Originally Posted by Miilou Suede

I think the reason iHe is there because as limited beings we need someone above us to guide us. When you were a child, did your mother and father help you grow emotionally? They assisted in revealing bits of the world in a helpful fashion careful balancing between two extremes:

1. They could not give you too much, too fast as to not have reality scare you.
2. They could not give you too little, too slow in that you would be too sheltered and unprepared for the challenges ahead.

And once you turned that magical age where you set out on your own, your parents were gone. While you may have had the option to call them, or whoever, for advice.. there may have been no one to watch over you to help guide you into ultimately understanding life.

I think God is that guide, who does not "free" us at a certain age, but is ALWAYS helping us grow. When kids enter college, a lot of them lose their faith. I do not enjoy attributing this to the generalized "extreme liberal bias" in higher education or the more logical "nobody enforces Sunday school attendance anymore." I think it's because kids may think, "I am independent and complete. I am my own guide now and need no watcher to help me grow." I do not intend to falsely put the argument in your own mouth that you already believe you are complete in your development, but I do ask this:

1. Do you believe as a limited being, that you can grow and learn until the day you die simply by making the right choices on your own?

2. Do you agree that an outside source (be it some old man scribbling down in a journal during antiquity or any friend/parent/contact who's already gone through your own troubles) is necessary to give advice?

3. Do you believe that, assuming fallibility, they will not be able to heal the deepest concerns of your heart and you'd have to settle for a big gaping hole in your life?