This is not a fun headline to type for an article. I can’t imagine the hurt. But it drew the most interest from Monday’s post this week and deserves a feature to spur some additional thinking.
Here’s the article: It’s Campolo’s reaction to his son Bart becoming a humanist.
After you’ve read the article, here are a couple additional thoughts.
1. Christianity is not about being drawn to people. It’s about being drawn to God.
I suspect many young people like Bart are drawn to Christianity because of community. It is the job of those doing ministry to be sure that we are confronting people with God. The real truth that faith in Jesus is not the desire to be accepted, but that we recognize the truth, put our faith in Jesus, and repent of our sins (Mark 1:15).
Some part of this process was never fully a part of Bart’s understanding of Christianity. True repentance will bring about growing faith. That’s what God does in our lives.
2. Encouraging teens to know older people can’t hurt.
Of course there is no fireproof method of preventing circumstances like these, but knowing people outside one’s age range in Christianity will increase the perspective younger people get. Older people have lived through a lot of difficulty and can show a very balanced approach over time.
3. The most disturbing quote:
“I passed just about every stage of heresy on my way to apostasy,” Bart said. “It wasn’t until I exhausted every option for staying a Christian that I gave it up.”
There is never anything wrong with asking questions. I wouldn’t lay the blame for Bart’s “departure” from Christianity at any one person’s feet, but asking difficult questions about how young people are processing Jesus should never cause us to fear that person may not like us anymore.
Instead, I think it’s a challenge to be involved, proactively, in the development and growth of young people showing interest or making commitments to Jesus.
Think. What causes people like Bart to “turn away” from being a Christian?
Act. Ask tough questions, influence the lives of young people for the truth of Jesus. Be sure to help people understand what salvation really means.