TED Community » Nate Thiessen

More About Me

I'm passionate about

Youth! Youth issues in culture. Youth spirituality, and Self Awareness.

An idea worth spreading

It would benefit youth to be more involved in the church for these three reasons: 1. It challenges them to be more aware of who they are spiritually 2. The church teaches stronger morals than schools do and there are people who are more willing and adept to giving that wisdom to youth when parents, family, teachers are not 3. It takes a community to grow a child to become wise and self aware. Youth today are spending far to much time on their own, rejecting their parents and peers and filling their heads with nonsense from movies, video games and straight up MEDIA! Their communication skills between each other and with adults is lacking because they are not being shown what a loving, growing and wise community looks like. Youth are turning to porn, drugs, alcohol, stupid stunts and carelessness to fill the void that is within them caused by the lack of being poured into by elders who know where they stand in their faith who are wiling to walk along side and not oppress.

Talk to me about

Youth issues in society. Youth issues in the church

People don't know that I'm good at

Counselling and understanding the heart of an issue before sharing my advice and help.

My TED Story

I fell in love with the organization that promotes the sharing of wisdom and ideas and talents so that world history, culture and knowledge will not be lost and will be easier for people to access. I noticed that there are very few talks on Youth and I would love to be a part of that in TED future.

Comments

• TEDCred score: +0.50 TEDCred reflects your contribution to the TED community.

• +2

  A comment on Conversation: What's the meaning of life?

  Aug 26 2011: Love

• A reply on Conversation: Do you think Youth need to more spiritually aware for themselves? Why? And how do we do it?

  Aug 26 2011: Amily, looking back at your adolescence what do you wish you could have told yourself? What would you have liked to know to make yourself more self aware back then? or even Today?
  
  In a simple model from ages 6-12 are building up a cake of all the morals and teachings that their parents and other influential role models pour into them.
  Age 13-15: That cake is smashed and all that they once new lies on the floor in ruin ready to be inspected and challenged
  
  16-21: You put your cake back together but with your own modifications from challenging the old ideas, morals, ideologies and view points.
  
  21~death: These years are spent putting more on to the cake and hardening up your cake so that it can not be smashed again.
  
  that is why it is so important for youth support groups such as Big brother/Big Sister, Church Youth groups, Organized sports, to come up alongside them to help them to be better future leaders who will be more understanding of the world and its ways. Basically a simple formula against future abuse of drugs, alcohol, physical and emotional abuse.

• A reply on Conversation: Do you think Youth need to more spiritually aware for themselves? Why? And how do we do it?

  Aug 26 2011: Why do you say that the churches relationship with Sex is Unhealthy? Because they said DO NOT DO IT and left it at that? yes our elders failed to understand and relate to adolescent thoughts. but where they right when they said that sex should be saved for marriage? Contraception is not 100%. You can take all the persuasions but every time you enter into intercourse you are always taking a gamble. Yes the chance of conception is significantly decreased, but why risk the chance aside from the fact that it is fun and that you feel rebelious doing it when people have told you not to. How a person runs their sexual life is up to them. By all means if you want to have sex go for it. If it is with the same sex sure why not. I teach contraception along with the risks.
  
  A person can not control who they are attracted to. That is just how the brain works. it is stupid to tell a gay person that their interest in the same gender is wrong because that is just how their brain is wired. There is nothing that can be done to change that. Yes there are cases where the individual is sexually confused due to events in their life and that is what I would work with them on, seeking healing from those events. yes I would encourage them to seek love in the opposite gender because marriage and bringing new life to the world is a beautiful thing. But if they decide that they wish to be gay, then all love to them.
  
  Who am I to judge? I am just as screwed up as the next person. the least I can do is love others as I wish to be loved by them.
  
  What will you indoctrinate into your future children Matthieu? Will you teach them that all religion is wrong and that seeking out a "God" is stupid? Or will you allow them to explore for themselves? Will you tell them "NO" when they want to do something that you morally do not agree with because you have learned the pain of its backlash?

