Teaching Kids the Ten Commandments

[sdcougar]

At the LifeLight festival Labor Day weekend, one speaker, Brian Sumnner, a famous skateboarder, asked how many knew the Ten Commandments. Another band noted the need for parents to mentor their children. A big part of that should be teaching them the basics about God's word.

Here is a poem that makes it easy to teach kids the Ten Commandments. Share it with others.

http://textsincontex...n-commandments/

 

[aspen]

I would rather teach my kids the morals behind the ten commandments and why Jesus summed up the law as 'loving neighbor and God', but memorizing them is nice too.

 

[sdcougar]

Yes, that is a good both/and proposition, not a harmful either/or.

And a child must learn to count to ten before he can do calculus. Young children can readily learn the numbers and a poem and then they have begun a foundation on which to build.

 

[jiggyfly]

Nice poem but isn't it promoting a works based salvation, like sabbath keeping?

 

[biggandyy]

We are way overthinking it. Kids (and even many adults) need to know what they are disobeying before they can be grieved to know they are disobeying it.

Once we show them the door of salvation (via the Law) we can preach to them Christ and Him crucified as the only key to open that door.

 

[Brother James]

I never figured I'd live long enough to see Christians criticizing teaching children the ten commandments. It just goes to show you, if you live long enough you'll see everything.

 

[IanLC]

When we train children while they are young we set up for them a future and growth in godliness and a relationship with Jesus that is fruitful!

 

[Axehead]

The Law is a Schoolmaster designed to bring us to Christ. Teaching them the righteousness of God contained in the meaning of the 10 commandments is a good thing to do. Then tell them that they cannot fulfill the law without receiving Christ or giving their lives to Him as He gave His to them. That if they really want to please God, they need to be born of the Spirit so that His Son takes up residence within them and will lead and guide them in the way they should go. The righteousness of God will be fulfilled in everyone that walks after the Spirit and not after the flesh. But if the Spirit of God is not in us, then we cannot possibly know how to walk in/after the Spirit.

 

[jiggyfly]

I know many Christians of all ages that can quote the ten commandments but they can not give an accurate summation of God's redemptive plan.

 

[Brother James]

Most six year olds are not ready to learn the full breadth of God's plan of salvation, but they can surely know that it's wrong to steal, that they should honor God and their parents, etc. We learn in iterations, not all of God's truths in a single sitting.

 

[HammerStone]

Romans 7:7-12 CEB
So what are we going to say? That the Law is sin? Absolutely not! But I wouldn’t have known sin except through the Law. I wouldn’t have known the desire for what others have if the Law had not said, Don’t desire what others have. But sin seized the opportunity and used this commandment to produce all kinds of desires in me. Sin is dead without the Law. I used to be alive without the Law, but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life, and I died. So the commandment that was intended to give life brought death. Sin seized the opportunity through the commandment, deceived me, and killed me.
So the Law itself is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous, and good.

It goes back to what Andy stated so succinctly and well. Especially with younger children, we can give platitudes like "God is good, God is great..." and other things like that which don't mean a hill of beans to a kid. It takes some degree of time to understand what Jesus did on the cross, which is why with children and kids we explain things somewhat oversimplified terms and elaborate as they grow.

For example, on a very young level, we teach kids that its not okay to go swipe another child's toy when they're playing with it. That would essentially be stealing. These types of behaviors can grow from thinking we own things that are not our own, to in the teenage years a kid going into a store and grabbing some food or a t-shirt. Yet, if we explain from early on why it's not okay to take others' things, then this type of behavior is addressed.

So definitely a both/and as opposed to an either/or.

We're not teaching our children to be law holders so much as we're teaching them to be followers of Christ - but that begins by laying a foundation of law. The part in Romans and elsewhere that gets sticky is that we're not obeying laws for laws sake or to adhere to rules, but we're obeying laws because we love Jesus and we are being transformed.

 

[Axehead]

It goes back to what Andy stated so succinctly and well. Especially with younger children, we can give platitudes like "God is good, God is great..." and other things like that which don't mean a hill of beans to a kid. It takes some degree of time to understand what Jesus did on the cross, which is why with children and kids we explain things somewhat oversimplified terms and elaborate as they grow.

For example, on a very young level, we teach kids that its not okay to go swipe another child's toy when they're playing with it. That would essentially be stealing. These types of behaviors can grow from thinking we own things that are not our own, to in the teenage years a kid going into a store and grabbing some food or a t-shirt. Yet, if we explain from early on why it's not okay to take others' things, then this type of behavior is addressed.

