{"id":38296,"date":"2013-04-08T21:05:00","date_gmt":"2013-04-09T02:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=38296"},"modified":"2021-09-26T21:08:17","modified_gmt":"2021-09-27T02:08:17","slug":"how-can-i-defend-the-faith-as-a-christian-youth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-can-i-defend-the-faith-as-a-christian-youth\/","title":{"rendered":"How can I defend the faith as a Christian youth?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t<h2>Question:<\/h2>\n<p>Please assist me with this question: &#8220;How can I defend the faith as a Christian youth?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Thank you.<\/p>\n\t<h2>Answer:<\/h2>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;<em>Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity. Till I come, give attention to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine<\/em>&#8221; (I Timothy 4:12-13).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>In most ways, defending and teaching the truth does not change, no matter the age of the person involved. Truth remains truth, no matter who is teaching it. In youth, you have a great deal more energy in spreading the Word, while the old have a great deal more experience in knowing what direction works best in a given situation.<\/p>\n<p>When you run into an argument that you don&#8217;t know the answer to, it just means that here is an area you need to study more. Don&#8217;t expect to know all the answers. Except to be learning a lot. Find those who are older and wiser and ask how to better answer and then add that to your armament.<\/p>\n<p>Youth is a time to have fun but not a time to sin. &#8220;<em>Rejoice, O young man, in your youth, and let your heart cheer you in the days of your youth; walk in the ways of your heart, and in the sight of your eyes; but know that for all these God will bring you into judgment. Therefore remove sorrow from your heart, and put away evil from your flesh, for childhood and youth are vanity. Remember now your Creator in the days of your youth, before the difficult days come, and the years draw near when you say, &#8220;I have no pleasure in them&#8221; <\/em>&#8221; (Ecclesiastes 11:9-12:1).<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Question: Please assist me with this question: &#8220;How can I defend the faith as a Christian youth?&#8221; Thank you. Answer: &#8220;Let no one despise your youth, but be an example to the believers in word, in conduct, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity. Till I come, give attention to reading, to exhortation, to&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[451,395,309],"class_list":["post-38296","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-teaching","tag-teenagers","tag-youth"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":57527,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-evangelism-dying\/","url_meta":{"origin":38296,"position":0},"title":"Is Evangelism Dying?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 2, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"by Lloyd Gale In a recent column of the Christian Science Monitor, Michael Spencer wrote; \"We Evangelicals have failed to pass on to our young people an orthodox form of faith that can take root and survive the secular onslaught. Ironically, the billion dollars we have spent on our youth\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Article&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":39307,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-you-handle-inappropriate-talk-in-a-youth-bible-study\/","url_meta":{"origin":38296,"position":1},"title":"How do you handle inappropriate talk in a youth Bible study?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 14, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I just graduated from high school and started hanging out with my sister's friends who are the college-age people in our church. Most of them are on our youth staff. They meet together in what they call a Bible study, but we did not touch a Bible once. It\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":42150,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-you-be-a-christian-and-have-your-own-personality\/","url_meta":{"origin":38296,"position":2},"title":"Can you be a Christian and have your own personality?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 18, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello! I am a Christian with a big question. I know you probably hear that a lot, but still: Is being yourself a sin? I'm not talking about being gay, I'm straight. I'm talking, can I have true blue faith in God and still have my own personality and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":69287,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-a-non-christian-serve-in-worship\/","url_meta":{"origin":38296,"position":3},"title":"Can a non-Christian serve in worship?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 14, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have a great deal of respect for your website and the articles on it. However, I don't agree 100% with everything. I have worshipped in congregations that have and don't have a fellowship hall; neither bothers me. The congregation installed elders and deacons, which has caused some problems.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":49530,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/i-dont-think-i-have-sufficient-faith\/","url_meta":{"origin":38296,"position":4},"title":"I don&#8217;t think I have sufficient faith","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 27, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello Brother, I came across your website over a year ago and have found it to be sound and very helpful. I am a member of the body of Christ, the church of Christ. I am 21 years old and have been a Christian for many years and have\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":13287,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/can-you-suggest-how-a-new-christian-can-handle-hecklers\/","url_meta":{"origin":38296,"position":5},"title":"Can you suggest how a new Christian can handle hecklers?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 15, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: A friend of mine, who is a new believer, was asked a lot of questions regarding his beliefs by a few of our associates. Instead of being sincere questions, it seems to have been more of an attack on him. They asked questions such as \u201cWere you there when\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Answer&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38296","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38296"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38296\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38296"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38296"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38296"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}