Last year may well have been the year of the “Quiet Revival”, led apparently by young people, and particularly more young men going to church for the first time, but a decade or more of “woke” indoctrination is not so easily brushed aside.
A study conducted by Youthscape has suggested that many teenagers see well known biblical stories and people as “problematic”. Jesus is guilty of “mansplaining” and of being a man, and the “power dynamics” between God and man supposedly leave a lot to be desired, which in turn leads to questions around consent.
The study was a joint effort by the Scripture Union and the Bible Society, with funding from the Sir Halley Stewart Trust. A group of 40 teenagers were asked to read passages of scripture and to give their reactions.
One girl who read the book of Jonah said that God appeared to be “really violent and aggressive” and that the relationship between God and man was “built on fear”, leading to “concerns about consent and abuses of power”.
One boy said that there was an “unequal power dynamic” in the meeting between Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well. Jesus, the boy said, appeared to be “mansplaining”.
According to the report, many young people see Jesus not as a liberator from slavery to sin, but as the one who brings judgement.
“Jesus is not the liberator from judgement, he’s the subject of it. He is a troubling figure. Arrogant, powerful, religiously motivated and male,” was one comment.
At the core of the issue appears to be the modern liberal belief that each individual is, or should be, completely autonomous and subject to no external authority. Truth, right and wrong is all just a matter of perspective or even personal choice.
The report suggests against expecting young people to unquestioningly take biblical stories to heart in the same way that older generations may have, but also said their “unique perspectives” and legitimate questions could lead to God’s work being performed.
Bible teachers should be “allowing space for genuine encounter, and trusting that listening well might change us too”.
“When we resist bringing the ‘right’ answers we trust the Spirit to show us something new. Because it’s not what we know that young people need, it’s who we know and He is pursuing them already,” the report said.
