs and ideas into useful beliefs, or into unbelief. And the college professor, who has the adolescent under his teaching in the classroom for several hours a day for five days a week, with the demands of examinations and tests thrown in, has the very best opportunity in the world to remould the beliefs doubt has softened, according to his will. And no preacher or religious teacher or parent, having only an occasional touch with the adolescent and no regular intellectual authority over attention, can compete against such an advantage. The Roman Catholic Church realizes that this is too precious an opportunity to take any chances on, so it turns its adolescents over to its trained religious teachers. It would be well if Protestants began to realize why unbelief is becoming epidemic among college students."

These considerations lead us to the next question: How can faith be kept in college? Of course, the principles which enable one to keep faith in college will enable him to keep faith elsewhere. Since, however, so many of the probems of faith and the causes of unbelief operate during the college days the problem is being considered with special reference to keeping faith in college.

II. KEEPING FAITH IN COLLEGE

"I wonder now an intelligent man like you can believe the Bible," remarked a well known Professor, who had shown me many kindness, just after my Ph. D. dissection had been accepted by my committee. This turned my attention again to the fact that although some people lose faith in the time of their University life, my faith had grown stronger. Why was it so? Why did some lose faith in college, and how was it possible to keep faith during graduate as well as undergraduate years. Of course, I had had a favorable start for my undergraduate work had been done in Harding College where the Bible is adhered to as God's inspired word. Christians should attend such schools for at least part of their college work. This gives one a good start. For several years, however, I had done graduate work in secular schools and in some cases I had had professors who were not only unbelievers but who also made efforts, in one way or another, to shake the faith of believing students. This, I am glad to say, was not the case with the Professor who asked the question which introduced this paragraph. Let us now consider some reasons why some lose faith in college and why others experience a growth of faith under the same type of school influence, but who in reality live in a different environment.

III. LOSING FAITH VS. KEEPING FAITH

Environment, not argument. Many times persons experience a loss of faith not because of the arguments which are brought against faith, but because one eats and breathes, so to speak, in a secular atmosphere. The spiritual man is just as much in need of spiritual food and exercise as the physical man is in need of food and exercise. One can become unhealthy through receiving false teaching concerning health and being thus lead into dissipation. He may be convinced by arguments that certain practices are not harmful when in reality they are very harmful. On the other hand, he may not be convinced by the arguments and yet he may lose his health because he fails to eat proper food, negects physical exercise, and does not take the proper steps to guard against disease. Just so, the arguments of an unbeliever may not be very powerful, but if a believer neglects spiritual food and exercise, the spiritual man becomes weaker and weaker and may finally show no signs of life.

Another factor in the environment is that the pressing duties of college work may be permitted to crowd out Bible study, prayer, and Christian association. As a man thinketh in his heart so is he. And if a man studies only secular subjects and fills his head and heart with these things only, he thinks only upon these things, and thus he does not become spiritual. He ceases to pray, and prayer is essential to the life of the soul. He neglects the assembly of the saints and thus misses the spiritual benefits of Christian fellowship and worship. He runs with a worldly group and thus is influenced by their outlook on life. If a person expects to stay alive spiritually, he must do at least the following: First, he must study the Bible. He can find time for this even if he has to take some time from his other studies. Set aside some time each day for Bible study and let nothing keep you from such study. You will have to put it in your daily schedule, or you will not "find" time for it. One must feed on the word of God. He cannot live by bread alone, and to try to do so is to invite disaster. Second, he must work for Christ. Do not regard your college life as a vacation from Christian duties. Think of how you can serve Christ in college. Contact others of like mind and arrange for a meeting at least once during the week. Colleges will often let you have a room for such purposes. Some of the group may take part in the leadership of the class, and outside speakers may also be invited in to help you deal with your problems. Arrange some time to visit the sick and to help the needy. Without actual practice of the principles of Christianity, they tend to become merely verbal statements of doctrines which bear no living relationship to life. Because they are merely verbal, they do not have the ring of reality; they are vague and lifeless, and thus one finally gives them up because they seem unreal. If, on the other hand, one had actually practiced these principles, he would have experienced the fact that they are alive; that they have the ring of reality; and thus they would have become a part of him, and he would not have lost faith in them. Third, attend church services, including Bible classes, Sunday morning and Sunday night. Also, Wednesday night, or whatever night they have their midweek service. Plan to do this every week, and then attend whatever other gatherings of Christians you have an opportunity to attend. But above all, do not neglect the above services. Worship and Christian fellowship are absolutely essential to a continuation of spiritual life, and you neglect them at the peril of your soul. Do not attend a college where you will be entirely cut off from Christian fellowship. If there is no congregation in the town where you attend college, advertise in the paper for contacts with other members, and start a congregation. If you are unable to do this, attend the nearest congregation, or go elsewhere to college. In fact, find out about the church before you go and look up brethren as soon as you get there. Don't put it off; delay may result in a drift into apostasy. Fourth, make prayer a part of your life. Pray not only at stated intervals, but whenever you feel the need for it; even while walking across the campus one may breathe a prayer to God; or when faced with difficulties in the class room. Any time is prayer time. Fifth, associate with Christian boys and girls in college. It is not always possible to find them, and when you cannot find them in the same college with you, at least seek out spiritually minded boys and girls with whom to associate.

