One of my pet peeves lately has been this:
Five-year-old comes home with "Bible verse" he is to learn for this month in Sunday School. I look at "Bible verse" reminder paper. It says: "Jesus loved people..." Matt. 14:14. Now, I don't happen to have that particular verse memorized, but I'm pretty sure those words aren't verbatim. Here's what the verse actually says: "And when Jesus went out He saw a great multitude; and He was moved with compassion for them, and healed their sick." Matthew 14:14
Why do the authors of the children's curriculum think that 5-year-olds couldn't memorize that verse as is? When the conservative revolution happened in the Southern Baptist Convention, we may have won the battle, but we are quickly losing the war. We have GOT to stop dumbing down the teaching and start teaching the truth well from babies to adults. Though we say we believe the Bible is inerrant, we ARE NOT TEACHING IT! My husband teaches a class of young adults, most of whom are at least 10-15 years younger than we are. These young adults grew up in church, went to Sunday School, and do not know much Bible at all. They are the sad product of this watered-down method of teaching. Granted, now that they are adults, they need to be studying the Bible for themselves, but it is extremely sad to me that they were never given more than isolated stories with no context.
In what is becoming something of a theme with me, I am growing more and more convinced that we need to rethink the way we teach the Bible to our children. The Bible is a comprehensive history of God's redemptive plan. To teach isolated stories out of order and out of context and present them with watered down moral lessons is wrong. Our kids need to learn how big God is and how amazing His grace is. We must teach the whole counsel of the Word of God! No wonder these same young adults complain that the Bible is boring, stale, irrelevant. They do not know what a beautiful story of grace it really is!
My husband and I have been praying for our church for a long time now, and I believe God is beginning to open our eyes. First of all, our pastor is encouraging us and teaching us to really begin praying for revival.
As for our own family, what we've been doing is taking the scripture reference and teaching the boys the actual verse from the Bible. What a novel concept! And we are also still working through the catechism material we got from the Founders Ministries, but we really need to step that up, I think. So, we are praying for revival, praying God will show us what needs to change in our own lives, and thanking Him for every step we see this church take in the right direction. Only the Holy Spirit can bring about the heart change we all need.
10 comments:
Hi Rebekah. I came over from everydaymommy. You are so right! I attended a Christian school for my first six years and we had scripture to memorize every DAY! It was from the KJV which is rough for little ones. But once I accepted Christ, it all came back just as though I had just learned it!
You're also right about the dumbing down of the church. It's not only with children, it seems to be directed at everyone. Lots of churches are not standing on the Word and taking a stand "in the middle".
We do need revival.
Oh, to meditate on His Word, day and night. We've been memorizing the book of 1 John in the NKJV as a family, working with another family from our fellowship, children reciting to children, parents to parents. What a rich time as a family to work through the week on reciting 29 verses to each other! God is ministering to my heart through our 6 year old speaking His truths! Keep up the memorization! My 72 father in law says that it is what he memorized as a little child that comes to mind now in the night watches. Grace and peace to you and yours!
All's grace,
Ann V.
I just discovered your blog and I really enjoy it. And I know what you mean about the memory verses. My 3-year-old has been memorizing long passages like Proverbs 3:5,6 just from listening to his sisters practice. Too often, we underestimate our childrens' capabilities. My 7-year-old has been learning from God's Word ON HER OWN for over a year. It's AMAZING the revelation she receives. I believe it's because we've never doubted that she CAN hear directly from God. We ENCOURAGE it.
We use nothing but the KJV. I don't want the word of God to be dumbed down for me. It shouldn't sound like everyday conversation. I love the accuracy of the KJV, the only version without a copyright (the word of God shouldn't be copyrighted; words of man are copyrighted); it is public domain.
Rebekah, You have my heart on this! We are inheriting a generation of young adults who do not know the fullness of God's Word. I'm so excited to see your zeal based on the knowledge and understanding of God's truths given in God's Words. I'll be praying that revival comes to you and yours with passion and fire of refinement.
Look into Children Desiring God Curriculum. It is published by Desiring God Ministries (John Piper's ministry). It is wonderful stuff!!! I can't praise it enough. It is the complete opposite of LifeWay. I feel your pain! Been there, done that, bought the t-shirt.
Amen!Amen!Amen! I've had this conversation more times than I can count...and also why they only cover certain Bible stories.
I saw a study on children now and children decades ago...it was a comparison. I have to say that it was pitiful!
We've been trying to learn whole passages of scripture at home...my children have successfully memorized III John and are now working on II John. They are very short, but so very deep. I'm not sure where we will go from here.
Lifeway does need to rethink their curriculum, but in the meantime, we as parents need to remember that it is our responsibility alone to train our children and raise them the way He expects for us to.
Thank you for such a great post!!
Tracy
The so called conservative movement you referred to, Rebbeka, has rapidly eroded. Just for an instance, the late Dr. Adrian Rodgers was a good friend and supporter of Rick Warren. Here is post entitled "You're going to have to Fight"
http://judahslion.blogspot.com/2006/12/you-will-have-to-fight-w-e-live-in.html
Amen! My daughter is only 3, but I need to start now with encouraging her to memorize Scripture. Thanks for a great reminder!
I totally agree. Children can learn the whole verse...esp 5 year olds! That's bad!
Our church uses the Desiring God children's curriculum...we love it!
2nd what Leslie said!
Kim
Post a Comment