My father didn’t choose my destiny. He went his way and I went mine.
Passing down religious faith to our children
- Thread starter Matthias
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My father didn’t choose my destiny. He went his way and I went mine.
Stan B
Well-Known Member
My parenthood was all that great either, but then I discovered the One who said HE would be a father to the fatherless. That’s worked out rather well for my family over the ensuing 60 years!
“Parents’ role is to pass down the faith to their children who will in turn pass it down to their children who in turn will pass it down to their children. And so Faith can thrive from generation to generation.
There is a great example of this found in Scripture. Read this passage with me.
I am reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also. 2 Timothy 1:5
In this passage, we see faith was passed down through three generations. Lois the grandmother, Eunice the mother and Timothy the son.
There is one word in this verse which I believe is vital if families want to pass down their faith to their children …”
www.relevantchildrensministry.com
What is that one word?
There is a great example of this found in Scripture. Read this passage with me.
I am reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also. 2 Timothy 1:5
In this passage, we see faith was passed down through three generations. Lois the grandmother, Eunice the mother and Timothy the son.
There is one word in this verse which I believe is vital if families want to pass down their faith to their children …”
Passing Down the Faith...A Biblical Example ~ RELEVANT CHILDREN'S MINISTRY
What is that one word?
“Parents’ role is to pass down the faith to their children who will in turn pass it down to their children who in turn will pass it down to their children. And so Faith can thrive from generation to generation.
There is a great example of this found in Scripture. Read this passage with me.
I am reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also. 2 Timothy 1:5
In this passage, we see faith was passed down through three generations. Lois the grandmother, Eunice the mother and Timothy the son.
There is one word in this verse which I believe is vital if families want to pass down their faith to their children …”
Passing Down the Faith...A Biblical Example ~ RELEVANT CHILDREN'S MINISTRY
What is that one word?
That one word is sincere.
Children tend to be like their parents, and the pattern tends to continue for multiple generations. I’ve encountered this often in my work with neglected and abused children.
”’What?,’ you ask, ‘Doesn’t the child pay for the parent’s sins?’ No! For if the child does what is right and keeps my laws, that child will surely live. The one who sins is the one who dies. The child will not be punished for the parent’s sins, and the parent will not be punished for the child’s sin. Righteous people will be rewarded for their own goodness, and wicked people will be punished for their own wickedness.”
(Ezekiel 18:19-20, NLT)
My work, in part, is to try to help children break the cycle of family dysfunctionality.
quietthinker
Well-Known Member
RLT63
Well-Known Member
What about those that do? If a young child is taught by his parents to believe a certain way , and go to a certain Church and all his life is told this is the truth and this is right, but it’s actually wrong, then that child grows into an adult believing the wrong thing, it’s not their fault. How will God judge them?
When they have been deceived since they were children how can they be held responsible for that?
Thoughts?
quietthinker
Well-Known Member
That’s close to my own story. My parents couldn’t have cared less about religious instruction. They allowed me to go to Church with my paternal grandparents. My early religious training came from them and the Church which I attended with them. The only time it became a problem for my parents was when my grandparents and I wanted me to be baptized when I was around 8 years old and my parents forbid it until I was an adult. (I was eventually baptized in my grandparents’ Church when I was 21.)
My story veers off from your scenario at this point. A few years after I was baptized I came to believe that, while much of what I was taught by my grandparents and the Church was right and good, some of it was wrong. The difference was significant enough that I couldn’t in good conscience continue attending the Church.
Your question is about those who, unlike me, continue believing what they were taught was right but was wrong. You say that it’s not their fault. I’m not so sure about that. I think they’re personally responsible for what they believe, just as I believe everyone is personally responsible for what they believe and do.
They‘re in a tough spot, no doubt, but they don’t remain children. As adults, they should examine what they were taught when they were children. Some do; most probably don’t. It usually takes a crisis for an adult to seriously take a hard look at their belief. People who are comfortable with what they were taught don’t consider that what they were taught is, or might be, wrong.
In your scenario, they go through life deceived, believing things which - in full or in part? - are wrong.
How will God judge them?
I place them in ”the little old lady from Fiji who never heard of Jesus” category. I think they will be judged by what they could reasonably have known.
I think about my beloved grandparents almost daily. What will happen to them? I think they’ll probably be raised in the second resurrection and judged on what they did, based on what they knew that was right.
What did my grandparents think will happen to me? They never told me, but they believed in once saved always saved. I don’t.
What are your thoughts on your scenario?
Reminiscing about my grandparents this evening, I recall that my decision to leave the Church I was raised in sparked a serous conversation about Proverbs 22:6 -
“Train up a child in the way he should go, even when he is old he will not depart from it.”
My grandparents couldn’t understand how this happened. They were absolutely certain that they had, in conjunction with the Church, trained me in the way I should go. How, then, could this happen?
The assumption made by my grandparents is that I was trained as a child in the right way to go because they sincerely believed that the training I was given was the right way to go. In part, I believe that it was. In part, I believe that it wasn’t.
In any case, the proverb isn’t, as they thought, an absolute guarantee; it’s a very strong tendency. While it’s difficult to cast off what we are taught as children, it’s possible - and sometimes, essential - that we do.
I’m looking at a note I wrote in the margin of what I call my “preaching Bible,” next to Proverbs 22:6 -
“A false conclusion once arrived at and widely accepted is not easily dislodged; and the less it is understood, the more tenaciously it is held.” (Georg Cantor, a 19th century German mathematician)
I often have this in mind when I’m speaking with people who were raised in cults.
“Train up a child in the way he should go, even when he is old he will not depart from it.”
My grandparents couldn’t understand how this happened. They were absolutely certain that they had, in conjunction with the Church, trained me in the way I should go. How, then, could this happen?
The assumption made by my grandparents is that I was trained as a child in the right way to go because they sincerely believed that the training I was given was the right way to go. In part, I believe that it was. In part, I believe that it wasn’t.
In any case, the proverb isn’t, as they thought, an absolute guarantee; it’s a very strong tendency. While it’s difficult to cast off what we are taught as children, it’s possible - and sometimes, essential - that we do.
I’m looking at a note I wrote in the margin of what I call my “preaching Bible,” next to Proverbs 22:6 -
“A false conclusion once arrived at and widely accepted is not easily dislodged; and the less it is understood, the more tenaciously it is held.” (Georg Cantor, a 19th century German mathematician)
I often have this in mind when I’m speaking with people who were raised in cults.
Do people sometimes rebel against the right ways they were taught as children? Yes.
Do people who rebel against the right ways they were taught as children eventually return to those right ways when they are old? Sometimes they do; sometimes they don’t.
Do people who rebel against the right ways they were taught as children eventually return to those right ways when they are old? Sometimes they do; sometimes they don’t.
Who thinks engaging such tenacious people in debate will end with them leaving their cult?
“Do not try to debate with cult members or recruits. It’s never productive, since they have decided in advance that anyone outside their group is wrong, sinful, or an enemy.”
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