This1954 performance by Four Star Playhouse, entitled "Never Explain", sympathetically portrays a single father who has opted to teach his son and daughter at home.
Tuesday, August 21, 2018
Monday, February 26, 2018
Covenantal Child Development (Infancy), 3
Lesson 3: Baby Faith
But you brought me out of the womb.
You made me trust at my mother's breasts.
I was thrown on you from my mother's womb.
You are my God since my mother bore me (Psalm 22:9-10, WEB).
The people of Old Covenant Israel sang the Psalms, including the one above, as a normal part of their worship. This inspired song led them to believe that they each enjoyed a personal, faith-based relationship with God from the beginning. In this lesson, I want to answer the questions:
Let me begin by saying that I know that Psalm 22 is a Messianic Psalm, so first and foremost, it's about Jesus. On the other hand, it also has an historical application, and ancient Israelites sang it in the first person. Therefore Jesus is not the only one who can claim He trusted God at His mother's breasts.
Before I ask you to examine this issue of faith, however, I want to remind you of the main point of the last lesson. The infant in the cradle has to grapple with a deep spiritual reality. He must begin to put together the rudiments of his worldview, and he must either use self or God as the orientation point for that worldview.
Another way to put this is to say that a baby has to decide how it's going to relate to the God who confronts him, even in the cradle. I know it seems strange to think this way, but we accept the fact that beings without the power of language or reason form fundamental relationships all the time. Think of a puppy or a kitten.
The puppy wags its tail as it licks the face of anyone who shows it attention. The kitten purrs as you stroke its fur. These little creatures have no words and no reason, yet they orient themselves to people in these ways.
As the puppy or kitten can relate to humans, so baby humans can relate to God. God is simply there, and they must orient themselves to Him one way or another. They will either trust Him or try to shut Him out.
The Bible tells us that, "The wicked go astray from the womb. They are wayward as soon as they are born, speaking lies" (Psalm 58:3). On the other hand, a man from a covenant family may say, "I have relied on you from the womb. You are he who took me out of my mother's womb. I will always praise you" (Psalm 71:6).
These verses provide additional evidence from Scripture that children make their fundamental orientation toward God even from the womb.
The best word I can think of for this kind of fundamental orientation is "attitude". Your attitude is how you relate to someone [or some thing] in the inmost part of your being. You can relate to someone with an attitude of kindness or contempt, trust or suspicion.
Your attitude, then, refers to the way that you, in the inner man, relate to another. This manner of relating is so basic, that it can exist apart from language or reason. That is why I call attitudes "fundamental" orientations. And when it comes to saving faith, the indispensable dimension is attitude.
The word "faith", as used in the Bible, actually has three dimensions. One is the cognitive or intellectual dimension. This aspect of faith affirms certain facts as true (e.g., I believe that Jesus rose from the dead).
Another facet of faith is behavioral, for the word translated "faith" in the New Testament can also mean "faithfulness". I think this is what James was getting at in his epistle when he said that works makes faith perfect. This is the outward visible part of your faith that testifies to the reality and presence of the inward aspects.
Finally, there is the dispositional or relational dimension of faith. It is an attitude of trust. Preachers appeal to this when they say that it's not enough to believe THAT the bridge can hold you, but you must commit your weight by stepping out onto the bridge (a behavioral response that confirms an inner attitude).
The word that best describes this innermost dimension of faith is "trust". That is the word used in Psalm 22:9, quoted at the beginning of this lesson. And that is the dimension of faith that determines the difference between saved and lost.
Now I would like to apply all this to your your baby. I am writing this to Christian parents of very young children. Your infant child right now is either a believer or an unbeliever. What, ultimately, makes the difference? I can answer in one word: GRACE!
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God . . . (Eph. 2:8, WEB).
Faith -- particularly, faith as an attitude – is a work of God's grace in the human heart. That is the same no matter what the age or mental development of a person is. Faith is a work wrought in the human spirit by the grace of God alone.
Do you remember how in a previous lesson I mentioned that all children come with an inborn bias against God (Original Sin)? Well, apart from His grace you relate to God according to that bias. Grace is the free gift of God that gives you the ability to relate to Him in a better way than your bias dictates.
At the end of yesterday's lesson, I challenged you to begin praying about your child's spiritual state. Not what he may do at some date in the dim future, but about the spiritual issues he's dealing with right now. From today's lesson you can see that you may pray specifically for God's grace to intervene with the gift of faith RIGHT NOW.
