"PEOPLE WITHOUT A PURPOSE - WHY YOUNG BRITS HAVE LOST HOPE" - by John Stonestreet and G. Shane Morris, Breakpoint.org, August 23, 2019; http://www.breakpoint.org/2019/08/breakpoint-people-without-purpose/ [AS I SEE IT: It's tempting for Christians in America to say, "Well, their youth are struggling. Too bad for them." But honestly, can we really say that today's Millennials and Gen-Z youth in America are not just as without purpose? What does it mean, for instance, that more and more of our youth see no reason to stand up for their country, to be willing to put their lives on the line to defend it? Can America's youth not be that far behind those of Britain? Is it not possible they too lack purpose more and more? Think about it. -Stan]
The secret to their endurance is really not a secret at all. The British in Churchill’s day were a people with a purpose. Churchill called what they faced a fight against tyranny, and the nation believed him. As C. S. Lewis observed in his wartime radio addresses, some of which later became part of his book “Mere Christianity,” the Nazis really were wrong, and the Allies really were right. Good and evil exist and can be known. That, Lewis observed, was a signpost to the meaning of life.
Britain has undergone quite a transformation since Churchill’s speech. Last week, the Sun reported on a new, nationwide survey that plied 1,500 Brits of all ages with a variety of questions about their attitudes and beliefs. Among the results: a stunning 89 percent of those aged 16 to 29 said their lives lack meaning and purpose. In other words, Nihilism is running rampant among Millennial and Gen-Z Brits. Just half of those aged 60 and over gave similarly hopeless answers, which is still not a great result but certainly better than 89 percent. The Sun suggests this means people find purpose in life as they age. Or, it could mean that Brits are steadily losing a sense of meaning and purpose with each generation.
Evidence for the latter interpretation comes from the answers participants gave to other questions: 84 percent of young people said they’re failing to “live their best life.” Nearly 40 percent also said they’d choose to re-do their lives if they could. And, what would they change if they could hit that “reset” button? Over half of Brits believe they were put on earth to be as happy as possible. Only 37 percent said their purpose is to make other people happy. Less than a third thought they exist to do as much good as possible.
I can’t help wondering how different the results would be if this survey had been conducted in the middle of World War II. Would the British have been similarly aimless and preoccupied with personal happiness and fulfillment? Would almost 90 percent of young people, who bore the brunt of the war, say their lives lacked meaning? I doubt it. I don’t think a British population that hopeless would have had the resolve to withstand the Nazi assault and help lead the Allies to victory.
So, what happened? How did the Brits, who out-lasted the Blitz, transform into people unsure of life’s very purpose? My colleague Shane Morris and I wrestled with this question on last week’s “BreakPoint This Week,” and we offered a number of related answers, all rooted in the power of ideas. [http://www.breakpoint.org/2019/08/bp-this-week-a-crisis-of-purpose-and-meaning/]
When Churchill made those thundering moral pronouncements on behalf of his nation, he didn’t conduct a poll to find out who thought the Nazis were wrong or worth fighting. He didn’t ask each citizen to define their “best life.” And he certainly didn’t elevate individual happiness to the top of his wartime priorities.
But in a world where meaning is up to us, where life supposedly means whatever we say it does, it ultimately comes to mean nothing. A culture that abandons any fixed reference point and instead tells its young people that truth, purpose, meaning, and morality are purely subjective, will only, in the end, rob them of any truth, purpose, meaning, or morality worth fighting for.
Churchill rallied his nation to a “righteous cause.” That sort of call requires vertical thinking, a people who embrace a transcendent sense of meaning. And what the world saw were the storms a people like that could weather. Today, Britain and so much of the Western world is discovering that a people without a transcendent sense of meaning can’t even weather peacetime.
[italics and colored emphasis mine]
RESOURCES
"MILLENNIAL MELANCHOLY Nine in ten young Brits believe their life lacks purpose, according to shocking new study" - The Sun August 1, 2019; https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/9637619/young-brits-life-lacks-purpose/
"BP This Week: A Crisis of Purpose and Meaning" - John Stonestreet BreakPoint August 16, 2019;http://www.breakpoint.org/2019/08/bp-this-week-a-crisis-of-purpose-and-meaning/
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PRAYER MATTERS:
"To clasp the hands in prayer is the beginning of an uprising against the disorder of the world. - Karl Barth
"Prayer is inviting God into a seemingly impossible situation and trusting/resting in His love and grace to accomplish His perfect will in His perfect time and for His greatest glory. Intercession is one of the great privileges AND responsibilities for EVERY believer."- Stan
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Praying Through the Open Doors World Watch List for persecuted believers:https://www.opendoorsusa.org/take-action/pray/monthly-prayer-calendar/
Monthly Focus | INDIA - For the first time, India entered the top 10 on the 2019 World Watch List. Research indicates that in 2018, more than 12,000 attacks on Christians were reported (many go unreported). This month, we invite you to pray with us for our Indian brothers and sisters.
August 25 | EAST AFRICA - Farah* is one of the few Somalis who has made the life-threatening choice to follow Jesus. He has lost the tribal community Somalis normally enjoy. Pray specifi cally for the Christian community in the Horn of Africa..
*Names changed to protect identities
Monthly Focus | INDIA - For the first time, India entered the top 10 on the 2019 World Watch List. Research indicates that in 2018, more than 12,000 attacks on Christians were reported (many go unreported). This month, we invite you to pray with us for our Indian brothers and sisters.
August 25 | EAST AFRICA - Farah* is one of the few Somalis who has made the life-threatening choice to follow Jesus. He has lost the tribal community Somalis normally enjoy. Pray specifi cally for the Christian community in the Horn of Africa..
*Names changed to protect identities
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