Protecting Our Children?

I read this on Pyromaniacs yesterday. It reminded me of something our minister of music at our former church where we used to live told us about a friend of his who was asked to leave his position as music minister because he sang too much about the cross and the blood of Christ, and they felt this was too violent. When he said he would not leave out those songs, he was fired. And I remember hearing, too, about trends in churches where they want to be ‘seeker sensitive’ they avoid having a cross in the auditorium, because it is offensive to people. I have not had any experience with the particular curriculum that is mentioned on that post I linked, but this discussion does highlight some of the concerns I have about children’s curriculum and children’s Sunday school in general that I have seen. I’ve blogged about those concerns before, so I won’t go off on too much of a rabbit trail today, but to boil down Easter to just talking about Jesus spending time with people He loved and not even mentioning the cross or the resurrection is foolish, in my opinion. This is the epitome of just telling spot stories with moral lessons and ignoring the bigger picture. This is exactly why young people grow up and leave the church, because they have not really been taught the meaning of all those disconnected stories. They are taught to be moral, but not taught why, and not taught the real meaning of the stories and how it all fits together in the plan of redemption. Because, from what I have seen in some of the curriculum I have had experience with, the teaching doesn't get a whole lot better once they leave the preschool department - even the older children are often taught disconnected Bible stories with moral lessons, but no cohesive understanding of how all these stories fit together. In other words, they are not really taught the whole picture of God's redemptive plan. They aren't taught how to read the Bible as God's revelation of Himself and His redemption of our fallen race.

That time in the Upper Room had vastly more significance than just Jesus spending time with people He loved. This was His final time of instruction and preparation of His disciples for the time ahead. This was the Passover to which all Passovers had pointed. Yes, He loved those men, but it was about much more than that. I understand this is more than a preschooler can grasp yet. I understand the desire to keep the teaching age appropriate, but to leave the cross out completely, even at these young preschool ages is not the answer. My children have heard about how Jesus died on the cross and rose again since before they were old enough to understand. Do I bring out the movie The Passion of the Christ and show them in graphic detail or describe every technical aspect of just how awful and just how gory and just how terrible crucifixion was? No. But they do know it was awful and they do know He died, and they do know He rose again. Why do they need to know it was awful? Because our sin is awful, and that is what He died to atone. Our heinous, awful, offensive sin. Even small children need to be taught this, yes, age appropriately, but taught it! You can’t lay a foundation without the cross. And when my children see tears fall from my husband's and my eyes because of our extreme gratitude and awe for such a Savior as we describe to them how awful the cross was and how awful our sin is that He died to atone, don’t you think that makes an impact on them?

The cross is offensive. There is no getting around that. But so is our sin offensive to holy God. If our children are so coddled and sheltered that they are not taught how offensive sin is to a holy God, then we are not telling them the truth. I’m not saying we need to beat them over the head all the time with it, but they do need to know the truth. We’re so afraid of children these days, thinking they are so fragile emotionally that we shelter them from all the wrong things, and expose them to so much else that really is harmful. Our culture is increasingly corrupt morally, shouldn’t we be telling our kids the spiritual truths they need to hear so they can know how holy and how loving our God truly is? If all we are teaching them are nice little moral lessons but not really what it is to be saved, we aren't giving them what they need so they can navigate our corrupt society. God loved us so much that He sent His Son to die a truly awful, offensive, cruel death and atone for our awful, offensive, disgusting sin. And Jesus rose again on the third day – proof that His sacrifice was accepted. The temple veil was torn, top to bottom as He declared, “It is finished.”

No, I will not shelter my children from this truth.