As a parent, please think very clearly and soberly about your discipleship choice ………. this decision has eternal implications.
My Thesis:
In the United States young people receive a mixed message about the true importance of the Bible and discipleship from their parents, society and the church. This “mixed message” consistently and systematically devalues the importance of a real relationship with the Lord and His Word.
Actions do speak louder than words.
Abstract:
The vast majority of children in the United States are not discipled. They are not systematically taught God’s Word and how to live in a Christ honoring manner. However, they are intentionally and systematically taught various non-Christian subjects in school for 12+ years. Children take quizzes and tests week after week, month after month and year after year. Why? Because learning and education is important.
Furthermore, kids spend significant and focused time participating in extracurricular activities. This lengthy and consistent indoctrination constructs a corrupted value system within the child’s mind. Accordingly, many young people that grow up in a church are Biblically illiterate and ultimately develop a non-Christian worldview. They fail to grasp the monumental significance of Jesus’ claim to be God and each individual’s needed response. Accordingly, most young people will lose the spiritual battle and pursue other forms of spirituality that ultimately lead to an eternal separation from God.
Question: Where’s the line?
Meaning ……. The line of Christian indoctrination. Shouldn’t kids have the right to choose their own form of spirituality/religion? As stated previously, you can’t force belief on someone.
Consider what you WILL teach your kids.
Not to steal. Why? That is a Christian teaching from Exodus Chapter 20
Not to lie. Why? Again, this is a Christian Teaching from Exodus 20.
To go to church. Why? What frequency?
To be courteous and kind to others. Jesus said, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
What about today’s date? Again, our calendar (today’s date) is based upon Christianity?
If your honest with yourself, where’s the line? Is it a well conceived and thoughtful line or something else? Seriously, what are you afraid of? ……… That your children will resent you one day for teaching them the Bible. If your children do hate you for teaching them the truth of God’s word, can you live with that? If not, why not?
The Bible teaches that even believers will be judged for their actions. Will the Lord be more harsh with you because you tried to teach your children the truth of His Word?
Believers are not supposed to be of the world.
Not so long ago, learning to read was based primarily upon the desire to educate the child so that he or she could read the scriptures for themselves. After all, if a person never became a Christian, their relatively short life would ultimately end in eternal separation from God.
Now our society advances reading so that a child can become better educated so that they can secure a better career and ultimately have a “better life.”
Consider the purpose of the first institute of higher learning in the United States. Why did those that came before us create the institution?
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
Of the first 108 Universities founded in America, 106 were distinctly Christian, including the first - Harvard University chartered in 1636. In the original Harvard Student Handbook, Rule 1 was that students seeking entrance must know Latin and Greek so that they could study the scriptures:
“Let every student be plainly instructed and earnestly pressed to consider well, the main end of life and studies is, to know God and Jesus Christ, which is eternal life, John 17:3; and therefore to lay Jesus Christ as the only foundation for our children to follow the moral principles of the Ten Commandments.”
The Book you need to read. [the Bible]
by David Perell
An excerpt from the article.
“I don’t care where you stand on faith. I’m not here to convert you. I’m here to improve how you think and educate yourself. If it gives you any comfort, know that I’m not a believer.”
What is the trajectory of MANY young people today?
“Even in the most optimistic scenarios, Christian affiliation in the U.S. shrinks dramatically, and in our base case, over 1 million youth at least nominally in the church today will choose to leave each year for the next three decades. 35 million youth raised in families that call themselves Christians will say that they are not by 2050.”
“Youth ministry needs to be re-engineered to be Gospel-advancing and disciple-multiplying,” he stressed. “It is not about meetings but about the mission. Young people are longing for a cause that matters. So they need to be equipped and youth leaders need to be equipped to equip them.”
https://www.christianpost.com/news/report-projects-35-million-youth-to-leave-christianity-by-2050-greg-stier-responds.html