Christian Education Awareness Network (CEANet)

Presents a Book:

Spiritual Junk Food

The Dumbing Down of Christian Youth

by Audrey McKeever and Cathy Mickels

ISBN 1-57921-169-0

Chapter One -- But I Don't Like Licorice!

. . . your faith should not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God.
-- 1 Cor. 2:5

Frustration mixed with disbelief overwhelmed us as two of our teenagers described the trust-walk activity done in their church youth group that evening. “You did what?” was our cry of alarm.

That very night many of the questionable books written by humanistic authors, which we had read in order to understand and then refute curricula being promoted in the public school, were once again pulled from our bookshelves. Two books popularized in the 60’s and 70’s that contained the trust walk were Carl Rogers on Encounter Groups and Teaching Human Beings: 101 Subversive Activities for the Classroom. Claiming the trust walk was a useful technique in encounter groups, humanists also confessed that blindfolded students led by others was an effective tool in eliciting emotional and feeling responses from students and helped them explore their need and ability to trust each other. However, instead of teaching students to trust the authority figures in their lives such as their parents, the church, and the Word of God, the trust walk subtly taught students the importance of trusting in their peers and “self”--the essence of humanism.

We discovered this exercise many years ago in a controversial drug education program discontinued by a local school district after a heated community debate. Needless to say, we were surprised to find it now being used with teens in our local church.

As a result, it immediately became an urgent matter for us to warn our own children and other parents about the dangers of participating in a trust-walk activity--or any other humanistic, psychological mind game with an established track record of undermining traditional values and the Christian faith. In fact, it took precedent over all of the other conservative political activities we were actively involved in at the time.

Almost simultaneously, a curriculum entitled The Gospel According to St. Bernard arrived on our church secretary’s desk. Because of our fifteen years of experience with public school curricula, the secretary, disturbed by the curriculum’s title, asked if we would preview the video series and accompanying material. Upon critiquing “Bernie’s gospel,” we found activities in which the children were to role-play the devil and tattle on their parents.

It was precisely because of those two personal experiences in our own churches that we were compelled to investigate what else was happening under the guise of Christian education.

Reshaping Values and Attitudes

We discovered that we did not have to look any further than our local Christian bookstore to find the latest fads for Christian youth. The amount of Christian youth curricula satuuated with the same activities that have been used for years in controversial, nonacademic, public school curricula was shocking. Many of you will probably recognize at least one of the following:

Those curricula are filled in one form or another with situational ethics; moral dilemmas; role-playing; open-ended, privacy-invading questions; self-esteem; and values clarification. Senior researcher at the Hoover Institution, Thomas Sowell, makes the following observation about such curricula:  

Over ten years ago, the extent of this national public school travesty was published in the book Child Abuse in the Classroom by Eagle Forum President and conservative leader Phyllis Schlafly. This eye-opening book contains the official transcripts from grieving parents who testified before the US Department of Education on what was being done in the name of education. From Seattle to Pittsburgh, parents told of how their children had been emotionally, morally, and intellectually abused by psychological and behavioral experiments during classroom hours, when parents thought their children were being taught basic knowledge and skills.

It was not only parents who noticed this radical change in the direction of education in America. In 1978, US Senator and former educator Samuel I. Hayakawa warned the Senate that our nation’s schools had become vehicles for a “heresy that rejects the idea of education as the acquisition of knowledge and skills, . . . [and instead] regards the fundamental task of education as therapy.”[2]

The result of this move away from the basics of education can be summed up by the words of an observant Washington State college professor, who, with remorse in his voice, said, “Today, students can all tell you how they feel, . . . but they can’t give you any facts.” Why? Because our schools have been busy educating the senses and emotions of the child instead of concentrating on his intellect. Likewise, Christian youth groups that find themselves moving away from the disciplined study of God’s Word will suffer the same fate.

