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I grieve for this young man and, his parents. I’m sure they are baffled and heart-sick over what this young man has done.

But, there is always hope for him. If he ever really DID have a relationship with God, God the Holy Spirit will keep after him. Needling him in his spirit. C.S. Lewis speaks of the “Hound of Heaven” who never gives us up.

I have no idea what this young man’s background is, but since he is attending BC, I’m assuming his parents raised him in a Christian home, with a Christian upbringing, and regularly attended church.

My wife and I raised our children in the church, read the Bible with them, prayed with them, explained as best we could the Gospel to them, and, as they grew older, began to train them in preparation for the opposing non-Christian worldviews they were going to be facing in the secular world.

We did the best we could to live out our Christian faith at home and in our dealings with them. However, I would be a liar if I said we didn’t fail in that from time to time, but, I think that is probably true of most Christian parents.

Our kids have turned out well in that they do think for themselves, they have strong work ethics, and they are loving, caring, and generous people.

However, only our oldest stayed committed to his Christian faith. He is now married with two beautiful boys (don’t get me going on grandkids) and he and his Christian wife regularly attend worship at a strong conservative Christian church.

Our daughter and youngest son have both strayed from their once professed beliefs and faith. They are not hostile to God, but, like many young people I’ve worked with who were raised in the church, are quite “indifferent” to God and His kingdom. They seem to be of the mindset that God may exist, probably does exist, but He’s way, way, down on their priority list.

We are heartsick over this and pray continually that they will come back to Christ - that they will see their sin, their need for forgiveness, and His love for them. We thought they understood that, because we did teach them all those things.

But, at some point, your kids will start making decisions about what they believe FOR THEMSELVES. Unfortunately, it doesn’t always come out matching our Christian faith. I wish I could make my faith theirs, but I can’t. My wife and I gave them the truths of the Gospel, we tried to live that Gospel out in our own lives as best we could, but THEY have to receive it on their own. We pray that they will.

I pray that this young man will do the same.

I think ministers (pastors and priests) must include in their preaching and teaching, solid Christian apologetics to address some of the issues this young man brought up.

I was raised in a time when the Bible was generally respected and believed to be God’s Word. That is was trustworthy in spiritual matters as well as in historical matters.

We all know that has not been the case in our nation for several decades. Many people sitting in church may never vocalize some of their questions or doubts because they don’t want to be thought of as being ignorant, or a “problem”, or disrespectful, or whatever.

The point is, many Christians do not know how to gracefully, accurately, and boldly stand for their faith. Many Christians probably harbor “doubts” or questions about God that need answering in their own hearts. Once these things are addressed in their own lives, then I think they will be able to follow Peter’s command for “always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect” (1 Peter 3:15).