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Join me today at Raising Homemakers, discussing “Raising Women of the Word.” We have been given an important job, for such a time as this.
Raising Children to Stand in the Winds of Changing Doctrines
4 comments
I find 1 Corinthians 10:13 to be a useful verse to memorize, both for our children and for us as adults, as it makes for a good passage to say out loud at times of temptation: “There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.”
It’s too easy to get caught in the trap of thinking, for example, that we’re just going to sin in an area in which we’re being tempted and have failed numerous times in the past; or when we convince ourselves that this is just the way we are, that we can’t do anything about it, when the truth is that God always gives us a way out.
I like that you include Philippians 4:8 on your CD, a verse that I think goes well with the verse I quoted above, as it gives us something positive to think about, something to replace the negative thing we’re thinking of doing. Maybe that replacement (thinking on things that are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, of good report, virtuous and praiseworthy) IS the way out.
Speaking of your title, “Raising Children to Stand in the Winds of Changing Doctrines”…
It seems to me that one of the hugest shifts in our culture’s thinking, even among people who profess to be Christians, is the ever-evolving view of homosexuality. The new doctrine refuses to call living the homosexual lifestyle sin, or a perversion of God’s natural order. And our young people are exposed to this type of thinking at increasingly younger ages, as “tolerance”, “diversity”, whatever you want to call it, is being promoted not only on Facebook, or college campuses, but also in many of the K-12 schools of our nation.
I was recently speaking to my niece, a senior at the public high school I had attended years ago. She mentioned that at her school, there is a big emphasis on various “diversity” issues, including LGBT issues. There are clubs celebrating this “cause” (don’t know if that’s the right word), signs/posters/what-have-you displayed in all the bathrooms at school. One student group planned activities for the whole student body in conjunction with the school’s observance of last month’s National Day of Silence, which reportedly is “to call attention to the silencing effect of anti-LGBT bullying and harassment in schools.” The national group responsible for organizing the Day of Silence, GLSEN (Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network), identifies themselves as “Championing LGBT Issues in K-12 Education since 1990”. They report that “By taking a vow of silence, you’re making a powerful statement about the important issue of anti-LGBT bullying, and when you organize others to join you that message becomes stronger.”
My niece noted that, for all the talk about diversity, there sure was a lot of emphasis put on conforming, even though they said participation in the day of silence was voluntary. (Thankfully, she had the fortitude to NOT conform, and did not stay silent on that day.)
It’s bad enough that the whole issue has been couched in such positive terminology as diversity, tolerance, “awareness”, and the like, in our schools, but what’s worse is that now many of our youth are hearing a similar message at church. As in, living a homosexual lifestyle can’t be sin because God made them that way.
That doctrine is scary, but unfortunately not too surprising, as the liberal church (and now even some “conservative” ones) have been following the culture’s prevailing “wisdom”, just being a few steps behind.
You’re so right in your opening statement: “If there has ever been a time where raising discerning children, able to rightly divide the Word of truth is important, it is now.” And this: “I’m inclined to say that few things could be more important than teaching our children to think rightly, biblically, learning to hear everything with a discerning mind.” Including what they hear at church. I wish it weren’t true, but it is.
The assault is coming from different directions, and is highly insidious. Sin and perversion is normalized ever so gradually, and is explained away, even embraced and celebrated. Teaching our children to use discernment, to recognize Satan’s subtlety, and to put on the full armor of God, is so needed in these times, as always.
You have said well, “C”. There is little in our culture that has not been slowly accepted and now, as you said, even celebrated in many cases. We’ve even seen abortion go from something hidden and shameful to being celebrated in the name of removing the stigma. Stigma, at all costs, is what supposed to be avoided, even at the expense of upholding truth.
Yes. Abortion is a good example. Evil is called good, and some of those voices that declare so are becoming very strident in their efforts to promote their destructive agenda.