William Wilberforce

"When religion is handed down among us by hereditary succession, it is not surprising to find youth of sense and spirit beginning to question the truth of the system in which they were brought up. And it is not surprising to see them abandon a position that they are unable to defend. Knowing Christianity chiefly by its difficulties and the impossibilities falsely imputed to it, they fall perhaps into the company of unbelievers..."

This quote came from A Complete Thought dated 7/18/07, a blog I read on a regular basis. It was originally quoted from an article written in American Vision Biblical Worldview magazine (Vol 23, #4, April 2007).

This quote makes me think of my children, actually children in the church. Especially those going away to colleges (non-Christian colleges) . "When religion is handed down among us by hereditary succession, it is not surprising to find youth of sense and spirit beginning to question the truth of the system in which they were brought up." I see this more then I care to admit especially with those young people who are graduation from High School and beginning a new journey in their lives. Our relationship with God can never be by hereditary succession. It can never be something handed down to us from our parents like an old photo album. It must be real. If it is not real, we will not be able to stand.

I pray that my son and many of his friends as well have been developing their own relationships with the Lord these many years.This will enable them to stand up in the face of the many challenges they will face in their colleges and their day to day lives. It is our responsibility as parents to teach them what they need wile they are young and throughout their lives under our roof. I pray that we have done that.