I had a brief debate yesterday morning with a young man, a first or second grader, who was not buying the Bible's notion of a six-day creation. It was very brief; I didn't intend to engage in any kind of contest and I didn't expect to win if I tried.
Already in his early years of, I assume, public education, this young man had been taught, and was firmly convinced, that the earth was millions of years old, the dinosaurs and man could not have been created at the same time or lived peacefully together on the earth, and the dinosaurs perished millions of years ago because of a "big volcano." (Maybe it was not public education, after all, but children's television and movies.)
That God's Word is true, a reliable source of information about all that it teaches, including a six-day creation, is ultimately a matter of faith. So I made my case, in language that I hoped the others in the mixed-age class could understand. "This is what the Bible says. The Bible also promises forgiveness of sins to all people who, like Adam and Eve, have sinned and turned away from God and then hear again God's Word of salvation through the sacrifice of Jesus."
But I'm praying for that young man, and for all the other children who hear God's Word, that their hearts will be open to hear it. And I hurt for the many ways that tender faith will be challenged as children encounter a world that does not believe what the Bible teaches.
God bless all of you who take time to teach God's children His Word.
How would you have handled this encounter?
At what age should be engage children in "serious theological discussion"?
Already in his early years of, I assume, public education, this young man had been taught, and was firmly convinced, that the earth was millions of years old, the dinosaurs and man could not have been created at the same time or lived peacefully together on the earth, and the dinosaurs perished millions of years ago because of a "big volcano." (Maybe it was not public education, after all, but children's television and movies.)
That God's Word is true, a reliable source of information about all that it teaches, including a six-day creation, is ultimately a matter of faith. So I made my case, in language that I hoped the others in the mixed-age class could understand. "This is what the Bible says. The Bible also promises forgiveness of sins to all people who, like Adam and Eve, have sinned and turned away from God and then hear again God's Word of salvation through the sacrifice of Jesus."
But I'm praying for that young man, and for all the other children who hear God's Word, that their hearts will be open to hear it. And I hurt for the many ways that tender faith will be challenged as children encounter a world that does not believe what the Bible teaches.
God bless all of you who take time to teach God's children His Word.
How would you have handled this encounter?
At what age should be engage children in "serious theological discussion"?
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