“The Atheist Delusion” series proving to be good beginning course in training youth to defend Christianity

Our churches have become training grounds for our youth, and if some aren’t yet, they need to be. 

Imagine the world we are sending our youth into. It is one that is full of palpable sin and hostility towards those who love Christ—and it is getting worse every day. No longer can we afford to simply teach the Bible to our youth and pray they will remain in Christ the first time their faith is questioned or when someone presents a counterattack on their faith that they don’t know how to answer. This lack of preparation is sending our kids into battle without a suit of armor or a weapon and many of them are falling away from their faith because of it. It is time we stop just entertaining our youth with cook-outs, swimming and movie parties and we start training them. 

Training was my goal this year as I entered into my seventh year of teaching Sunday school at my church. My desire was to teach the older youth­—and honestly myself—the tools needed to give a defense for Christ and to really know the evidence for our faith and be able to present it.

I set out to find a curriculum that would not only give the youth a solid foundation for defending Christianity, but was easily understandable for 13 to 18-year-old youth. This has proven to be a little challenging. 

Much of what I found were apologetics courses that had a very scientific focus, which would have been okay if the youth were college-aged. The first one I explored was “Cold Case Christianity” by J. Warner Wallace. Wallace is a former homicide detective and gives very detailed instructions about how to evaluate evidence and to investigate facts. I felt the book got too caught up in the process of seeking out evidence to the point where the youth would have not connected with the training as it was too technical. 

The second curriculum I looked into was called was called “Does God Exist? Building the Scientific Case.” The material was produced by Focus on the Family’s The Truth Project. Again, the material was good, but geared toward college-aged students who have an understanding in the scientific method and procedures. 

I continued to pray and trust God would bring a curriculum to my attention that would be appropriate for the age of the youth I was teaching, and He did. A friend at church gave me the DVD “The Atheist Delusion” by Living Waters Ministry. Some months earlier we had been talking about the DVD and God prompted her to give it to me just in my time of need. 

The DVD series has proven to be the perfect fit for the youth, and really for anyone who wants a simple, not too technical way to defend Christianity.

The DVD shows the experience of Ray Comfort, founder and CEO of Living Waters, as he talks with atheists on an American college campus. Comfort, by using logic and evidence, turns the thinking of each atheist he encounters to the reality of God. He then uses their conscience to present to them their sinful nature, their need for a Savior, and the introduces them to Jesus Christ. His approach is simple and powerful. 

My students loved the DVD, and so did I. We have found many tools to use. 

Living Waters also offered a four-part study series on the DVD, which we are going through now. The study series breaks the film down piece-by-piece and examines Comfort’s thinking and strategy at each point in his conversation with the college atheists. We are on part two of the series and it has spurred great conversations and thinking in our group. 

 As we progress, the group becomes stronger in defending their faith, I plan to move into the more technical art of apologetics and will probably eventually use some of the other courses I originally looked at. I am also continuing to search for other scripturally-based courses that are appropriate to train our youth  to be warriors for Christ. 

Have you had a similar experience with training youth? Do you have other curriculum ideas? Do you have other ideas in teaching our youth to be ambassadors for Jesus? I would love to hear from you. My email is nelivingtimes@outlook.com

For more information on the “Atheist Delusion”, log on to their website at www.atheistmovie.com. 

Living Waters ministry also has many other quality materials. Their website is www.livingwaters.com.

Nebraska Living Times

P.O. Box 751
Grant, NE 69140
308-352-8527