We asked ourselves, Why would Christian leaders want to copy the ideas used in the public school to instruct Christian youth? Author and pastor John MacArthur Jr. has identified this overt dependency on worldly methods in his hard-hitting book Our Sufficiency in Christ. He warns that “authentic, Christ-centered, sound doctrine is being abandoned for popular market-driven concepts and methods.”[3] From all outward appearances, God’s Word is no longer considered sufficient to teach Christian youth about God!  

Spiritual Malpractice

If Jesus and his disciples walked the earth today, they would never encourage young children to role-play the devil. They also would not teach a biblical truth by simulating for children the excitement of sinning. Neither would they lead teens blindfolded into the woods to hug trees, nor instruct teens to feed each other licorice in order to experience the “sweetness” of Christ’s forgiveness. Yet those astounding nontraditional activities, along with their corresponding humanistic philosophies, have become the popular approach embraced by the leading publishers of contemporary Christian youth material.

In order to justify the use of those unconventional methods and activities, Youth Specialties (Zondervan) accuses the church of indoctrinating youth by trying to preach its point of view louder than the rest of the world. The stated alternative of Youth Specialties is to discourage teachers from being too preachy, by refraining themselves from correcting a student even “if what they say is opposed to the teachings of the Bible . . .” or, worse yet, even if “those comments . . . seem like heresy.”[4]

In defense of their nontraditional position, they say teenagers need to feel secure about what they are thinking “no matter how unpopular or ‘wild’ their ideas might be.” In other words, the message being given to teens is that there are no right or wrong answers. And unknown to parents, under the new rules of this classroom, Christian youth may be participating in activities that only add to the moral confusion that already exists.

Youth Specialties is running the danger of making skeptics out of our teens by telling them that “each of them should be questioning their belief in God independently of their parents’ faith.” Although writers for Youth Specialties defend that as the stretching of the students’ minds, it actually undermines the faith and authority of the parents. Teens are being encouraged to doubt and question biblical truth, which sounds similar to the eighteenth-century humanists, who believed that in order to arrive at truth one must question and doubt everything. How many parents use this stretching of the mind with their own children? To be sure, this is not what Christian parents would expect from a Christian publisher.

In contemporary youth curricula the teacher’s role is also changing. In the traditional Sunday school or Christian classroom, the teacher was the authority figure expected to teach and transmit biblical truth to the next generation. But just as in the public school, the teacher has a new title and job description. Teachers are now becoming facilitators who direct and encourage group discussion. According to Youth Specialties the teacher is to discourage the group from assuming he or she is the authority on the subject. Why? Because if the teacher is reduced to the same level as students, “They will pay more attention to what you have to say.”[5]  

The endorsement of humanistic learning theories by leading Christian publishers is also relegating the Bible to the back of the class. According to Group Publishing, Inc., reading the Word of God is not considered one of the more potent forms of learning. Instead, Group Publishing unabashedly claims that it is man’s personal experiences that will prove the most successful in teaching both adults and youth in the church. Hence, in their own words:  

The more potent forms of learning include personal experiences, contrived experiences, games, simulations, role-plays, . . . motion pictures, and television.[7] In other words, everything other than hearing and reading the Word of God is more potent! Thus, instead of depending on the sufficiency of Scripture “inspired by God and profitable for teaching” (2 Tim. 3:16 ), publishers are relying on the reasoning of man that places self in the driver’s seat. This lack of absolute confidence in the power of the Word of God causes one to wonder what role the Bible will play in the days ahead. Will the Bible eventually be completely disregarded as Christian publishers advance the idea that truth can be discovered in personal and/or contrived experiences? To the contrary, experience cannot be a litmus test for truth, because man’s experiences can lead to wrong conclusions. Biblical truth, on the other hand, is never wrong. 

Joseph and Mary—Soap Opera Stars? 

