 The lead singer of Hawk Nelson recently said he doesn't believe in God anymore. Here's why. Hey guys, what's up? My name is Isaac David and this is The Daily Disciple where I help you follow Jesus daily. Before we get into today's video, I just want to give a huge shout out to my patrons on Patreon. Patreon is a way that people can support me and this channel, my ministry, and help it going and growing. And so I thank you if you're on Patreon, support me on a monthly basis. And if you'd like to help support me and help me do this full time because that is my dream and my passion, please head on over to patreon.com slash daily underscore disciple link in description. Let's get on to the video. So John Steingard, lead singer of the famous band Hawk Nelson recently said, hey, I don't believe in God anymore or at least I don't believe in the God of Christianity. This kind of put shock waves through Christian media because Hawk Nelson for a long time was the most poppin' band, you know? If you look back, I mean, my siblings were totally into Hawk Nelson, me a little bit less, I was a little bit younger, but in the early 2000s or 2008, 2009, 2010, it was like, whew, Hawk Nelson is putting out all the bangers and all the Christian teen kids. You put like Hawk Nelson is there for sure. We had like Super Chick and, you know, and then earlier on it was like DZ Talk and then it was like Newsboys, but they were in this realm of like, hey, they're putting out like cool music, but they're also Christians. And so that was like so attractive and, you know, putting out like letters to the president or Sadie Hawkins dance or just, you know, these really popular songs that I think hold up to this day. What my little brother told me and he's a little bit more of a historian on Hawk Nelson, I haven't been into their music a lot, but he told me about, you know, their lead singer, Joshua Dunn, who stepped away from the band and ultimately this guy, John Steingard, he stepped up to take the place as the lead singer. Their Christian, their music became that much more Christian. So before it was maybe, you know, putting out fun, relevant music for teens and they were also Christian, but now it was Christian forward. And so that kind of, you know, it sets up the story of this guy, John Steingard, who brought a little bit more of a vocally Christian, you know, outlook on the band. And now he's the guy that is now like, hey, I don't believe in the God of Christianity in him. I wouldn't normally just talk about, you know, every single person that leaves Christianity, but in his Instagram post, it really struck me at the honesty that he had, you know, even that we've talked about a couple of different people in like Rhett and Link leaving Christianity or in Joshua Harris of I Kissed, Dating Goodbye, leaving Christianity. And so I just thought, you know what, for us, for Christians watching this and if you're a non-Christian, maybe you can get a sense of just the honesty of where this man was at and maybe learn from it and see how God and how, you see how we interact with our questions about God and our doubts and how that really just plays into our faith. And so I just want to read a little bit from John Steingard's Instagram here, his post. Yeah, I encourage you to read it. It's just an interesting outlook on his perspective, but this is what he says here. Why does God seem so pissed off in most of the Old Testament and then all of a sudden he's a loving father in the New Testament? Why does he say not to kill, but then instructs Israel to turn around and kill men and women and children to take the Promised Land? Why does God let Job suffer horrible things and to just win a bet with Satan? Why does he tell Abraham to kill his son, more killing again and then basically say just kidding? That was a test. Why did Jesus have to die for our sins, more killing again? If God can do anything, can he forgive without someone dying? I mean, my parents taught me to forgive people. Nobody dies in that scenario. So just like blatant honesty and if we're each honest with ourselves, if you're a Christian watching this, maybe you've asked yourself some of these questions too and maybe you've searched the scriptures for some answers and John talks about the fact that he did look in the scriptures, but he came up empty. He was unmoved by church and by worship and he said he didn't enjoy reading his Bible and so this progression just seemed natural where what he had grown up believing, he grew up in a Christian household, it kind of faded away and his questions went unanswered, so why stay? And look, I don't wanna take this video and it'll be way too long of a video if I were to go into each of his questions and kind of dig in there and answer his questions there. I'm not saying I could do it perfectly anyway, but when I see his heart there, I just have great empathy for him and I think maybe this is the overwhelming narrative of this video is seeing somebody that is struggling, that is trying to find answers to these questions that seem to be tapping into the very fundamental issues of their soul and they're coming up empty and so you are just left there, you're like, hey, but this is the truth, but this is the truth and stay in the family and stay with us here, but he's straight away and so for us looking at him and maybe you've had somebody in your family or a friend that seemed to stray away from the faith, how do you encounter them and how do you interact with them? I think the biggest thing that I could encourage you guys towards is don't abandon them, right? So often we have this idea that we only, the people would keep closest to the people that think the most like we do and the people that are, it's like this kind of echo chamber of like, yeah, this is right, this is right and so we're not digging into those big questions or we're not allowing those questions to be spoken because we're scared that we may start doubting too but my encouragement to you and this is what I'm trying to figure out for myself is pour into those people, draw nearer to those people because they are the people that need you the most and look, you may not have all the answers to these questions, I'm reading this now and I'm trying to formulate look each and every answer in my mind, I'm like, okay, no, this is why this is this way and this is why this in this way. At the same time, it's not just about having all our questions answered, it's about God's transforming work in us giving us a new identity in him. Like it's my catchphrase, at least it's become my catchphrase. It's not about information, it's about transformation and how does that transformation come about? It comes about through relationship and so if we're just totally focused on either abandoning the person or just kind of cranking information in them saying, no, this is why this is why you're wrong, this is why it's true, this is why you're right and just totally trying to go out them and convince them, we're forgetting about that transformational part and I think just as God and just as Jesus walks with us in our doubt and in our, sometimes our unbelief and he's kind to us and he's gracious to us and his love overflows and he welcomes us into his family but he also sees those who have strayed and he has great compassion for those people too. That's how we ought to be approaching this, not with judgment saying, no, he's wrong, he was just, he didn't study the Bible well enough to get the answers and say, no, this is all a journey that we're all going through and yes, there is truth and God has revealed it to us but I'm not gonna smack him over the head in order to get him to come back. No, I wanna walk with him and show him God's love because God's love doesn't change when we all of a sudden stray off the path, no, he's welcoming us back and that's what I would ask of you guys, if there's somebody in your life that's straying away, welcome them back, not with judgment but with acceptance and just don't compromise the truth and that's a tricky thing, like I could sit here and try to do a role play and explain that but I'm not perfect at it either so this is the new, this is what we're walking into in our lives and this is just more evident. There are people that are gonna move away from what we believe and how do we navigate that? Important questions, have grace in doubts because this is heavy stuff and there is answers but also answers sometimes it's not the issue, it's that hard issue, it's not the mind, it's the heart and what we ask for is that God's presence and power to just flow through us to other people and so my pastor, he says God works in us so he can work through us and I'm just like that is a perfect representation that is so true so let God work in you and let God work through you in that. Thank you so much for watching guys, I hope you enjoyed this bonus video. Once again, just quick thoughts I didn't schedule, I didn't plan out too much of this video just kind of my thoughts, just hearing this issue and this story, I pray you are blessed by it and I'll see you next time.