Something I have learned in leadership, even parent related…when someone is of age and they have the will to choose, they get to own that. It is simply our responsibility as leaders or as parents to do all we know to do, to teach, to guide, to demonstrate, and even at times advise them to do or not to do something. Just like you can provide food for someone, you cannot make them eat it. So when, yes when, a child or someone in the church chooses to do something that does not necessarily reflect the church teachings or the leadership’s guidance, it is not, let me repeat this, it is not the fault or lacking of the parent or church. We as a people need to start recognizing that everyone is on the level they are on and is not comparable to another. Quit judging other’s actions as evidence of failure or acts of leadership or parents not providing the resources necessary for them to succeed…or in the case of judgment, perfection. Funny, anyone judging will likely agree they are not perfect, but then you see the judgment they possess as a standard of perfection and they’re quite harsh on those who are not.
Luke 9:23 KJV – “23 And he said to [them] all, If any [man] will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.”
John 8:4, 7-9 KJV – “4 They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act. … 7 So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. 8 And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground. 9 And they which heard [it], being convicted by [their own] conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, [even] unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.”
Philippians 2:12 KJV – “12 Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.”