Curricula by Group and Zondervan’s Youth Specialties are not alone in straying from the use of traditionally sound teaching methods in the church. Gospel Light, another publisher of youth material, claims they “believe it’s a sin to bore a young person with the gospel.”8 So, in spite of their admission that most young people are biblically illiterate, they have resorted to presenting the gospel in “creative ways”--primarily unorthodox activities, including role-playing Matthew 1:18-25 as if it were happening on a daytime soap opera.[9] Teens are supposed to role-play, soap-opera style, Joseph receiving news that Mary, his wife-to-be, has already conceived a child.

Besides also depending on value clarification strategies, Gospel Light recommends illustrating an idea or theme by using a video clip from a movie, such as the Dead Poet’s Society or Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, which they say are “powerful ways to bring the Word of God into focus for this media-raised generation.”[10] But it is a far stretch of the imagination to think that after students have watched the final scene of Raiders of the Lost Ark they will see “what a lot of people think about when it comes to the end of the world.”[11] Or, likewise, to think a worthwhile discussion on the Book of Revelation will follow after viewing a Steven Spielberg video clip. Is not this publisher perverting the gospel and just giving back to Christian youth what the world has already given them? But, more importantly, for anyone to suggest the gospel is boring, and thus recommend it should share center stage with Hollywood productions, reveals a lack of belief in the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

As you seriously reflect on the humanistic philosophies and activities unfolding throughout the pages of this book, we ask you to prayerfully consider: Are these the philosophies and activities of a vibrant Spirit-led church, or are they the activities of a church that is losing its way?

More Moral Confusion 

Upon reading Trust Builders by Denny Rydberg, national president of Young Life, we were surprised to discover that the book draws from many of the same unusual activities developed and popularized by secular humanists. Although Rydberg asserts that all the activities in his book are intended to help youth leaders bring their members closer to one another and closer to God, the activities will do otherwise. For instance, as you read the following exercise, consider the emotional impact of placing Christian friends in a moral dilemma requiring them to choose from two negative, unacceptable choices. You and your best friend are abducted by terrorists. They tell you that one of you must die. You both get to decide who it will be--you or your friend. How will you and your friend decide what to do?[12]

To be sure, if an activity like this took place in a public school today, concerned parents would show up at their child’s school insisting that this activity has nothing to do with academic learning and that the school has no business playing mind games with their child. Likewise, Christians should ask why it is being used on our youth in the church?

Whadaya Want on Your Tombstone?

Humanist educators in the early seventies developed a values clarification strategy to help students see their lives more clearly from the perspective of their imagined deaths. In order to achieve that, teachers instructed students to write out their own obituaries as they would appear in the school newspaper that day, or “as they would like it to appear in the school or town newspaper if they were to die three years hence.” The humanists recognized the sensitivity of the subject matter and warned the teacher to “try not to generate a lot of anxiety about this exercise. . . . Give some comfort to the few students who will be very resistant.”[13]

One would never expect this controversial death-education activity to find its way into the church, but it has. However, the Christian version is worse! The activity found in a curriculum published by David C. Cook, yet another leading publisher of Christian youth material, takes Christian youth to the graveyard. The youth leader is instructed to “Insist on intense silence and have students dwell on one, solemn thought: When you’re dead, what do you want people to say about you? What do you want on your tombstone?”  

If they are not able to go to a cemetery, “bring the cemetery to the student” the exercise says, by cutting out individual tomb-stones, personalized with their own names. Instructions include dimming the lights in the room, and as the students enter, “encourage them to be quiet and reflective, and to ponder the question: What do you want your tombstone to say when you die?”

If the above emotional trauma is not enough, a variation is provided with an adult volunteer dressed in black, wearing a black hood, holding a hockey stick, silently pointing students to the graveyard where they can see their names on gravestones. The activity states that if the volunteer says anything at all it should be questions like: “What would they say at your eulogy if you died today?” and “Would you have any regrets if you died on the spot right now?”[14]

The authors of Whadaya Want on Your Tombstone? claim their series will challenge students to take their faith to the extreme and they should “Be prepared for an intense ride.” However, we warn youth pastors and parents, this is one intense ride you do not want your youth to take.  