You do not need to wait five, eight or twelve years to pray that your child come to Christ. The Holy Spirit is with the child, confronting him even from the womb. John the Baptist, while still in Elizabeth's womb, recognized the presence of Jesus and leaped for joy (Luke 1:43-44). That demonstrates a fundamental orientation of trust in God.
Moreover, even if your child does not become a believer from infancy, you have many reassurances from the Word of God that your child will receive that special grace to believe -- if you, as a parent fulfill the covenantal conditions for the promises God has made.
The good news is that the key to claiming God's covenantal promises regarding children lies in something we have been discussing throughout this lesson, namely faith. Only here, it's your own faith that makes the difference.
In the next lesson, I want to present to you the Biblically warranted parental faith that will lay hold of God's trans-generational covenantal promise.
But you brought me out of the womb.
You made me trust at my mother's breasts.
I was thrown on you from my mother's womb.
You are my God since my mother bore me (Psalm 22:9-10, WEB).
The people of Old Covenant Israel sang the Psalms, including the one above, as a normal part of their worship. This inspired song led them to believe that they each enjoyed a personal, faith-based relationship with God from the beginning. In this lesson, I want to answer the questions:
- How such a thing can be?
- Can this be true for Christian families today?
Let me begin by saying that I know that Psalm 22 is a Messianic Psalm, so first and foremost, it's about Jesus. On the other hand, it also has an historical application, and ancient Israelites sang it in the first person. Therefore Jesus is not the only one who can claim He trusted God at His mother's breasts.
Before I ask you to examine this issue of faith, however, I want to remind you of the main point of the last lesson. The infant in the cradle has to grapple with a deep spiritual reality. He must begin to put together the rudiments of his worldview, and he must either use self or God as the orientation point for that worldview.
Another way to put this is to say that a baby has to decide how it's going to relate to the God who confronts him, even in the cradle. I know it seems strange to think this way, but we accept the fact that beings without the power of language or reason form fundamental relationships all the time. Think of a puppy or a kitten.
The puppy wags its tail as it licks the face of anyone who shows it attention. The kitten purrs as you stroke its fur. These little creatures have no words and no reason, yet they orient themselves to people in these ways.
As the puppy or kitten can relate to humans, so baby humans can relate to God. God is simply there, and they must orient themselves to Him one way or another. They will either trust Him or try to shut Him out.
The Bible tells us that, "The wicked go astray from the womb. They are wayward as soon as they are born, speaking lies" (Psalm 58:3). On the other hand, a man from a covenant family may say, "I have relied on you from the womb. You are he who took me out of my mother's womb. I will always praise you" (Psalm 71:6).
These verses provide additional evidence from Scripture that children make their fundamental orientation toward God even from the womb.
The best word I can think of for this kind of fundamental orientation is "attitude". Your attitude is how you relate to someone [or some thing] in the inmost part of your being. You can relate to someone with an attitude of kindness or contempt, trust or suspicion.
Your attitude, then, refers to the way that you, in the inner man, relate to another. This manner of relating is so basic, that it can exist apart from language or reason. That is why I call attitudes "fundamental" orientations. And when it comes to saving faith, the indispensable dimension is attitude.
The word "faith", as used in the Bible, actually has three dimensions. One is the cognitive or intellectual dimension. This aspect of faith affirms certain facts as true (e.g., I believe that Jesus rose from the dead).
Another facet of faith is behavioral, for the word translated "faith" in the New Testament can also mean "faithfulness". I think this is what James was getting at in his epistle when he said that works makes faith perfect. This is the outward visible part of your faith that testifies to the reality and presence of the inward aspects.
Finally, there is the dispositional or relational dimension of faith. It is an attitude of trust. Preachers appeal to this when they say that it's not enough to believe THAT the bridge can hold you, but you must commit your weight by stepping out onto the bridge (a behavioral response that confirms an inner attitude).
The word that best describes this innermost dimension of faith is "trust". That is the word used in Psalm 22:9, quoted at the beginning of this lesson. And that is the dimension of faith that determines the difference between saved and lost.
Now I would like to apply all this to your your baby. I am writing this to Christian parents of very young children. Your infant child right now is either a believer or an unbeliever. What, ultimately, makes the difference? I can answer in one word: GRACE!
