I think what has not been realized, is how completely and permanently the internet democratized data. And we were caught off guard as a church by that. And still are playing catch up. Not realizing that our kids already have the data points. What they are struggling with now is how do you place those data points into a context that allows you to make an informed choice about your faith. And we have dropped the ball in providing that context.
You know because you are the epicenter of people coming to you saying I am having a faith crisis. They don't know how to deal with the data. Isn't that right? They are exposed to these inconvenient truths and they freak out. If we could give them the conceptual framework in which they can place those data points then they can make an informed choice. OK do I stay in the faith tradition or do I leave it but at least I'm not freaking out. I'm making a calm decision. And it's a decision that factors in reality. We have not provided that framework for them and that's the price that we're paying now.
People are making such massive life decisions based on their perception that the church is true. They're deciding who to marry, when to marry, what to study, how long to study, how many kids to have. And then If they stop believing, their marriage is in jeopardy, they're often ostracized by family and friends. If they're LGBT they may be killing themselves or throwing themselves into a life of sadness and misery because of how their family reacts to their coming out. So the stakes are just incredibly high, not to mention just all of the time and money people dedicate to an enterprise, when now we know that information was systematically withheld from them for decades so that they couldn't make an informed decision.
I think what has not been realized, is how completely and permanently the internet democratized data. And we were caught off guard as a church by that. And still are playing catch up. Not realizing that our kids already have the data points. What they are struggling with now is how do you place those data points into a context that allows you to make an informed choice about your faith. And we have dropped the ball in providing that context.