Many have come forward with the solution to keeping young people in the Church. God, through Scripture, says that if you train up the child in the way that he or she should go, that child won’t depart from it when he or she is old. What does it mean to train up the child. God says a lot about this in Scripture. How many parents follow the pattern of Scripture, though?
“Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes. And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt write them upon the door posts of thine house, and upon thy gates:” Deuteronomy 11:18-20
If you look at God’s pattern for the home, you are to speak to the children constantly about what God is saying to you. This requires that you walk closely with the Holy Spirit leading you constantly into all truth. The kids often get put into Sunday school once a week, but do the parents speak to the child when the child wakes up, all day long, and when the child goes to bed? Parents hope the kids get some kind of experience in Church services in some cases. Maybe, there is some mention of Christ and what He’s doing in the home during the week, but often not. By the time kids are 12 or so, parents would like to approach some subjects, but those subjects are foreign to the home. Often, there isn’t even a daily time of prayer and Bible-reading as a family, so it’s weird to pray or mention God in the home. These things seem strange and boring to the kids who have centered their lives on things other than Christ. It’s an uphill battle at that point, Secularist schools or not. If these things have been discussed openly from an early age, and if it’s not just an intellectual exercise but a constant spiritual (not emotional or intellectual) experience (experiment), and if the kids have learned the power of God and if they have a robust two-way communication with God, there is very little that can come against them. In fact, they are likely to be a force for good in the schools and in the world.
What will young people say if asked this question: “Tell us if you have ever heard your GOD?” Kids may know the theory of God and the theory of Jesus, but we wonder why they don’t make it through the tax-supported onslaught we label as “education.” It’s because they never knew Him. They never developed their spiritual senses. They have never eaten spiritual meat because they never had their spiritual senses exercised by reason of use.
“But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.” Hebrews 5:14
There is often great emphasis placed on scientific reasons to believe in God. As a result, the simplicity that is in Christ Jesus is sometimes lost. Some Christians have thought that we must all have a PhD in the sciences in order to come to Christ. That’s just not true.
“But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.” 2 Corinthians 11:3
The simplicity is in Christ, not in theories or theologies about Christ. You have to know Him to experience this. Note that this Scripture isn’t about a simplistic view of Christ. Christ isn’t simple. Knowing Christ is simple. Theology becomes complex and boring. The Holy Spirit speaks to each of us in simple ways that can be understood. Following Him results in having your senses exercised to discern both good (there’s none good but God) and evil (the natural human intellect is deceitful and desperately wicked to the point where it can’t be figured out).
While there’s nothing wrong with teaching the scientific reasons to believe in God, intellectual exercise isn’t what is needed. Allow the Holy Spirit to speak to your child through the Creation. Teach your children to be sensitive to the Holy Spirit, to hear His leading, and to respond in submission to do His will. This is the simplicity that is in Christ Jesus. He lives within. He flows out through thoughts, prayers, words, and actions. Whatever is not Him living through us is sin. Whenever we fail to hear His Voice and yield to the Spirit, we have slipped or stepped off the Way. That’s what sin is. Jesus is the Way.
Teach your children that there are only two sources of knowledge in the final analysis. One is centered in Christ. The other is centered in Satan. The human mind is deceitful and desperately wicked to the point that we can’t know it. God is working with whoever is willing to overcome this. The process is dying to self and living to Him. Faith, grace, and works are central to this whole issue. God is setting us free from self. God speaks. We acknowledge Him. His faith comes. Faith gives access to grace. Grace thinks His thoughts, speaks His words and does His works through us. That is the definition of righteousness. That is the narrow way Jesus spoke of. It’s very constricted since everything must start with God speaking and faith (imparted certainty) coming. “Whatever is not of faith is sin.” The word, “sin,” is translated from a handful of words. One of those words means “leaving the way” or “missing the target.” Another means, “stepping across.” Another means, “slipping across.” Whatever doesn’t start with God speaking is either stepping off the way or slipping off the way. Righteousness leads to holiness. Holiness is Christ in us, the hope of glory. Righteousness is Christ working through us by the process of grace through faith. This is a moment-by-moment thing. When you are in the presence of the Holy Spirit and alert to His leading, you can do your job better than if you are just leaning on your own understanding.
“Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil. It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones.” Proverbs 3:5-8
God speaks of the double-minded person through the Book of James in the Bible. When we were born again, we found ourselves with two minds. We have a natural mind. We are the mind of Christ. The problem we all have is a problem of the heart, the innermost mind. A part of this has to do with worldview. A worldview is a complete inner representation of reality. Everyone has a worldview. Worldviews are created from what we once thought of as true. Worldviews also tend to be internally contradictory. We generally try to preserve our worldviews and not allow them to be subjected to the scrutiny of others. Jesse Nirenburg, in his book, “Getting Through to People,” wrote about how people become defensive if asked too many questions that expose their inner conflicts and contradictions. Your children need to have their senses exercised by reason of use. They need to look into the mirror of the perfect law of liberty and see the Christ in themselves and see how they fit into the Church as a member in particular. This doesn’t happen automatically. If you, as a parent, are not there to guide and direct them, someone else will certainly step in to lead them. Remember that God speaks through multiple confirmations of His Divine revelation. One of the ways that He speaks to children is through their godly parents who speak by the power and authority of the Holy Spirit. If your children aren’t taught to discern the Body of Christ to see that it is Christ speaking to them, they will think that it’s a matter of wills–the parent against the child.
“Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil.” Proverbs 3:5-7
We can’t trust our own minds. Teach this to your children. Teach them how to seek the Lord and to know His will. Teach them at a very young age. Show them by example. We can try to trust our own minds plus God’s Mind, but that’s being double-minded. Another option is to trust in the Lord with all our hearts and not lean on our own understandings. It’s a choice. Even when we do this, we’re still plagued with the natural mind that wants its way and doesn’t want to die out. The process of dying to self and living to Christ is one of maturity. Each obedience, each time we trust the Lord rather than our own mind, is a step toward spiritual maturity. The reverse is also true, however. We can actually go toward spiritual immaturity. The light in us can become darkness.
The human mind has a limitation in knowing the difference between reality and make-believe. Thought would need to start from an absolute standard, but there is no absolute Secular standard, so Naturalists must base thought on assumption. We live in a Naturalistic world. Even much of the Church is convinced of the philosophy of Naturalism where there can be no absolute standard and all thought must be based on assumption. A chain of thought is as strong as its weakest link, so assumptions are hidden beneath many smokescreens. There’s only one solution for this. Get close to Jesus Christ. Allow the Holy Spirit to lead you into all truth. Be humble enough to hold your opinions and theologies loosely enough so that the Holy Spirit can do His work. Teach your children to do the same. Teach them humility and respect for God.
The human mind is corrupted since the fall of Adam and Eve through listening to Satan rather than God. There’s a spiritual principle: “Whoever you yield yourself to obey, that’s whose servant you are.” This slavery has been passed from generation to generation. Christ came to set us free, and He’s done the work. We just have to accept the work He’s done. That means dying to self, to this inner slave that each of us have. It’s a transfiguration process by the renewing of the mind. The Holy Spirit does the renewing. There’s much more to this. You can read about it at http://www.SeekFind.net.
God speaks through Scripture and through every means mentioned in Scripture. He speaks through His creation. He speaks through Christians who are giving Him the glory.
“…or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, or let the fish of the sea inform you.” Job 12:8.
God speaks through Scripture, prophecy, a word of wisdom, a word of knowledge, dreams, visions, a still small voice, godly counsel, and His peace that He imparts when you are in His will. He speaks by opening and closing doors. He speaks to the saved and the unsaved. In fact, through Creation, God tells every Secularist everything that can be known about the Godhead. In Christ is hidden all knowledge, and God imparts knowledge even to those who refuse to acknowledge that the knowledge came from Him. That’s how Secularists can know that natural laws are dependable. However, in their worldviews, they must attribute this knowledge to assumption, so, to them, it’s assumption, not knowledge. It’s an opinion based on nothing–they think. Yet, they wouldn’t say that. They would say that they know. They can’t explain how they know, but they say that they know. If your child has not been taught the difference between assumption and Divine revelation, how will he or she be able to discern reality when confronted by a Secularist. Without Divine revelation, every thought is based on assumption. Assumptions turn into stories. Stories seem real and become worldviews. Worldviews seem like reality, though they are vapor. The child can’t tell the difference between reality and make-believe. Your task as a parent is to make sure that this doesn’t happen. The way to keep this from happening is as follows:
“Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes. And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt write them upon the door posts of thine house, and upon thy gates:” Deuteronomy 11:18-20
God is speaking to you. The Holy Spirit is leading you. Listen. Pray for a submissive heart. Teach your children to do the same.
Soon to be released: “Reason,” a book about the basis of thought and how to be rational taken from the Ken Ham-Bill Nye debate.
