No moment in the life of a parent is more awesome than when a child leaves home for the first time and as you watch them walk away, you wonder: "Have I prepared this one adequately for all he or she will face?" Because none of us complete the parenting task perfectly, it is not unusual that sooner or later those same children come back and ask: "Why did you not tell me thus and so? I never heard a word about that growing up — why did you not warn me?"

This happens to ministers, as well as parents, in relation to religious and moral questions. I remember a bright, young college freshman in Texas coming to see me during the Christmas break and wanting to know about the Second Coming of Christ. She had grown up in our church where the subject of eschatology was rarely mentioned, but that fal…