So definitely a both/and as opposed to an either/or.

We're not teaching our children to be law holders so much as we're teaching them to be followers of Christ - but that begins by laying a foundation of law. The part in Romans and elsewhere that gets sticky is that we're not obeying laws for laws sake or to adhere to rules, but we're obeying laws because we love Jesus and we are being transformed.

And if you have children you know that "more is caught than taught", so parenting is really 95% training (re-training) the parent and 5% training up the child. Children are blank hard drives at the beginning. Children are "watching" you at every turn and taking in everything about you, and you will disqualify all your "teaching" to them if you are not walking in the Spirit with them. If you are not walking in the love of God with your kids they won't be interested in anything about God. You are their reflection of Christ and His character should be reflected in you as you teach your kids what a Christian is. Kids are a great barometer for hypocrisy. If you are open to the Lord and not prideful, the Lord will use the children in your life in marvelous ways.

 

[sdcougar]

Yes, parents, too, are in need of much training by the LORD:

" You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise...." Deu. 6

I know many Christians of all ages that can quote the ten commandments but they can not give an accurate summation of God's redemptive plan.

I am truly delighted to hear that some can at least quote them. I heard the leader of one denomination speak in a church. He took out a ten dollar bill and said that he would give it to any child that could quote the commandments in any order. As he put it back in his wallet, he noted that he had never been able to give it away in any church where he had spoken.

And certainly, Christians need to understand and be able to articulate God's plan of salvation.

 

[rand]

I think we should stop teaching our kids the ten commanments. I believe God has written His laws on our hearts and our minds so that we know how to please Him. Paul called the ten commandments the ministry of death and condemnation (2 Cor 3:6-10) the Law came that sin may abound, I think so many Christians are in bondage to sin still because so much of the church is still teaching the law. Sin has no power over us because we are not under the law. If sin still has power over us then we must still be (at least partially) under the law--because that's what they are hearing at church. It's the law that arrouses the passion for sin (Romans 7:5) and the strength of sin is the law (1 Cor 15:56).

I think we should stop teaching the law and start teaching grace. Start teaching that there is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus, and that there righteousness for all who believe (Romans 10:4). It's grace that teaches us to say no to ungodlyness (Titus 2:11). Start teaching that all of our judgment and wrath was poured out on Jesus at the cross of Christ. Teach these things so we can start to understand this love that surpasses knowledge. we have to know first that He loves us so much, that will cause us to fall in love with Him and with everyone He loves we will love.

Teaching the law teaches people to watch themselves. Am i reading the Bible enough, am I praying enough? it teaches us to pay attention to everything we do or don't do. Teaching people grace, teaches them to watch Jesus, and pay attention to what He has done already.

When the law was given, 3000 people died. THis was the first account (that I've found) of someone dieing while the Jews were in the wilderness. In the book of Acts when the Holy Spirit was given, 3000 people were saved. The Spirit gives life, and the letter (the law) kills (2 Cor 3:6).

1 John 3:4 says that sin is the transgression of the law. We all know that Jesus fullfilled the law, and Romans 5:13 says that sin is not taken into account when there is no law. We are under grace and not under the law. So, how can we break a law that we don't have?

Reading Pauls writings, he rebuked the corinthians about their sins by saying don't you know who you are (children of the most High God), and he rebuked the Galatians who started intrducing the law back into their church by saying who has bewitched you.

We can't keep mixing the law with the gospel, they don't work together. It's like pouring new wine in old wineskins and it makes lukewarm Christians (cold = the law covanant, Hot = the better, grace covanant).

Think about it.

 

[Brother James]

How about this. You don't teach your kids the ten commandments, and then you allow others to exercise their best judgment as God gives them the ability to understand His will in deciding what they will teach their children? That seems more reasonable to me. I would never presume to tell another parent that I know better than they do what they should be doing to raise their child. Who am I to do that?

 

[Trekson]

Hi Rand, Your words: When the law was given, 3000 people died. THis was the first account (that I've found) of someone dieing while the Jews were in the wilderness. In the book of Acts when the Holy Spirit was given, 3000 people were saved."

This is a pretty cool fact if true. I'm gonna research it. Thanks!

It checks out Rand, for the sake of others read Ex. 32:28 and Acts 2:41. Thanks again for sharing that.

 

[sniper762]

do you believe that moses spent 40 days and nights on mt. sinai just to receive only "10" commandments?

the bible states that he came down with over 300.