Simulating Sinning

It is bad enough that contemporary youth curricula suggest taking youth to a graveyard to help them imagine their own death, or propose having youth decide whether it will be their friend or themselves who will live or die. But incredibly, Christian youth may actively take part in an exercise that simulates sinning! According to the lesson “Steal the Jewels” by Group, in order to teach children ages four through twelve avoidance of temptation, the teachers need to simulate for the children the excitement of temptation.

Youth are instructed to stand in a circle about ten feet across. After one child is chosen to be “It,” marbles representing jewels are placed in a bandanna at his feet. The object of the game is for the remaining children to steal the jewels from the child who is “It” without getting caught (touched and frozen). Hence, the act of stealing goes from a simulated temptation to a simulated sin. However, in real life, sinning is serious and should never be taken lightly. It should never be presented to young children as exciting--and we should not have them practice it to ensure they discover that excitement! Ask any parent with young children, “Does the flesh of your child need reinforcement in doing what comes naturally?”

Instructions to the Sunday school teacher state that some children may have trouble bringing themselves to steal the jewels. In other words, there may be children in the class who take seriously the commandment that states unequivocally, “Thou shalt not steal.” In an attempt to make such a child feel more comfortable about the simulated temptation, the teacher is instructed to “hint that they can all go for the bandanna at once.” Under this kind of group pressure, in spite of a child’s reluctance, he or she will more than likely go against the still, small voice telling him or her not to even entertain such ideas.

It should come as no surprise that the simulation is also followed by encounter group questions, like: “How did it feel to steal the jewels? How are those feelings like when you’re tempted to do something wrong that you know is wrong? How is playing this game like giving in to temptation?”[15] The directions for the teacher state that when “kids give ‘wrong’ answers, don’t correct them.”[16] In essence, they are suggesting the acceptance of error is permissible in the church!

Instead of Christian authors and publishers depending on active learning (learning through experiences) to help “students internalize the truth as it unfolds” or “discover the truth for themselves,” they need to get into the Word of God.[17] It is the Spirit of God and not the teaching methods of humanist educator John Dewey that will impact a child’s life for eternity. Further- more, the Christian response to sin and temptation could not be more clear than the very words of Jesus Himself on how we are to pray: “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil . . .” (Matt. 6:13 ). Keeping those words in mind, Christian parents need to protect their children from the spiritual confusion created by those who would use the simulation of sinning or the excitement of temptation as a teaching tool. 

Hug a Tree

In the Book of Romans the apostle Paul warns us about those who would exchange the truth of God for a lie by worshipping and serving the creature rather than the Creator (see Rom. 1:25 ). In other words, we are to worship God the Creator, not His creation. To do otherwise is to bring the seeds of pantheism into the church. Yet, in spite of this warning, Group is carelessly marketing a Sunday school curriculum that sounds more like material written for members of the radical environmental group Greenpeace than the children of Christian parents!

Claiming that Christian youth must learn to “think green,” they are introduced to a “green” activity to learn stewardship of God’s creation. With that objective, blindfolded children gather outside in the midst of trees to hug and feel them with their hands. Then, after everyone has had a chance to hug a tree, the teacher is instructed to proceed with touchy-feely questions, such as: “How did it feel to hug a tree? . . . How did you feel when you recognized the tree you hugged?” (emphasis added).[18] Suggesting to Christian youth that hugging a tree is going to bring about a positive human response is more than absurd and raises many questions about the kind of material being published by “Christian” publishing houses.