• A comment on Conversation: Do you think Youth need to more spiritually aware for themselves? Why? And how do we do it?

  Aug 25 2011: Watch the Demise of guys by Philip Zimbardo (link is above) now I am currently going to college for youth ministry and seeing the demise of guys is nothing shocking to me. What is shocking to me is the affect that being apart of a youth group (or even an organized sport) has on adolescent men and woman. Going to church on a sunday morning is a scary thing (been there, done that, slept well) but many church's offer a youth group during the week where jr. high and sr. highs can meet with their respected age groups and do games, hang out, spend time getting to know each other, and be poured into by older men and woman who want to help them along in their life. Yes youth pastors teach from the bible, however it is like a great resource to learn and understand challenge youth with different morals and what they believe. An effective youth pastor does not preach one opinion at them (ex. abortion is wrong(this is just an example of a one sided talk not my own view point posed for discussion))but rather engages youth in why it is unwise to have sex before you are married (risking pregnancy which will take you away from your studies, put a very large obstacle in your way of achieving your dreams and a child should be raised with a committed mother and father as it was intended). Youth always have the choice to take or leave whatever they are taught. But if youth do not have someone pouring wise advice into them and encouraging them to make more moral decisions, they are far more likely to drop out of school due to parties, pregnancy, lack of ambition and lack of self-belief. I asked a highschool student (grade 10 at the time) who was contemplating dropping out of school two years ago as to why he wanted to do so. After an in depth conversation he said this: "I would stay if someone believed in me, but I don't. My dads to busy, my mom doesnt care and my friends only want me at parties every night cause I am stupid entertainment." He is top of his class now after joining youth

• A reply on Conversation: If someone is a good person without believing in god only good choices. Does that make them better or worse in the eyes of god?

  Aug 24 2011: How then could we as humans have the opportunity to go and prove that we are good if God has already saved everyone in the world and made life just some easy walk in the park?
• +3

  A comment on Conversation: what according to you is an original idea?

  Aug 24 2011: An original idea is something that you act upon. Sure someone may have come up with it already, but you have the ability to add to that idea and make it more original. It is like building a lego structure: you put the main frame together (original thought, the core, the heart) then you continue to add more and more onto it until it is completed. But what is great about Lego is that you can continue to add on past the instruction manuel which means that everything that comes after what the instructions say is your own idea and your own way of making it original.

• A comment on Conversation: If someone is a good person without believing in god only good choices. Does that make them better or worse in the eyes of god?

  Aug 24 2011: Are you the best person who community organizations turn to and say "we want to model our organization after you!" Do you treat everyone equally? If a famous and respected person came over to your house today would you not pull out your finest wine and make your house look like a very presentable palace and give that person the best of everything? What about if a homeless person knocked on your door asking for food or money? Would you invite him in and treat him the same or even better then the famous and respected person? Or would you give him a little bit of food, $20 and send him on his way. Faith without works is dead, but works without faith is meaningless (summarization and interpretation from James 2 for those who read the Bible). I agree with Kent that religion has flaws, but I like to look at Christianity as a relationship. If you insult your wife then make dinner for her, she will still remember that you are not sorry for insulting her. Your actions might mean one thing but that verbal admitting that you did something wrong and honestly seek forgiveness from her as well as make her dinner, then she will forgive you. In faith it is the same. If you do even one bad thing it is like insulting God (sin) and you can go out and do a whole bunch of good works but if you do not admit that sin and ask for forgiveness you will still have it held against you. I believe in Heaven and Hell and that the works that we do here on earth determine how eternity will be played out. If you have faith in Jesus you go to heaven, you choose not to believe, well you have already answered that in your mind. But beyond that if you do good works on earth and have faith you will be storing up treasures in heaven. Matthew 6:19-24. I would type it out but if you are honestly wanting to look into it you would search it for yourself. I think good works are awesome and it makes the world a better place. But why not look into your own spiritual awareness and decide for yourself :)