Almost a year ago the small community in which I live was stunned. Four teenage boys ages 17 to 19 plotted to rob a home, and they agreed beforehand that if anyone was home they would murder them. They randomly chose a home only because it was on a dirt road away from other houses. Then, early on a Sunday morning in October 2009, they used a machete and knife to brutally murder a mother and seriously injure her 11-year-old daughter.

The trial for these four is still pending. How could four teenage boys do something so evil, so callous, so brutal? Some were Boy Scouts; one played music in his church; one was going to be a missionary. All but one were described as "good kids." They grew up in affluent rural towns by families of means. How did their paths turn to such darkness?

The sociologists will spill volumes of ink trying to decipher all the influences that contributed to this grisly crime. For us, however, it is a reminder of some biblical truths that we, as parents, must ponder most seriously.

More and more, parenting has been infected by the ideas that parents should let children choose their paths, that children are basically good by nature, and that they will turn out just fine as long as parents and educators don't try to "ram anything down their throats" or "brainwash them with religious ideas." But God's Word says that all are sinful by nature—children included (Psalm 51:5).

We parents need to realize that our children are capable of the same atrocities as those four teenage boys in New England. But it is more than just discipline that our children need. They also need training. Proverbs resounds with this truth: "Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it" (22:6). The only thing standing between our children and the same tragic actions and consequences is the grace of our Lord Jesus.

Yes, the sinful natures of our children need to be crushed daily by the law of God. We as parents need daily and faithfully to teach our children God's will regarding the sanctity of life, the holiness of his name, the purity of marriage, the respect for property, the importance of worship, the duty to help those in need, and all the other commands of our God. When our children fail to live this way, they must be shown God's anger and led to repentance. But the gospel is vitally important. Our children need to know the unfailing love of their God, and we, as forgiving and loving parents, need to show that love. Without put-downs or arbitrary anger, we need to consistently lead our children to the cross of Jesus to see the One who loves them no matter what they have done. To be forgiven. To be renewed by his Holy Spirit and filled with a desire to live as God's dear child.