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God . . . (Eph. 2:8, WEB).
Faith -- particularly, faith as an attitude – is a work of God's grace in the human heart. That is the same no matter what the age or mental development of a person is. Faith is a work wrought in the human spirit by the grace of God alone.
Do you remember how in a previous lesson I mentioned that all children come with an inborn bias against God (Original Sin)? Well, apart from His grace you relate to God according to that bias. Grace is the free gift of God that gives you the ability to relate to Him in a better way than your bias dictates.
At the end of yesterday's lesson, I challenged you to begin praying about your child's spiritual state. Not what he may do at some date in the dim future, but about the spiritual issues he's dealing with right now. From today's lesson you can see that you may pray specifically for God's grace to intervene with the gift of faith RIGHT NOW.
You do not need to wait five, eight or twelve years to pray that your child come to Christ. The Holy Spirit is with the child, confronting him even from the womb. John the Baptist, while still in Elizabeth's womb, recognized the presence of Jesus and leaped for joy (Luke 1:43-44). That demonstrates a fundamental orientation of trust in God.
Moreover, even if your child does not become a believer from infancy, you have many reassurances from the Word of God that your child will receive that special grace to believe -- if you, as a parent fulfill the covenantal conditions for the promises God has made.
The good news is that the key to claiming God's covenantal promises regarding children lies in something we have been discussing throughout this lesson, namely faith. Only here, it's your own faith that makes the difference.
In the next lesson, I want to present to you the Biblically warranted parental faith that will lay hold of God's trans-generational covenantal promise.
Saturday, February 24, 2018
Covenantal Child Development (Infancy), 2
Lesson 2: Born to Interpret, part II
In the previous lesson, you saw that an infant in the cradle is not intellectually idle. He is busy putting together the fundamental interpretive standards around which he will continue to construct his worldview. Today, I want you to consider the spiritual implications of the baby's worldview activity.
You and I have become so accustomed to language and rational thought that it's hard for us to imagine the baby's consciousness. No words… No concepts… Nothing but you. . . AND GOD.
The Bible makes it clear that God confronts every person in the world. We can see this plainly in Psalm 139.
YHWH, you have searched me, and You know me.
You know my sitting down and my rising up.
You perceive my thoughts from afar.
You search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways.
For there is not a word on my tongue, but, behold, YHWH, You know it altogether.
You hem me in behind and before. You laid your hand on me.
This knowledge is beyond me. It's lofty .I can't attain it.
Where could I go from Your Spirit?
Or where could I flee from Your presence?
If I ascend up into heaven, You are there.
If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there!
If I take the wings of the dawn, and settle in the uttermost parts of the sea;
Even there Your hand will lead me, and your right hand will hold me.
If I say, "Surely the darkness will overwhelm me; the light around me will be night;" even the darkness doesn't hide from You, but the night shines as the day. The darkness is like light to you.
For you formed my inmost being. You knit me together in my mother's womb.
I will give thanks to you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Your works are wonderful. My soul knows that very well.
My frame wasn't hidden from you, when I was made in secret, woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my body.
In your book they were all written, the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there were none of them.
Imagine how hard it would be to ignore God if all thoughts and mental concepts were wiped away. Nothing left, but the reality of you and Him. Nevertheless, apart from His grace, everyone suppresses that knowledge. Look at Romans 1:18-20 (WEB):
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known of God is revealed in them, for God revealed it to them. For the invisible things of him since the creation of the world are clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made, even his everlasting power and divinity; that they may be without excuse.
Rejection of God is the core and essence of sin. I came into this world a God-rejecting sinner, and so did you. The Psalmist says, "Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity. In sin my mother conceived me" (Psalm 51:5, WEB).
This means that from the beginning – even before birth, going back to conception -- a child exercises an anti-God bias. Theologians have named this inborn bias "Original Sin". The question before us is how that bias affects the origin and development of a child's worldview.
You have already seen that a newborn does not have the ability to make sense of what he encounters in the world around him. But because of an innate drive, he starts making mental connections that will help him understand the input from his eyes, ears and other sensory organs. For a worldview, it's rudimentary, but it fits our definition of a worldview, nonetheless.
The point I now want to make is that every worldview has an ultimate reference point. Your worldview is either rooted in yourself or in your Creator. No exceptions. (Even the ancient pagan religious worldviews started with gods that resembled man -- Rom. 1:22 23.)
