“BOMBARDED” with Garrett Bosworth

Bombarded. That one simple word just about sums up a teenager’s life. That word holds the weight of a generation struggling to fight battles that seemingly can’t be won. In a world in which people actively try to snuff out Christianity, adolescents fall victim to the lies of the Devil. That is why it is essential to speak truth and life into the lives of younger people. They’re bombarded by the schemes and lies of the evil one, but the spoken word of truth casts out evil.

Truth is essential, but it can be easily confused. The lines between truth and falsehood have been blurred, tangled, and stretched to fit an individual’s agenda. Often, we believe we can bend truth and mold it into what is best for us. That is our main problem as a society today. We believe in self-made “truths” and teenagers especially are captivated by these “truths” we make up for ourselves. That’s why apologetics is so important; it speaks real, God-given truth to the lies of Satan. Truth molds us, not the other way around. Truth is meant to shape us and give us clarity. Truth shines light into the darkness and exposes the lies of the Devil. Jesus says in John 14:6, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” He says I am the truth. Believing in Jesus is believing in the truth because Jesus is truth. Everything he preached, spoke, and did is the truth.

There are two distinct kinds of truth: subjective truth and objective truth. Subjective truth is a truth that is dependent upon one’s thoughts about it. For example, Greg Koukl popularized the idea of simplifying subjective truth into flavors of ice cream. My favorite kind of ice cream is vanilla bean. That truth is subjective to me. It’s not true for everyone, but it’s true for me. However, society takes objective truth, and tries to twist it into subjective truth. I don’t know how many times I’ve heard, “God may exist for you, but He doesn’t for me.” God’s existence isn’t dependent on our beliefs, He exists regardless of our beliefs. There are two simple kinds of questions that upon asking, determine whether a truth is objective or subjective: a question of clarity, and a question of evidence. Using the same example, if I say, “The best flavor of ice cream is vanilla bean,” a question of clarity could be, “who specifically thinks that?” Once a subject is established, then ask a question of evidence like, “What evidence do you have to prove that?” If the subject is an individual or a select group of people, and the evidence is confused and based on personal preference, then it’s subjective.

Objective truth is straight-forward and direct, with solid evidence not just based on personal preference. That’s what we get confused. We’re beginning to believe that everything pertains to us, that the world revolves around us, our beliefs, and our will. However, the truth is, it doesn’t. We are called to be examples in a broken world, to treat people like Jesus did. Jesus didn’t point things to him, even though he is God manifested in human flesh. He pointed everything to God, his Father. He came as a servant king, to serve and love the people in this broken world. Even in the Garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus pleaded with God to spare his life, he prayed, “Father, if it’s possible, let this cup be taken away from me. But let your will be done rather than mine.” He knew he was going to die for the sins of the world. He knew the suffering he was about to endure, and he was in anguish, but he knew the truth. He had to endure those things because it was God’s will. He is the Savior of the world. It was the truth. Independent of what we think about an objective truth, it’s still a truth. We can’t twist truth to fit our own beliefs.

This is why apologetics is so important. Taking truth and proving that it is in fact truth is crucial for younger generations. We as younger people have grown up in the information age. If something is to hold credibility in our lives, it needs to be backed up by irrefutable, quantifiable evidence. Even if something is backed up by a false truth, it will still take root in an adolescent’s life. The question of identity is one of the biggest bombardments I’ve seen recently in the lives of teenagers. Even something as simple as gender can be twisted and confused. Teenagers are creating their identities and looking for affirmation that what they’re creating is ok. Society says what’s ok for you must be ok for everyone. That’s why this generation needs Jesus the most.

Jesus addresses foundational truth in Matthew 7:24-27. He compares foundational truth to building houses. “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.” The sand in the story is an important detail. Sand is very unstable, unreliable, and has no substance. It falls away. The sand symbolizes the lies and false truths that we often try to build our lives upon. As soon as adversity comes, false truths, false idols, and everything we choose to build our lives on other than God, falls away. However, the rock is stable, reliable, and not only holds its form, but it also supports anything built on top of it. The rock Jesus talks about is the truth, God’s Word. God’s Word is stable, reliable, and perfect. When our lives are built upon the rock, we will not be shaken by the storms.

Bombarded. Such a simple word that encompasses a teenager’s life. We as a younger generation are attacked by so many things. It often feels like we’re suffocating under the weight life puts on us. It feels like we’re drowning beneath the waves of lies that are fed to us directly from the evil one. We feel hopeless, beat down, burnt out, overwhelmed, and bombarded, but the spoken word of truth gives us life. Romans 8:31 says, “What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?” This verse expresses the solution to bombardment. The Word of God is truth. Sharing truth shines light upon the lies and false truths of Satan, so that when the wind blows and the waves beat against us, we will be rooted in the foundational truth of God’s Word. Because truly, if God is for us, who can stand against us?