Q: Oswald Chambers said that the root of all sin is the suspicion that God is not good. Isn’t it true that somehow we’ve got a generation of kids -- and perhaps their parents as well -- who think that God is not good, that sin is attractive, and that God is a type of kill joy'

A: I think that’s true. And that’s why, in my relationship with my own children, I have hammered home the idea that within every negative precept - every “Thou shalt not” -- there are always two positive principles. One, God gives them to protect us. And second, He gives them to provide. He’s not a cosmic killjoy who wants to take the fun out of life.

My new book has many illustrations of this. One is the story of a high school guy who wanted to go swimming with his girlfriend at midnight. The neighbors down the block had a pool, and he knew it. So they ran down there and scaled the fence even though there were No Trespassing and Do Not Enter signs. Just as he hit the diving board, the girl yelled, but it was too late. There was only a foot of water in the pool. He broke his neck, and he’s in therapy to this day. He didn’t realize that the signs on the fence - the precepts - would have protected him.

Josh McDowell, New Man, March/April 1995, p. 55