Apologetics and Your Children

“this way of putting things leads to thinking that the Bible only touches upon the thin aspects of living which we call “spiritual”; all the rest of reality is then thought to be open to independent reasoning virtually unrelated to the pronouncements of Scripture.  Once this thought enters the Christian’s mind it acts like a cancer, and very soon what we proudly call “the Christian worldview” becomes a small timid thing, with little relevance for most of the “non-spiritual” spheres of life.”

“What I am saying is that if the phrase “All Truth is God’s Truth” is to be of any acceptable use to us it has to bear a meaning which we can take to God as in agreement with His Word.  We must not let our kids leave our homes with the slippery notion that we can decide what is true and then expect the Lord to place His Divine imprimatur on our assessment.”

“How can soft tissue survive for so long?  Answer..it can’t.  But there it is.  Does this evidence persuade dinosaur experts that dinosaurs lived in recent times?  That would be where the evidence led, right?  But of course not.  No more than ancient drawings of dinosaurs from all over the world influence them.  Worldviews get in the way!”

“Christians to whom God has given children should be aware of where the rhetoric of the world leads.  They should take note of what the Bible says about the world and its lusts, and how the wisdom of this world is so contrary to the true wisdom of God in Jesus Christ (1 Cor. 1:20-24).  They should learn from the mistakes of the past and never yield an inch in their allegiance to the clear sense of God’s Word.”

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Now surely it follows from this that what we like to call “wicked people” people aren’t actually wicked? (Dawkins says there is no evil or good).  Their neurons just function in a way which make them commit acts against others which we don’t like?  Dawkins himself (along with Christopher Hitchens and others) have branded Christianity as an evil.  But he has also called it “a virus of the mind.”  In other words, Christians are sick in the head.  Well, if we are sick, and there is no evil, how can we be evil?  This interpretation of Dawkins even manages to contradict some of his most cherished dogmas.”

“A triad is a kind of three-in-one.  Each member of the triad is connected to the other two.  This triad deals with relationships, but I told my friend that his “God, self and others” triad was pretty close to my own theological triad: God, Man, and the World.  These three things are also inseparably linked.  You cannot think about the world without thinking about yourself and vice versa.  And even atheists cannot comprehend these two without facing the question of God; even if they always try to push Him away.”

“One thing is for sure; if any of these pat opinions take hold in the hearts of our kids, Christian Truth claims will be held with less conviction – maybe they’ll settle merely temporarily at the most superficial level of a childhood habit?  We don’t want that!”

According to a Barna poll 66% of these kids are deserting their Christian upbringing.  And the figure may be even higher.  A survey conducted by the SBC asserts that 88% of young people walk away from the faith never to return.  And there is no sign of any abatement.  Something is badly amiss, and Christian parents especially need to stop pretending everything’s okay so long as their kid or teenager has a good time at church.

the Bible unsurprisingly counters the world’s advice by stating bluntly that it is the height of folly to base anything on how we may think or feel about it.  We do not consult our hearts.  We consult God’s Word.  Does our sanguine attitude to trendiness and personal choice not teach our kids that those values are to be highly prized by them?  What happens to Truth in such an atmosphere?

I’m going to begin where too few Christians today would want me to.  I’m going to put in a plug for some good old-fashioned negative thinking!