Fearlessly Courageous
Desk of Dennis Piller
12/16/2021
The false concept: Faith is caught…Not Taught! Part 2
Yesterday we talked about how our trust in Jesus, as parents, may or may not rub off on our kids, and shouldn’t be our primary goal in discipleship.
A deep understanding of the reasons for faith
is not something that’s simply “caught.”
Here are just a few major concepts that will never be passively caught
based on how you live out your Christian faith:
• What objective evidence is there for the existence of God?
• Do science and God contradict one another?
• Can all religions point to the same truth?
• What historical evidence is there for the resurrection?
• Was Christianity copied from pagan religions?
• How do we know that the Gospels are based on reliable eyewitness testimony?
• How do we know that the Bible we have today hasn’t been corrupted in the copying process over hundreds of years?
• How can a good God permit so much evil and suffering?
These things are taught.
These are important questions kids, of all ages, need to understand given the challenges today…and these important questions won’t be grasped deeply just by watching how you live your faith and the need to proactively teach is woven throughout Scripture:
• “Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them fade from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them”
(Deuteronomy 4:9).
• “…he commanded our ancestors to teach their children, so the next generation would know them, even the children yet to be born, and they, in turn, would tell their children” (Psalm 78:5-6).
• “Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction and do not forsake your mother’s teaching” (Proverbs 1:8).
• “Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4).
There’s a good reason the Bible tells us to teach and train and not just keep walking with the Lord while kids look on. Those eyes can’t physically see all that needs to be mentally learned. And as long as Christian parents think all they need to do is model what it looks like to put their trust in Jesus, kids will keep struggling when challenged on the justification for such a life. What will be their personal basis of truth then they are challenged in high school or especially college and beyond. Without God’s biblical and historical truth taught to them, they will crumble and grow silent, as would you and I without knowing the true facts.
Does passing on an understanding of all the good reasons for faith mean a child will necessarily follow Jesus? Not at all. But when we’re obedient in our calling to be teachers (not just walkers!), we can be confident that we have given our kids the opportunity to develop their own trust in Jesus and didn’t simply encourage them to borrow our convictions.
And that goes for anyone we might be leading to the Lord!
Made a Way Travis Greene
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIklEqT0GLI
Excerpts are taken from Natasha Crain The Idea That Faith is Caught and Not Taught is False…and It’s Hurting the Next Generation
