18 year old son turned his back to God
Hello everyone!
It has been a "rough" year for us. My oldest just graduated from High School. He has held a great GPA and was a National Honor Society member. Like most kids he struggled with "Senioritis" this last year and decided that grades were not important. I watched an A/B student bring home C's, D's and even an 'F'. He managed to pull through with enough to graduate. He had a teacher that did not care for, so turned in very poor work. In several conversations with him, I tried to convince him that grades WERE important. And the only one "paying" for his poor work was him. Turning in bad work to aggrevate the teacher accomplishes nothing - it just hurts him. I also told him that there will be many people that he works with in the future that he will not care for. However, we must learn to work with them/for them. None of this ever seemed to get through to him. So, finally I tried to approach it on a higher level . . .
My son has been involved with our church youth, led worship in the church orchestra and over the years has reached out to others and brought them to church. He also witnessed to several Mormons. In more recent years, his school work and activities have kept him busy enough that he quit going to youth group, but he continued in the church orchestra. I had noticed that his passion for God wasn't what it used to be. Anyway, in another conversation about school performance, I tried appealing to him on a higher level - thinking that he would realize that his poor performance did not glorify God. After discussions on GPA and working well with others, I said "I have one other question. Do you consider yourself a follower of Christ?" He stopped what he was doing, looked me in the eye and said "no, I don't".
He hasn't been one to stay out late at night, nor has he changed into some "monster". He is not partying or had any major girl trouble. I don't know what changed and I don't know how I should approach him. He's getting ready to leave the nest for college, so I feel like I will have no influence on him at all! He has been interested in philosophy and still has an interest. I've wondered if that had an influence on his faith.
I know the #1 thing I can do is pray - and I have been. We have "trained up our child", so I am leaning on God's promise that he will return to Him, but it is so hard to let your child go when he is not properly grounded in God! Has anyone else been through this with their teenager? What would you recommend? I'm afraid to say too much, because I don't want to push him away further. Any advice would be welcome.
Hello everyone!
It has been a "rough" year for us. My oldest just graduated from High School. He has held a great GPA and was a National Honor Society member. Like most kids he struggled with "Senioritis" this last year and decided that grades were not important. I watched an A/B student bring home C's, D's and even an 'F'. He managed to pull through with enough to graduate. He had a teacher that did not care for, so turned in very poor work. In several conversations with him, I tried to convince him that grades WERE important. And the only one "paying" for his poor work was him. Turning in bad work to aggrevate the teacher accomplishes nothing - it just hurts him. I also told him that there will be many people that he works with in the future that he will not care for. However, we must learn to work with them/for them. None of this ever seemed to get through to him. So, finally I tried to approach it on a higher level . . .
My son has been involved with our church youth, led worship in the church orchestra and over the years has reached out to others and brought them to church. He also witnessed to several Mormons. In more recent years, his school work and activities have kept him busy enough that he quit going to youth group, but he continued in the church orchestra. I had noticed that his passion for God wasn't what it used to be. Anyway, in another conversation about school performance, I tried appealing to him on a higher level - thinking that he would realize that his poor performance did not glorify God. After discussions on GPA and working well with others, I said "I have one other question. Do you consider yourself a follower of Christ?" He stopped what he was doing, looked me in the eye and said "no, I don't".
He hasn't been one to stay out late at night, nor has he changed into some "monster". He is not partying or had any major girl trouble. I don't know what changed and I don't know how I should approach him. He's getting ready to leave the nest for college, so I feel like I will have no influence on him at all! He has been interested in philosophy and still has an interest. I've wondered if that had an influence on his faith.
I know the #1 thing I can do is pray - and I have been. We have "trained up our child", so I am leaning on God's promise that he will return to Him, but it is so hard to let your child go when he is not properly grounded in God! Has anyone else been through this with their teenager? What would you recommend? I'm afraid to say too much, because I don't want to push him away further. Any advice would be welcome.