I invited my 90-year old neighbour to a Men’s Breakfast at church. His reply was that he wasn’t a religious person and that the only times he went to church was for weddings or funerals. I told him that this wasn’t “church”, but that it was rather just a get-together of men over breakfast – although I admitted that the guest speaker would probably have some “religious” things to say. My neighbour came with me. Later in the car on the way home he expressed his appreciation for the event. What he told me next surprised me. He said, “You know, John, I can still recite the Lord’s Prayer, the Apostle’s Creed and the Ten Commandments.” He saw the surprised expression on my face so he added, “Yes, they were drummed into me by my Scripture Class teacher, way back in Primary School.”
It would be interesting to know how many 90-year old, non-church goers in Australia today could recite the Lord’s Prayer, the Apostle’s Creed and the Ten Commandments. Not too many I suspect. And as for people younger than 90…?
My son-in-law had an interesting experience some years ago. He was waiting at a McDonalds to pick up my grandchildren from the school bus. He was a little early so he had decided to wait at Mackers and over a coffee do some research for his next Sunday’s sermon. On his tablet he read a news item about a survey that had found that the average Aussie knew only one or two of the Ten Commandments. He thought he might test that out. At the table next to him were a couple of Mums, also waiting to pick up children from the bus. He asked whether he could trouble them with a question. When he got their consent he asked if either of them knew the Ten Commandments. They didn’t, but one Mum said, “Ask my daughter when she hops off the bus; she’ll know, she goes to a Catholic School. Well, my son-in-law did ask her but all he got was a blank look.
I would suggest to you that there is in our society in general an abysmal ignorance about Christianity. Imagine doing a survey down the main street: “Excuse me sir, would you be able to recite the Apostle’s Creed for me?” The response would most likely be, “The ‘what’ creed?” Even many church-goers would have trouble quoting the Ten Commandments.
The pity of it is that much of this ignorance about Christianity is deliberate. Let me explain. On one occasion I moved to another church. I went to the local primary school and offered my services to teach Scripture Classes. The headmaster said to me that the school didn’t have Scripture classes and that if he had his way they would never have them in the future either. When I asked him why he felt that way he replied, “I don’t want to see our kids brainwashed with religion. It should be a case of when they get old enough they can make up their own minds about those things.” I pointed out to him that that his theory sounded good but that it didn’t make sense. How can you encourage a child to make up its own mind about religion when you withhold from that child the information that is needed to make that decision? You cannot make good decisions based on ignorance. Sadly, many people today would share the views of that headmaster.
In the Bible the prophet Hosea lamented, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge…!” Biblical religion is not just a feeling that you can turn on or off. If Christianity were just a feeling or an emotion then you could expect children to make up their own minds when they grow up without giving them the necessary information. The reality is that Biblical faith is based on facts of history, especially the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. To withhold from the children of this generation those important truths is to condemn them to having to make up their minds without giving them the information they need to do so. We are not helping Aussie kids by keeping them ignorant.
It would be wonderful if some of today’s kids could, just like my neighbour, recite the Creed, the Lord’s Prayer and the Ten Commandments when they turn 90.
John Westendorp