This means that as little Junior coos in his cradle, piecing together the beginnings of his worldview, he has a choice to make. A deeply spiritual choice with far-reaching implications. He must choose whether he will orient his interpretation of the world around the Creator whose presence he cannot escape, or around himself.
Let that sink in a moment. Long before he ever learns to read the Bible, or to sing "Jesus Loves Me", or to understand a gospel message, your baby has made a choice. The choice is real, and God recognizes the choice and its eternal implications as valid. He has chosen himself as the reference point for his worldview. Or has he?
Our God is a gracious God, and He does not leave His people without hope for them or for their children. "For the promise is to you, and to your children . . .” (Acts 2:39) The vehicle for these intergenerational blessings is something the Bible calls a covenant.
Christian marriage is a covenant before God. The LORD instituted the marriage covenant in order to raise up godly offspring. In the Bible we read, "Did He not make one, although He had the residue of the Spirit? Why one? He sought a godly seed" (Micah 2:15).
God is not limited in the free exercise of His grace. He confronts your child, even from the womb. And if the baby has the ability to reject God from the beginning, then He can give the child grace and ability to make the right choice, as well.
While these teachings may sound unfamiliar to you, I invite you to search the Scriptures to see if these things be so. If you are a Christian, your child is holy (literally, "a saint" I Cor. 7:14) before God. He never meant for you to consider that the salvation of your child is random or uncertain. It rests upon conditional promises just as certainly as your own salvation does.
We are coming to the end of this lesson, but before I close I want you, as a parent who loves and nurtures a little child to ask yourself how you pray for that little one. Do you pray that your child will "someday" come to Jesus? What about now?
Under the fluffy blankets, and beneath the soft flannel sleeper, a mighty conflict rages for the soul of your child. You have strong promises from God to claim. Do you pray about what is happening even now in your child's heart?
"Heavenly Father, we thank You for the great and wondrous salvation which You wrought for us in Christ. Right now we pray for our children and grandchildren of all ages. Fulfill your covenant promises; bring our children to repentance and saving faith in our Lord Jesus. Help us, as parents and grandparents to learn all the conditions you place upon us, and give us the grace to fulfill those conditions that we may see our children grow up as godly people. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen."
In the next lesson we will talk about the various facets of faith, and how old your child must be to have saving faith. In the meantime, if you'd like to know more about what the covenant means to you and to your child, why not order a copy of "Rearing Faithful Children" and read the chapter entitled, "Life in the Covenant with Father"?
Copyright 2006
By Craig Mutton
Standard Copyright License
In the previous lesson, you saw that an infant in the cradle is not intellectually idle. He is busy putting together the fundamental interpretive standards around which he will continue to construct his worldview. Today, I want you to consider the spiritual implications of the baby's worldview activity.
You and I have become so accustomed to language and rational thought that it's hard for us to imagine the baby's consciousness. No words… No concepts… Nothing but you. . . AND GOD.
The Bible makes it clear that God confronts every person in the world. We can see this plainly in Psalm 139.
YHWH, you have searched me, and You know me.
You know my sitting down and my rising up.
You perceive my thoughts from afar.
You search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways.
For there is not a word on my tongue, but, behold, YHWH, You know it altogether.
You hem me in behind and before. You laid your hand on me.
This knowledge is beyond me. It's lofty .I can't attain it.
Where could I go from Your Spirit?
Or where could I flee from Your presence?
If I ascend up into heaven, You are there.
If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, You are there!
If I take the wings of the dawn, and settle in the uttermost parts of the sea;
Even there Your hand will lead me, and your right hand will hold me.
If I say, "Surely the darkness will overwhelm me; the light around me will be night;" even the darkness doesn't hide from You, but the night shines as the day. The darkness is like light to you.
For you formed my inmost being. You knit me together in my mother's womb.
I will give thanks to you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Your works are wonderful. My soul knows that very well.
My frame wasn't hidden from you, when I was made in secret, woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my body.
In your book they were all written, the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there were none of them.
Imagine how hard it would be to ignore God if all thoughts and mental concepts were wiped away. Nothing left, but the reality of you and Him. Nevertheless, apart from His grace, everyone suppresses that knowledge. Look at Romans 1:18-20 (WEB):
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known of God is revealed in them, for God revealed it to them. For the invisible things of him since the creation of the world are clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made, even his everlasting power and divinity; that they may be without excuse.