Consequently, to engage in the “green” activity will condition youth in the church to accept a philosophy that is at odds with biblical truth. The further we drift from truth, the more we are confronted with the foolishness of man. When unorthodox teachings are accepted and tolerated, we should not be surprised by the activities that are sure to follow. Conversely, a theologically sound understanding of stewardship must recognize the biblical parameter that nature is not sacred and that the worship of a single, all-powerful God transcends His creation--and excludes the hugging of trees.  

The Licorice Trick 

What does licorice have to do with teaching children how to be set free from our sins? According to Group, the following activity of tying licorice strips around children’s thumbs to represent sin is the new, contemporary way of imparting biblical truth to a fast-food generation stimulated by movies and video games. The untraditional licorice activity is based on Group’s stated philosophy

In other words, according to Group, to be traditional is to be outdated and no longer relevant for today’s Christian youth, particularly when dealing with a society of nonreaders. However, we should question developers of Christian youth material who suggest or even imply that memorization of the Word of God is ever outdated, threatening, or embarrassing.

In the licorice activity, the teacher is instructed to mention four sins we’ve all done, such as, “. . . when you didn’t tell the truth . . . when you were mean to someone . . . when you took something that wasn’t yours . . . when you didn’t obey your parents . . .” Each child should end up with four licorice strips tied in a knot around his or her thumbs. The children are told not to move their thumbs or break the licorice while the following questions are discussed: “How does it feel to be all tied up? What if you had to stay tied up like that all day? What do we need to do to be set free from our sins?”[21]

The teacher then tells the class that Jesus came to find lost people and save them, and that by accepting Jesus’ free gift of forgiveness they can be saved, too. Then, on the count of three, the children are told they can break out of their licorice ropes while the teacher leads kids in cheering. But before the class is allowed to eat any of their licorice, they must break off little pieces to feed each other. The question is asked, “How is feeding each other like giving and receiving forgiveness? The teacher concludes the activity by saying: “Jesus is loving and forgiving, and He wants us to be loving and forgiving, too. And remember; Forgiveness is sweet—just like licorice—so share it.”[22]

Dumbing down Scripture to suit what Group describes as an entertainment-learning culture serves to not only minimize the seriousness of sin and the biblical account of the forgiveness by a Holy God, but misses the mark entirely—particularly if, unknown to the teacher, one of the children happens to dislike licorice!  

The Foolishness of Man 

As evidenced by the preceding activities, publishers and developers of Christian youth material are accepting the same worldly philosophies and secular teaching methods being promoted by the radical contemporary gurus of public education. The president and founder of Group Publishing, Inc., Thom Schultz, states that the churches “can benefit from listening to the best thinkers in education today.”[23]

In fact, on the back cover of his book, Why Nobody Learns Much of Anything at Church: And How to Fix It, is the statement: “. . . we are all victims of an old approach to teaching and learning . . . programmed to repeat the mistakes of the past.” With plans to help “launch a new revolution” in the church, the book boasts of combining both Christian and so-called “cutting edge secular education models to help any church reinvent its approach to learning.” One cannot help but wonder how men and women of the past became people of God without these latest educational fads to assist them!

This controversial experimental philosophy of learning that supports the removal of textbooks from the public school classroom and de-emphasizes and even ridicules competition, traditional lecture-style teaching, and memorization has caused an uproar from parents crying out for a return to the basics. Many Christians, however, are unaware that leading contemporary Christian publishers and authors have also embraced these same radical educational theories and practices and are foisting them upon unsuspecting youth in the church. Just as these educational practices have backfired in our nation’s schools, we predict that using them in the church will produce the same disastrous results.

Christian parents must not underestimate the far-reaching impact of ideas as has been noted and expounded upon by the late Richard Weaver (1910–1963), author of the book Ideas Have Consequences (University of Chicago Press, 1948). To be sure, there will be consequences when major Christian publishers mass market across the nation books and curricula filled with secular philosophies and teaching methods. Therefore, be aware! Even though a youth group, etc., is not using any of the curricula or material we mention, nonetheless, the potential for their ideas and philosophies reaching into churches is enormous.

