The remaining members of Christian Band Hawk Nelson have released a statement following their front man’s departure from Christianity.
On Thursday, bass guitar player Daniel Biro, guitar player Micah Kuiper and drum player David Niacaris released a statement offering love and support to the band’s former frontman Jon Stiengard, CCM Magazine reports.
The statement starts out with the band members recognizing Steingard’s struggle in his faith journey and emphasizing what they call the band’s main purpose: showing people that “THEY matter.”
“Our mission as Hawk Nelson has always been to inspire and encourage all people with the truth that God is FOR them and not against them. In that message’s most simple and purest form, that THEY matter,” the statement reads.
“So now we turn that truth towards one of our own. That God is still FOR Jon & he still matters. Why? Because that truth doesn’t change just because we question it,” the band members wrote.
The men then encouraged people to treat each other with love no matter where they are in their faith journey. “WE are called to Love one another unconditionally, as God loves us. We should also encourage and challenge one another in our Faith, seeking truth,” they wrote.
As Christian Headlines previously reported, earlier this week, Steingard took to social media to announce that he “no longer believe(s) in God.”
“After growing up in a Christian home, being a pastor’s kid, playing and singing in a Christian band, and having the word ‘Christian’ in front of most of the things in my life – I am now finding that I no longer believe in God,” Steingard wrote in an Instagram post.
“[I]t didn’t happen overnight or all of a sudden. It’s been more like pulling on the threads of a sweater, and one day discovering that there was no more sweater left,” he continued. “... I am stunned by the number of people in visible positions within Christian circles that feel the same way as I do. Like me, they fear losing everything if they’re open about it.”
Steingard went on to explain that he had more questions than answers when it came to God’s character.
“If God is all loving, and all powerful, why is there evil in the world?” he asked. “Can he not do anything about it? Does he choose not to? Is the evil in the world a result of his desire to give us free will?”
Steingard concluded noting that while he is struggling to believe that God exists, he hopes He actually does.
“I am open to the idea that God is there. I’d prefer if he was. I suspect if he is there, he is very different than what I was taught. I know my parents pray that God reveals himself to me. If he’s there, I hope he does,” Steingard asserted.
Related:
'I No Longer Believe in God,' Says Lead Singer of Christian Band Hawk Nelson
Photo courtesy: ©Getty Images/Jason Davis/Stringer
Kayla Koslosky is the former Editor of ChristianHeadlines.com. She has B.A. degrees in English and History and previously wrote for and was the managing editor of the Yellow Jacket newspaper. She has also contributed to IBelieve.com and Crosswalk.com.