Rejection of God is the core and essence of sin. I came into this world a God-rejecting sinner, and so did you. The Psalmist says, "Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity. In sin my mother conceived me" (Psalm 51:5, WEB).
This means that from the beginning – even before birth, going back to conception -- a child exercises an anti-God bias. Theologians have named this inborn bias "Original Sin". The question before us is how that bias affects the origin and development of a child's worldview.
You have already seen that a newborn does not have the ability to make sense of what he encounters in the world around him. But because of an innate drive, he starts making mental connections that will help him understand the input from his eyes, ears and other sensory organs. For a worldview, it's rudimentary, but it fits our definition of a worldview, nonetheless.
The point I now want to make is that every worldview has an ultimate reference point. Your worldview is either rooted in yourself or in your Creator. No exceptions. (Even the ancient pagan religious worldviews started with gods that resembled man -- Rom. 1:22 23.)
This means that as little Junior coos in his cradle, piecing together the beginnings of his worldview, he has a choice to make. A deeply spiritual choice with far-reaching implications. He must choose whether he will orient his interpretation of the world around the Creator whose presence he cannot escape, or around himself.
Let that sink in a moment. Long before he ever learns to read the Bible, or to sing "Jesus Loves Me", or to understand a gospel message, your baby has made a choice. The choice is real, and God recognizes the choice and its eternal implications as valid. He has chosen himself as the reference point for his worldview. Or has he?
Our God is a gracious God, and He does not leave His people without hope for them or for their children. "For the promise is to you, and to your children . . .” (Acts 2:39) The vehicle for these intergenerational blessings is something the Bible calls a covenant.
Christian marriage is a covenant before God. The LORD instituted the marriage covenant in order to raise up godly offspring. In the Bible we read, "Did He not make one, although He had the residue of the Spirit? Why one? He sought a godly seed" (Micah 2:15).
God is not limited in the free exercise of His grace. He confronts your child, even from the womb. And if the baby has the ability to reject God from the beginning, then He can give the child grace and ability to make the right choice, as well.
While these teachings may sound unfamiliar to you, I invite you to search the Scriptures to see if these things be so. If you are a Christian, your child is holy (literally, "a saint" I Cor. 7:14) before God. He never meant for you to consider that the salvation of your child is random or uncertain. It rests upon conditional promises just as certainly as your own salvation does.
We are coming to the end of this lesson, but before I close I want you, as a parent who loves and nurtures a little child to ask yourself how you pray for that little one. Do you pray that your child will "someday" come to Jesus? What about now?
Under the fluffy blankets, and beneath the soft flannel sleeper, a mighty conflict rages for the soul of your child. You have strong promises from God to claim. Do you pray about what is happening even now in your child's heart?
"Heavenly Father, we thank You for the great and wondrous salvation which You wrought for us in Christ. Right now we pray for our children and grandchildren of all ages. Fulfill your covenant promises; bring our children to repentance and saving faith in our Lord Jesus. Help us, as parents and grandparents to learn all the conditions you place upon us, and give us the grace to fulfill those conditions that we may see our children grow up as godly people. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen."
In the next lesson we will talk about the various facets of faith, and how old your child must be to have saving faith. In the meantime, if you'd like to know more about what the covenant means to you and to your child, why not order a copy of "Rearing Faithful Children" and read the chapter entitled, "Life in the Covenant with Father"?
Copyright 2006
By Craig Mutton
Standard Copyright License
Monday, February 19, 2018
Covenantal Child Development (Infancy), 1
Lesson 1: Born to Interpret
Look at the little baby in your arms. Gurgling, cooing, and waving its tiny arms and legs. You would hardly suspect that this child is working on the intellectual project of a lifetime -- and making a momentous decision about it, as well.
Before we get to that, I want to talk to you about some well-established facts about infancy.
A newborn baby is receiving all kinds of new information through his senses. He sees lights, colors; he hears various sounds; he feels all kinds of feelings,both pleasant and unpleasant. The fascinating thing about all this is that the baby does not understand any of it.
The infant's eyes receive all the data from the room around him, and his nerves pass that information along to the brain. The problem is that his mind has no means to interpret all this information. Patterns of light and colors. That's all he perceives.
Researchers in child development have even determined that the newborn in the bassinette, wildly waving his arms, sees the motion. But he does not realize that he is causing the motion, or that the things he sees moving are a part of him. That connection comes over a period of weeks.
