Monthly Archives: October 2007

My job is in a high school. I try to teach seniors about God. I have been saying for a good deal of time that quite often, the reason so many young people “leave” the faith (Christian… uh.. evangelical-?ish??) in college is because it was not a real faith of their own to them to start with. This book I’m reading speaks to the point of this topic:

“I would suggest that in most cases he has not forsaken his faith. In reality, his faith was the faith of his parents; he simply lived within its limits while he was still at home. When he went away to school and those restraints were removed, his true heart was revealed. He had not internalized the faith. He had not entrusted himself to Christ in a life-transforming way. He did the “Christian” things he was required to do at home, but his actions did not flow from a heart of worship. In the college culture, he had nothing to anchor him, and the true thoughts and motives of his heart led him away from God. College was not the cause of his problem. It was simply the place where his true heart was revealed. The real problem was that faith never took root in his heart.” (Tripp, Instruments in the Redeemer’s Hands, p.64)

I have not heard this stated quite as succinctly as this. This is what I have observed and suspected for a long time but not read put quite this way. Herein is the answer to seek to reach hearts with the Gospel. Nothing new here, just affirmation of what we knew to be true. I just wish I could generate some conversation about this. Maybe I can get something started through Facebook with some twenty-somethings. I would love to hear the agreements and disagreements from people who are close to this topic and have been there recently.