Some people lose faith in college because they go to college with the wrong purpose in mind. They want to become educated in order to make a name for themselves or to enable them to make a lot of money for selfish purposes. Such people, of course, will negect the spiritual things in life and follow after those things which will bring selfish advancement. Because they have the wrong motive, they are headed in the wrong direction, in, the way which leads to spiritual impoverishment and death. It is right to want an education. But the question is: For what purpose do you want it? An educated person can serve God and humanity. An uneducated one can too, for that matter. The more one knows, however, and the more one can do, and the larger may be one's opportunities for service; if one is willing to dedicate what he is and has to God and the service and salvation of mankind. Some uneducated persons, in so far as the world views education, may in reality be far better educated spiritually, and with reference to service and the true meaning of life, than some who have attained high honors in secular education. One is not uneducated if he knows God and His will, although he may not have a degree from a secular institution. A person who is educated in heart and spirit will also want to take advantage of whatever opportunities he can make to be educated along other lines. And he should do so with the purpose of becoming an even better instrument in the hand of God. What is your purpose in seeking an education?

There are some who do not lose faith in college, but who find out while in college that they never had much faith. They simply had a second-hand faith. They were brought up in a religious environment, but they never really became religious. They were imitators, with reference to the spiritual life, rather than participators. They went through the forms of Christianity because others were going through these forms. They never made a personal decision for Christ. They never walked by faith, but by imitation. They copied, but they did not capture spiritual life. Therefore, when they went into a secular environment, they discovered that they did not have any spiritual foundations. They then began to imitate those around them in colleges as they had once imitated those who were around them when they were in a religious atmosphere. A person must not only have facts and forms; but he must also have faith.

There are some who stand in such awe of their college professors that they take their word, without any other evidence or support, as the truth, regardless of what they may say. I do not discourage respect for one's teachers or for true scholarship. And yet, the teacher is just a human being, a fallible one, regardless of how many degrees he may possess. He is subject to the same prejudices to which others are subjected. He may be a famous scientist, but he may not have an open mind. I know of one professor who wanted to flunk a student, who was in a history class, because the student disagreed with the professor on the theory of organic evolution. A professor is not a god, he is just a man, therefore do not accept his word as infallible. He may be very well versed in his field, but in spite of his scholarly attainments, one must remember at least two things. First, his scholarship in one field does not make him an authority in another field. He may know a great deal about bugs and nothing about bugles. And yet, because he is an expert "Bug-ologist" a student may think that he is an authority in religion. He may have never read the Bible or anything that is favorable to it. He may not be as much of an authority on the Bible as a five year old child in a religious home. Therefore, one should not "let" his authority as a "bug-ologist" transfer to religion and make him an authority there. He may have a "halo" and authority when talking about bugs, but "horns" and prejudice when talking about religion. Second, there is a difference between facts which the professor may know and the interpretations which he places on them. The facts are one thing and his theory, with which he attempts to unify and explain the facts, is another thing. Thus though he may be an authority with reference to the facts, he is not necessarily one with reference to the theories. There are some professors who will tell you when they have left the realm of facts and when they have started with their theories. There are others who will not do so. Perhaps, they do not know themselves. Perhaps, they never thought about it. But as a student, you will find it necessary to distinguish between the facts and the interpretations. You may accept his facts, without accepting his theories.

