A Faith falling family
Q: I’m in a dilemma and am in need of wisdom. My family is straying further and further from Christ. Growing up it was instilled in me. My parents both became entrepreneurs and kind of left my two younger sisters to fend for themselves. One is super liberal and claims to be agnostic. One goes to a Christian school and knows little about her faith, which baffles me. My dad is “deconstructing” church hurt, and my mother was never a very spiritual woman. I’m left to fend for myself in my early twenty’s with my husband, when I thought this would be the time me and my father bond the most over our faith.
I’m getting more into the things of God and they aren’t so there are a lot of conflict in views, I’m trying to set boundaries while trying to figure out how to lovingly show them themselves because they are still my brothers and sisters in Christ, and I’m worried about my sisters. Any advice on how to go about it?
A: It appears your parents either have a belief in God or are saved & strayed because they put a career over their faith (money became their god, or they mistakenly neglected God to try to build up a business to support and bless the family, but neglected their primary duty to love God first, Christ as Savior and train up children in the faith. It is sounding also like they never grew in the faith, and when troubles come and situations arise they have no solid foundation and are carried away by Satan/lies that draw them away from God because they lack knowledge of Scripture and maturity of faith.
As for your father & mother I would encourage you to share the Gospel with your mom and pray that she comes to faith. If she checks your fb page, leave faq there that you believe will answer her objections even if she hasnt voiced any. For your father share a reforming vs deconstructing resource and a church matters resource which provides reality of believers who sin still and false converts and false teachers being in the church today so we just have to work around that. It is also possible your father is a false convert so ask about his conversion testimony to probe a bit.
As for your siblings,
For the liberal agnostic, I have a FAQ resource for skeptics and a resource on feminism and women in faith that can help de-brainwash her. She might not be open to truths in it, but pray God opens her heart, eyes and mind. If not now, eventually. š
For the one in school, if she has a faith in God, has a belief of sorts in Jesus, then both the youth resource and growing believers resource would be great to share with her. If you are able to, maybe (?) plan a weekly get together with her, perhaps take her for pastry and coffee, to discuss what she went over from the material "that week" and let her ask you questions also. And be a helpful non judgmental, & loving sibling to help guide her in the faith. Even if she rejects stuff along the way, if you stay open to letting her share thoughts with you at least shes going thru it with you, plus, 1. She's engaged with it and 2. Would see she can bounce questions and conundrums off you in the future.
And for you I hope the youth resource, marriage, and growing believers resource will help too. It really is full of fantastic cant miss resources.
Prayers also for you as you navigate life as possibly the only believer in your home.
The church you go to also matters, because if the pastor does not have a high view of Scripture, and doesnt hold to a biblical worldview (63% dont!) Then the congregation is being fed lies by possibly an unsaved preacher teaching doctrines of demons that sounds biblical but is far from it. If you want to examine your church and possibly search for another one, the info is also below.
The Gospel
Youth faith helps (see college age)
Believers Resources *
Married Resources (scroll)
Church search
Obeying or Honoring Parents as you age
Helps as you minister to family:
What a testimony should look like
FAQ Skeptics Answers
Feminism facts
Womens Answers
Bonus: Identity Crisis generation
Theres a lot of great resources and advice in the Believers Resources portal so def bookmark that and use it. But also bookmark this page so you can go thru the other links as well.