Over time, an infant finally makes the connection... that the arms and legs he sees belong to him... that this particular pattern of light and shade and color is a face (Mommy's face!)... and so on. The fact that he makes those connections testifies to the fact that God has built something into the child that drives him to make sense out what he sees and hears and feels.
A child born without a particular sense -- let's say sight -- could never develop a mental pattern to interpret sight pictures. We find a clue to this in Scripture (Mark 8:23-25).
He took hold of the blind man by the hand, and brought him out of the village. When he had spit on his eyes, and laid his hands on him, he asked him if he saw anything. He looked up, and said, "I see men; for I see them like trees walking." Then again he laid his hands on his eyes. He looked intently, and was restored, and saw every-one clearly. (WEB)
Jesus did something truly unusual here. First He healed the man's physical organs of sight. They could pick up light and send signals to the man's brain. But evidently, the man -- blind from birth -- had no way to interpret what he saw.
The only way he could tell that the blobs he saw were men, rather than trees is that he already knew that trees do not move. At that point Jesus goes beyond the mere healing of physical organs. He lays hands on the man's eyes and implants in him the mental patterns necessary to interpret the information coming in from his eyes.
Jesus does not implant that ability in newborns. Instead, God gives the newborn the drive to form a mental pattern -- a grid -- for himself. As adults we call this interpretive grid a "worldview". Thus we can say that, from the beginning, each one of us has had the inborn drive to construct his own worldview.
The Bible tells us, "The hearing ear, and the seeing eye, YHWH has made even both of them" (Prov. 20:12). I don't think I'm straying from Scripture when I say that God designed not only the physical eye and ear, but also the process by which the mind grows to make sense out of what these physical organs detect. Certainly, the child's worldview will take years to develop and mature, but the discerning Christian parent will recognize that the process does not begin with formal education. It is going on in the cradle.
Copyright 2006
By Craig Mutton
Standard Copyright License
Look at the little baby in your arms. Gurgling, cooing, and waving its tiny arms and legs. You would hardly suspect that this child is working on the intellectual project of a lifetime -- and making a momentous decision about it, as well.
Before we get to that, I want to talk to you about some well-established facts about infancy.
A newborn baby is receiving all kinds of new information through his senses. He sees lights, colors; he hears various sounds; he feels all kinds of feelings,both pleasant and unpleasant. The fascinating thing about all this is that the baby does not understand any of it.
The infant's eyes receive all the data from the room around him, and his nerves pass that information along to the brain. The problem is that his mind has no means to interpret all this information. Patterns of light and colors. That's all he perceives.
Researchers in child development have even determined that the newborn in the bassinette, wildly waving his arms, sees the motion. But he does not realize that he is causing the motion, or that the things he sees moving are a part of him. That connection comes over a period of weeks.
Over time, an infant finally makes the connection... that the arms and legs he sees belong to him... that this particular pattern of light and shade and color is a face (Mommy's face!)... and so on. The fact that he makes those connections testifies to the fact that God has built something into the child that drives him to make sense out what he sees and hears and feels.
A child born without a particular sense -- let's say sight -- could never develop a mental pattern to interpret sight pictures. We find a clue to this in Scripture (Mark 8:23-25).
He took hold of the blind man by the hand, and brought him out of the village. When he had spit on his eyes, and laid his hands on him, he asked him if he saw anything. He looked up, and said, "I see men; for I see them like trees walking." Then again he laid his hands on his eyes. He looked intently, and was restored, and saw every-one clearly. (WEB)
Jesus did something truly unusual here. First He healed the man's physical organs of sight. They could pick up light and send signals to the man's brain. But evidently, the man -- blind from birth -- had no way to interpret what he saw.
The only way he could tell that the blobs he saw were men, rather than trees is that he already knew that trees do not move. At that point Jesus goes beyond the mere healing of physical organs. He lays hands on the man's eyes and implants in him the mental patterns necessary to interpret the information coming in from his eyes.
Jesus does not implant that ability in newborns. Instead, God gives the newborn the drive to form a mental pattern -- a grid -- for himself. As adults we call this interpretive grid a "worldview". Thus we can say that, from the beginning, each one of us has had the inborn drive to construct his own worldview.