There are some who cannot stand up in the face of ridicule. In a secular institution on the west coast one professor carried on a dialogue in which he represented the believer as saying that he was afraid to study biology least it wreck his faith. The believer was thus placed in a ridiculous position. The writer has seen students laughed at when they made some statement which indicated their faith in God or the Bible. Some are unwilling to stand ridicule and thus they abandon their faith.

Some have been frightened out of their weak faith by the belligerent cocksureness of some unbelievers. Some college students are overawed by unbelieving professors. These may talk and act as if Christianity is so blatantly false, that only a fool would believe it. It is assumed that although once it was possible to believe that now it is impossible. The impression is left on the mind of some timid believers that never before has the Bible been attacked; and that since unbelievers are so certain that at last it has been overthrown perhaps the Bible will be unable to survive the attack.

It should be clearly recognized that the Bible has been under attack long before our generation. In fact it has always been attack by some person, even when it was being spoken--before being written--by God's prophets of old. The central theme of the Bible, Jesus Christ, was under attack in His lifetime and they placed Him on the cross, but they did not do away with Him. Just so with His word, it has been under attack but after each fierce encounter it shines brighter than before. In order that young people might recognize that unbelievers have assured the world in centuries past that the Bible was now demolished, the following quotations are presented. The first is from the pen of Joseph Butler and was written in 1736. "It is come, I know not how, to be taken for granted, by many persons, that Christianity is not so much as a subject inquiry; but that it is, now at length, discovered to be fictitious. And accordingly they treat it, as if, in the present age, this was an agreed point among people of discernment; and nothing remained, but to set it up as a principal subject of mirth and ridicule, as it were by way of reprisals, for its having so long interrupted the pleasures of the world. On the contrary, thus much, at least, will be here found, not taken for granted, but proved, that any reasonable man, who will thoroughly consider the matter, may be as much assured, as he is of his own being, that it is not, however, so clear a case, that there is nothing in it. There is, I think, strong evidence of its truth; but it is certain no one can, upon principles of reason, be satisfied of the contrary. And the practical consequence to be drawn from this, is not attended to, by everyone who is concerned in it."

"Burnet tells that about the year 1700 it became a common topic to treat all mysteries in religion as the contrivance of priests, and 'priestcraft' came into fashion as a term of derision. Dean Swift, in 1708, dwells upon the rapidity with which freethinking ideas had spread from the upper classes to the body of the people. It was commonly held, he said that the system of the Gospel had become antiquated and exploded, after the fate of other systems, the common folks having grown ashamed of it, as their betters had done before. Still later, in 1754, it was publicly suggested that the churches should be turned into freethinking meetinghouses, and a new liturgy compiled, opposite to our present one, and that instead of lessons being taken from the Bible, they should consist of extracts from the works of the Deists."

H. A. Taine, in The Ancient Regime wrote as follows concerning 18th century France. "A little while ago some one put this question to one of the most respectable curates in Paris: Do you think that the bishops who insist so strenuously on religion have much of it themselves? The worthy pastor replied, after a moment's hestitation: 'There may be four or five among them who still believe.' " Some of that generation predicted that the Bible would soon be only a museum piece, but today it is still the world's best seller. The Bible wears out its critics instead of being worn out by them.

"Last eve I passed beside a blacksmith's door And heard the anvil ring the vesper chime; When looking it, I saw upon the floor, Old hammers worn with beating years of time.

`How many anvils have you had,' said I, "To wear and batter all these hammers so?"

'Just one,' said he; then said with twinkling eye, "The anvil wears the hammers out you know.'

And so, I thought, the anvil of God's word For ages skeptic's blows have beat upon;

Yet, though the noise of falling blows was heard The anvil unharmed--the hammers gone!"

--Anonymous

And so we say to the timid believer, be not afraid of the noise made by some unbelievers. The Bible has stood the test of time and of every form of attack and its voice will be heard long after that of the unbeliever has been silenced.