Perhaps the greatest error we can make is to not know the scriptures or the power of God. Jesus seems to think so when he rebukes the Sadducees. “Jesus replied, ‘Your mistake is that you do not know Scriptures, and you don’t know the power of God’” (Mk 12:24). Think about that. Where could we end up and what could we believe if we did not know the scriptures or the power of God? If you don’t know what’s true, you could be convinced of anything. Whoever has the louder voice or more convincing argument for the moment wins. I met people during my college years in one of America’s largest cities that believed some very interesting things. One 17 year-old told me that God is really just a force that is in every living thing. We are all connected and going to become one again eventually. One girl thought Jesus was one of many gods in existence. Still another believed that we all live in an endless cycle of life, death, and rebirth.
Some of these ideas might seem far-fetched. However, I can think of girls from CIA this past year in little Franklin County PA who spoke about reincarnation. I think middle schoolers especially need to know the scriptures and the power of God. They are at that age when they can ask hard questions and begin to understand complex ideas but cannot easily defend against the wrong ones. We saw kids this year come into CIA knowing nothing about the scriptures or the power of God. It was all so new to them and they didn’t even know what questions to ask about God or the Bible. That’s why it’s so amazing that by the end of the year I saw students ask questions like, “How do I know I’m saved?”, “How do I know God hears me when I pray?”, and “What happened to the people who rejected Jesus?” That’s the impact of a year at CIA: boys and girls are led from falsehood to truth, through true knowledge of God and His Word. I’m looking forward to a strong start next year in CIA, and am reminded that students need truth, because who knows where they might end up and what they might believe without it.
