Fact: Three out of four teenage Christians leave the Church when they leave the house. Bombarded by a world that can so easily promise everything that they feel their religion cannot provide, majority shares of the teenage generation rush to stake their claim to temporary satisfaction. And the nature of a quiet God who by free will facilitates the redemption of humanity will never overwhelm the screams of the secular world, one which all but guarantees its ruin.
Fact: God comes in the quiet. The world isn’t quiet. You can stumble accidentally upon everything the world has to offer, but God the Father wants those who find Him to do so intentionally. Temporary pleasure can be incidentally located, but the divine is found upon the dismissal of the interim, and a vehement pursuit of the living water.
Fact: We hate true love at our own risk. The number of individuals who understand the Church and still hate it is vastly outdone by the number of individuals who with a false understanding of the Magisterium hate their own incorrect perception. The Church was established to enhance the connection between the Redeemer and His redeemed. It bolsters an ocean of love, and is intended to extend with loving arms forgiveness, redemption and acceptance.
Fact: Our Church is entering a period of unprecedented resistance. It must answer issues not only to the satisfaction of those in the Church, but sometimes more importantly, to the satisfaction of the watching world. And claiming that a religious institution’s answers to global issues will somehow satisfy a secular populace is akin to claiming that a circle and a square are one and the same.
Fact: It’s past time to not care. The Church cannot play this game scared. Fear alone can render stagnant a Christian otherwise passionately dedicated to the salvation of humanity. And as of now, fear is nailing its job interview. The message we share can purify a man’s heart to its core, and we’re scared that we’re going to step on some toes in the process. Jesus wore sandals for thirty-three years of His earthy life; the amount of toes he incidentally stepped on must have been astronomically high. If you step on toes, you make a difference. If you’re hated, you’re conveying a message of worth.
Fact: The definition of not caring is dying naked on a Roman cross. As the manifestation of love itself, Christ let the whole world know where He stood, so much so that He hung there. Here we are terrified to defend with our words someone whose actions clearly necessitate our reverence.
Fact: We are a generation more brash than any other, more forward than the one before us. Ours is a GoPro generation, unparalleled in risking it all. We are the generation perfectly suited to change the perception of the Church by the outside world. Open your mouths. Speak the Gospel. Fall. Get up. Speak the Gospel. Fall harder. Get up harder.
Fact: My will or thy will.
