As every devout Christian in modern America knows, our kids are in danger. There is a distinct possibility, perhaps even likelihood, that if we send them off to college, they will come out apostate. They will have rejected the faith. They will have, at best, ended up lukewarm, and we know what God thinks of "lukewarm". This is not good. Some have responded by homeschooling to better inculcate their kids before they get there. Others have simply decided not to send their kids to college. Or, if they do, send them to a good Christian college. Well, of course, that gets harder and harder to find. Did you know, for instance, that Harvard was founded in 1636 by the Puritans? It's motto was Veritas Christo et Ecclesiae -- "Truth for Christ and the Church". They've shortened it, of course. Now it's Veritas, and neither Christ nor the Church have any part at all. But don't worry. Harvard isn't an isolated case. Yale was founded in 1701 by the Puritans, and we know that there are no puritanical influences left there. The Presbyterians founded Princeton in 1746 and God has been evicted from there, too. Dartmouth was founded in 1769 by the Puritans and, again, has freed itself from its Christian origins. Or how about the most recent debacle? Vanderbilt University was founded in 1873 as a private university for the training of Methodist ministers. Contrast that with their latest move to require Christian organizations to allow anyone to lead them. Campus Christian clubs will not be allowed to prevent an atheist leader from running them because that would be discrimination. Of course, Vanderbilt is not taking its fraternities and sororities to task for discriminating for whatever reason they wish, so it's apparently just the Christians that they want to eliminate. No, finding a "Christian college" that is actually Christian gets harder and harder to do. And the "Christian colleges" that are out there can be more dangerous than the secular ones.
Is that the problem? Is it the lack of Christian universities that is causing our young people to flee the faith? Perhaps the homeschoolers have it right and it's just a lack of earlier education, a failure to provide our kids with the proper information? Is that the problem? I would suggest that, while both are problems, neither are the key issue. How is it that we are building such easy apostasy these days? I don't think the answer is education.
I think the answer is a bit more complex. I would include those difficulties, sure, but I think the real problem is that the real problem is missed. Do you want to know how to build a sure apostate? It's easy. Fake it. That's right. Act like a Christian.
According to recent polls, while 96% of America claims to believe in God (of some sort or another) and something like 70% claim to be Christian (of some sort or another), only 15% actually go to church and ... get this ... only 5% say that their beliefs actually influence how they live. That, my friends, is the recipe for disaster. All the Sunday school and Christian education and proper teaching in the world will not overcome the influence of family and friends who claim to love Jesus while failing to live it. Or, in the words of James, "Faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead" (James 2:17). I'm certain that the biggest problem is that there is too much religiosity and not enough living faith.
Christian parents are required to teach their children. It is a command from God as well as a simple act of love. "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. 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. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates" (Deut 6:4-9). When Jewish children used to ask, "When can I study other philosophies and teachings?" their wise fathers would say, "Well, you are to learn the Word of God when you rise, when you walk, when you sit and when you lie down. Any other time is yours." Education is not to be ignored.
On the other hand, Christ did not say, "Let your good teaching show before others, so that they may hear your good words and give glory to your Father who is in heaven." We are not called to be good wordsmiths. We are called to be living reflections of Christ. We are called to demonstrate where our heart is by treasuring Christ above all else. We are called to be conformed to the image of Christ. We are called to live it, not merely teach it. A son who comes across his mother on her knees before God is much more impressed than the one whose mother tells him to pray but never does. A daughter who sees her father sacrifice for Christ is much more impacted than the one whose father encourages sacrifice without living it. Asking for repentance from children without ever demonstrating it is a much harder lesson to get across.
Sure, education is important. We must teach our children the truth. We must "train up a child in the way he should go." No doubt. We need to prepare our children. Failing to live it, however, is a sure way to erode any sense of reality in the truth being offered in word alone. And, of course, in the final analysis it is not our education or our lives that make the result. It is the work of the Holy Spirit. I'm not suggesting otherwise. I'm simply encouraging parents to remember that actions speak louder than words, that changed hearts make changed lives, and that our kids need to see that in us. Our failure to live Christian lives is the surest way to make apostate children, immunized with small doses of Christianity against Christianity. Let's not make that our legacy.
4 comments:
This is why I thank God that my college freshman has landed in a place where he has a great church and plenty of opportunities to be active and strengthened in his faith.
Yeah, would it have been more helpful for me to write one on how to not build an apostate? "He has a great church" is, for instance, an excellent thing. Teaching them the truth and why before they leave home is an excellent thing. Living the truth is an excellent thing. Maybe that would have been more helpful?
I guess I would say that we've tried to build the foundation before he left and now it's exciting to see him in places where he can live what he's learned as an adult.
I think your approach here is fine. I think too many parents don't really think through the results of how they raise their kids.
Personally, I give all the credit to God, because I know I haven't (as much as I've tried) done the best job I could have as a parent.
Yes, Craig, absolutely key (and perhaps why an approach of "How to avoid building an apostate" might have had its value). We as godly parents are obligated to prepare our kids, to teach them, to equip them, to strengthen them, to guide them. In the end, however, we don't get to make the final decision. While it is generally true ("proverbial") that if you train up a child in the way he should go, when he is old he will not depart from it, parents still don't determine whether or not their children come to Christ in genuine faith. That is God's venue. Being the perfect parent won't make it so. Being an imperfect parent doesn't make it not so. Ultimately, it's in God's hands ... thank God.
Post a Comment