For nominal or devout Christians, Easter is the most significant holiday of the year. Some prepare by sacrificing food, electronics or soft drinks. These may sound trivial but they point to the energy we spend trying to honor the One who created the most miraculous event in human history. It is the event that turned the world upside down but one which many people – particularly millennials – struggle to believe.
For nominal or devout Christians, Easter is the most significant holiday of the year. Some prepare by sacrificing food, electronics or soft drinks. These may sound trivial but they point to the energy we spend trying to honor the One who created the most miraculous event in human history. It is the event that turned the world upside down but one which many people – particularly millennials – struggle to believe.
It’s easy to see why. We parents have taken our children to mass or church, telling them Bible stories and teaching them prayers, but have fallen short on impressing upon them the truth of Easter. We haven’t taught them apologetics and the historical evidence that Jesus was not just a good, smart guy – he was God. Instead, we have focused on communicating our personal experiences and for our children trying to choose or reject God, these aren’t enough. They want to know how we know that Easter really occurred.
We parents have taken our children to mass or church, telling them Bible stories and teaching them prayers, but have fallen short on impressing upon them the truth of Easter.
So, we must tell them. Hundreds of scholars have found evidence that Christ did indeed live and that He died by crucifixion. But then the serious questions come. Did he really rise from the dead and if so, what difference does that make? And if he rose from the dead, was God just showing the Jews that He could do miracles or was something else going on?
We Christians believe that God Himself was on the cross. Other faiths believe that Jesus was not God but a good prophet who taught humans many good life lessons. That’s the dividing issue for Christians, Jews, Muslims, and other Eastern religions. There is good biblical evidence that Jesus was, in fact, God – but that is a longer discussion. It is, however, one which every Christian parent must delve into because our children will need to know. That’s what millennials are telling us. If we can’t defend our faith, I don’t blame them for being skeptical or walking away. Faith centering on feelings is pretty superficial. We see that all around us. Many Christians (particularly evangelical) are quick to talk about Jesus, relay their personal transformation and hope others believe. The problem is that many of those same people walk away and act like jerks. That’s one more reason Millennials are skeptical. If we Christians really believe that Easter is the lynchpin of our faith, shouldn’t our behavior show it?
