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My
first car was a 1966 Dodge Dart. It was the most misnamed car in
automotive history. It should have been named the Dodge Sloth.
However,
it was my teenage ticket to freedom, and I was grateful. As soon as I
could, I applied for my driver’s license. All my friends did the same.
That was then; this is now.
The surprising reasons teenagers are driving so much less
In 1983, nearly half of sixteen-year-olds had a driver’s license; in 2017, only a quarter did.
What explains this phenomenon?
Teenagers
can call for an Uber or Lyft to shuttle them around. Social media and
video chat allow them to spend time with friends without actually
leaving the house. Then, when they reach their twenties, many are moving
to large cities with mass transit, where owning a car is neither
essential nor practical.
In
addition, American automakers are jettisoning many of their
lower-priced compact and subcompact cars in favor of sport-utility
vehicles and trucks with much bigger profit margins. And schools are
either not offering drivers’ education or charging as much as a thousand
dollars per course.
“A critical shift in American culture”
Before
today, if you had asked me to explain why young people are putting off
driving, I wouldn’t have thought of Instagram, SUVs, and robo-taxis.
The
news often surprises us as technology advances, medical science
evolves, global issues become local, and people act in unpredictable
ways. However, there’s another factor at work today as well, one with
enormous relevance for Christians.
The word empathy
was coined in 1908 and promoted aggressively after World War II in
response to the nuclear age. The idea was that we need to understand the
other side before we annihilate each other.
Civil
rights activists began advancing the value as well, hoping people with
power and privilege would learn to comprehend the realities of people
with neither. As Rosin notes, “An evolved person was an empathetic
person, choosing understanding over fear.”
Then, more than a decade ago, things began to change.
Researchers
note that by 2009, young people on average measured 40 percent less
empathetic than their parents. The argument was that standing up to the
other side is essential for progress. We should empathize with the
victims, not their enemies. We should take sides, and strongly.
Empathy
today is mistaken for accepting and even justifying the other point of
view. In a day when we’re less worried about Russian missiles than
social media support, empathy is a sign of weakness, not strength.
“I have become all things to all people”
Christians can see this lack of empathy everywhere we look.
Many
LGBTQ activists see evangelicals as homophobic bigots; many
evangelicals see LGBTQ activists as immoral threats to our religious
liberty. Pro-life supporters are branded as “anti-women”; pro-choice
supporters are branded as “baby killers.” The more vociferously we
defend our position and assail the other side, the better.
Is this biblical?
Jesus
met an immoral Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well and began not with her
personal failings but with a request for water (John 4). Paul spoke to
Greek philosophers in Athens and began not with Scripture but with the
writings of Greek philosophers (Acts 17).
The
apostle testified, “I have become all things to all people, that by all
means I might save some” (1 Corinthians 9:22). He never compromised his
biblical beliefs, but he found ways to connect with felt needs to meet
spiritual needs.
When
we relate God’s word to the needs of those we influence, we can know
that the Spirit will work in ways we cannot (cf. Isaiah 55:11). The
measure of success is not their immediate response: Paul reasoned with
Felix for two years without apparent result (Acts 24:26–27).
But we can know that with God, success is measured by obedience.
“Where I found truth, there I found my God”
The
next time you encounter someone whose views are opposed to your own,
pray for the empathy to understand their perspective. Then ask the
Spirit to help you respond in ways that build bridges rather than
burning them, leading the person closer to the truth that will set them
free (John 8:31–32).
Augustine testified, “Where I found truth, there I found my God, who is the truth itself.”
May those we know say the same, to the glory of God.
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