No human game or exercise can even come close to teaching youth the attributes of God. To attempt to teach the sacred with the use of humanistic mind games while embracing trends and fads that the world has been using for the past thirty years or more, is to dethrone our God and insult His Holy Being. One must ask, Why would a Christian teacher try to come up with a man-made gimmick as a teaching tool when we have the Bible inspired by God? Because secular humanists attempt to live independently of God, they have nothing else to rely on but the latest trends and techniques.

The church must guard with fervor against becoming reliant on worldly trends and theories under the assumption that they can impart biblical truth. Attempts to combine the secular and the sacred will result in a dumbed-down Christian unable to fully grasp or understand the power of God and His Word. All the wisdom of man is foolishness to God (see 1 Cor. 3:19 ). The previously mentioned gimmicks will not lead youth to a deeper relationship with Christ. To the contrary, youth leaders who participate in these worldly fads will be responsible for dumbing down the youth in the church and replacing a solid foundation in Christ with the foolishness of the world. In fact, lessons and activities that employ worldly methods and trends in an attempt to teach biblical truths are nothing more than spiritual junk food leading Christian youth toward spiritual malnutrition.

Endnotes

1.  Thomas Sowell, Inside American Education: The Decline, the Deception, the Dogmas (New York: The Free Press, 1993), 34.

2.  Child Abuse in the Classroom, Phyllis Schlafly, ed., excerpts from Official Transcripts of Proceedings before the US Department of Education (Westchester, IL: Crossway Books, 1985),13.

3.  John MacArthur Jr., Our Sufficiency in Christ (Dallas: Word Publishing, 1991), front cover.

4.  Youth Specialties, High School Talk Sheets: 50 Creative Discussions for High School Youth Groups (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1987), 9.

5.  Ibid.

6.  Thom and Joani Schultz, Why Nobody Learns Much of Anything at Church: And How to Fix It (Loveland, CO: Group Publishing, Inc., 1993), 111.

7.  Ibid.

8.  The Word on the New Testament: Youth Builders Group Bible Studies_, Jim Burns, ed. (Cincinnati, OH: Gospel Light, 1977), 12.

9.  Ibid, 65.

10.  Case Studies, Talk Sheets and Discussion Starters, Jim Burns, gen. ed. (Cincinnati, OH: Gospel Light, 1977), 103.

11.  The Word on the New Testament, 161.

12.  Denny Rydberg, Trust Builders: 71 Activities to Develop Community in Your Youth Group (Loveland, CO: Group Publishing, Inc., 1993), 78.

13.  Sidney B. Simon and others, Values Clarification: A Handbook of Practical Strategies for Teachers and Students (New York: Hart Publishing, 1972), 311-13.

14.  Rick Wesselhoff, Extreme: A Real, Live Look at the Forerunners (Colorado Springs, CO: David C. Cook Publishing, 1996), 6.

15.  Lois Keffer, Sunday School Specials: Quick and Easy Bible Lessons for Combined Ages (Loveland, CO: Group Publishing, Inc. 1992), 65-67.

16.  Ibid., 8.

17.  Ibid., 7; Case Studies, Talk Sheets and Discussion Starters, back cover.

18.  Lois Keffer, Sunday School Specials: Quick and Easy Bible Lessons for Combined Ages (Loveland, CO: Group Publishing, Inc. 1992), 93.

19. The Covenant Syndicate, The Deweese Report, (Herndon, VA: July 1998), 6. Used by permission.

20.  Angels Sent on Assignment video series (Loveland, CO: Group Publishing, Inc.), information labeled "Important: Read This," 3.

21.  Jesus: The Main Attraction (Loveland, CO: Group Publishing, Inc., 1997), 27.

22.  Why Nobody Learns Much of Anything at Church, 12.

© 1999, 2003 by Audrey McKeever & Cathy Mickels.  All rights reserved.  Used with permission.

 

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