Leaving the Family of God Behind

Many of you have already heard of Anne Rice’s (author of Interview with the Vampire and other books) recent decision to leave Christianity. She said her leaving Christianity was all about leaving Christians and had nothing to do with leaving Christ. In her opinion, she is still a very devoted follower of Christ. Justin McRoberts (Christian singer/songwriter) wrote a great response to her on his blog and I invite you to check it out: http://www.justinmcroberts.com/blog/2010/07/open-letter-to-anne-rice/

Several years ago, while volunteering in my church youth group, the boy I was mentoring was going through many of the same things. He kept getting so upset with his fellow Christians, accusing them of apathy and of being unloving to others around them. We had many open discussions about what it meant to love everyone around us, non-Christians and Christians alike. The truth is, sometimes, Christ’s words to love our enemies come full circle when we find ourselves struggling to apply that command to our own brothers and sisters in Christ. It shouldn’t be like this, but too often it is.

So how have you dealt with this in your youth group? Have you ever had to struggle alongside a student who had “given up” on Christians, yet still claimed to love Christ? How did you deal with that? I’d love some feedback on this one.