This is so sad and I honestly mean no disrespect, but I do wonder about some things. Could his son have maybe felt the pressure of having such a "famous" father and felt like a failure for not living up to the high standards? We all know it's difficult to be a preachers kid from the get-go. I won't post the article, because the title is self-expanatory. I will post the highlights of Rick Warren's book "The Purpose Driven Life" following the link to the suicide story.

http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/Pasto ... story.html

The Purpose Driven Life

The Purpose-Driven Life takes the groundbreaking message of the award-winning Purpose-Driven Church and goes deeper, applying it to the lifestyle of individual Christians. This book helps readers understand God's incredible plan for their lives. Warren enables them to see the big picture of what life is all about and begin to live the life God created them to live.

The Purpose-Driven Life is a manifesto for Christian living in the 21st century...a lifestyle based on eternal purposes, not cultural values. Using biblical stories and letting the Bible speak for itself, Warren clearly explains God's five purposes for each of us:

We were planned for God's pleasure
so your first purpose is to offer real worship.
We were formed for God's family
so your second purpose is to enjoy real fellowship.
We were created to become like Christ,
so your third purpose is to learn real discipleship.
We were shaped for serving God
so your fourth purpose is to practice real ministry.
We were made for a mission
so your fifth purpose is to live out real evangelism.

http://purposedriven.com/books/pdlbook/#purpose

I have to also say that the first line under the purposes: "We were planned for God's pleasure......." is a little creepy to me and begs a ton of questions I will forego in this post.

Aluminum foil, Roseanne!
Have hubby wallpaper the bedroom with a double layer of aluminum foil. Don't forget ceiling, doors, windows, and the favorite entry point - outlets and switches.

I have to also say that the first line under the purposes: "We were planned for God's pleasure......." is a little creepy to me and begs a ton of questions I will forego in this post.

I think Rick Warren is creepy. I don't know what assumptions you have to accept in order to buy his "purpose-driven life" prescription. He seems to be just another professional busybody telling people how to live. Sorry about his son.

Warren enables them to see the big picture of what life is all about and begin to live the life God created them to live.

Various thoughts come to mind about this event.

First, what a shame. I feel sorry for his family.

Second, how is it he wasn't able to show his own son "the big picture"? Or was his suicide part of "God's plan"?

Third, it's possible his family did all they could to prevent this.

I'm thinking that all extremism creates its own dichotomy ~ the "leaders" first create and then maintain their power by preying on the followers' deepest fears to keep the followers in an obedient role ~ I generally see the "leaders" as immoral and corrupt since their ultimate goals seem to be creating/maintaining absolute power and wealth for themselves, at the expense of all others ~ paternalism at its most extreme ~

Sooz

I guess as a family they all prayed a lot to fix issues of all kinds.

We were planned for God's pleasure

Reckon he gets tired of his toys and smashes them up on occasion, eh?

I think there is a lot more to this family story than we know. It was chilling to read somewhere that "We spent the evening together and had a good time, then he went to his home and killed himself".

The article did say
"Matthew was an incredibly kind, gentle and compassionate young man whose sweet spirit was encouragement and comfort to many"

Maybe he was so gentle and sweet, his dad's extremism drove him around the bend. Maybe he wanted to be an artist or a performer, but was discouraged. Perhaps he championed causes that were diametrically opposed to his Dad's extremism.

Being constantly chastised for being who you are, believing what you believe and having a "sweet and gentle" soul would drive any child into depression. Even if the chastisement wasn't overtly and directly aimed at such a child, but others, it could do some serious damage to hear it all the time.

Of course, this is all speculation on my part, but the "sweet and gentle" description gave me pause for thought.

John, the family may have done all that they could but if it at all focused primarily on being a good Christian/prayer as the path for any sort of treatment/cure/salvation (from the mental/emotional illness), it would do more harm than good, imo.

... or maybe he was gay?

Yeah, that thought occured to me. I was just trying to say it without saying it.

Or maybe he was an atheist?

How does one tell his pastor father he doesn't believe in God?