The Bible tells us, "The hearing ear, and the seeing eye, YHWH has made even both of them" (Prov. 20:12). I don't think I'm straying from Scripture when I say that God designed not only the physical eye and ear, but also the process by which the mind grows to make sense out of what these physical organs detect. Certainly, the child's worldview will take years to develop and mature, but the discerning Christian parent will recognize that the process does not begin with formal education. It is going on in the cradle.
Copyright 2006
By Craig Mutton
Standard Copyright License
Sunday, January 7, 2018
The Weakest Links in Home Education
Okay, if you've followed my blog(s) for any length of time, you know that I vehemently oppose the practice of Christians turning their covenant children over to a godless educational (indoctrination) system. After all, what's the point of protecting your child physically and morally from all the predators around us and then just turning his soul over to the wolf pack.
Further, you have probably gathered that I believe in Christian home education as the potentially best -- but not the only -- option, with a couple of big caveats. So, what are the weak links in Christian home education? Let me give you the two most relevant: a) You; b) Your curriculum.
Many Christian parents who want to educate their children at home have only a vague notion of what constitutes a Biblical worldview. Worldview has become a buzzword that purveyors of curriculum materials and home-school conferences bandy about with little regard to the specific content of the term.
As a result, well-meaning home educators who received their training in humanistic public or quasi-Christian schools end up choosing curriculum materials infected with unbiblical presuppositions. Many do not realize that as important as creation vs. evolution and the Biblical family model vs. perverted lifestyles may be, a fully Biblical worldview involves a lot more.
If you have children or grandchildren and you're concerned that they grow up into a vital Christian faith that embrace the whole of life, you owe it to yourself to do some reading and research in the field of Biblical worldview issues.
Here's where I recommend you start:
Gary North has just begun a free download of the week program through which you can obtain pdf. copies of all his economic commentaries. (Click Here)
Far from an exercise in dry theory, these books will lead you into the exciting adventure of seeing the world around you from God's perspective as He has revealed it in Holy Scripture.
Further, you have probably gathered that I believe in Christian home education as the potentially best -- but not the only -- option, with a couple of big caveats. So, what are the weak links in Christian home education? Let me give you the two most relevant: a) You; b) Your curriculum.
Many Christian parents who want to educate their children at home have only a vague notion of what constitutes a Biblical worldview. Worldview has become a buzzword that purveyors of curriculum materials and home-school conferences bandy about with little regard to the specific content of the term.
As a result, well-meaning home educators who received their training in humanistic public or quasi-Christian schools end up choosing curriculum materials infected with unbiblical presuppositions. Many do not realize that as important as creation vs. evolution and the Biblical family model vs. perverted lifestyles may be, a fully Biblical worldview involves a lot more.
If you have children or grandchildren and you're concerned that they grow up into a vital Christian faith that embrace the whole of life, you owe it to yourself to do some reading and research in the field of Biblical worldview issues.
Here's where I recommend you start:
- Rousas J. Rushdoony's Philosophy of the Christian Curriculum.
- Gary North's series of economic commentaries on the Bible. While Dr. North's focus lies on what Scripture teaches about economics, his commentaries touch on the application of Scripture to a broad range of knowledge and practice, including law and government as well as social theory and God's will for men individually and corporately.
Gary North has just begun a free download of the week program through which you can obtain pdf. copies of all his economic commentaries. (Click Here)
Far from an exercise in dry theory, these books will lead you into the exciting adventure of seeing the world around you from God's perspective as He has revealed it in Holy Scripture.
Let's protect the sheep from the wolves.
Wednesday, August 3, 2016
Bronze Level WBT Certification
I was pleased to receive the following email which verifies that I have achieved Bronze Level certification in Whole Brain Teaching. I am not ready to pursue Silver Level at present, but I may do so in the future.
Congratulations on your successful completion of the Bronze Level of WBT Certification through your previous earning of certification points! Not an easy task!
If it is your decision to continue in the certification process, your next step is to email me a well-composed essay describing why you should be chosen to receive your own personal WBT Guide to assist you in successfully completing the requirements for Silver Certification! In your essay, please include your email address, grade level/subject, school site, and location. Mention any Honors you received during your certification journey to this point!
If accepted, you will be contacted by your WBT Guide with directions for completing Silver Certification, which includes essay questions and short classroom videos. Upon successful completion, your name will be proudly inscribed on the Silver Leaderboard, making you eligible to work for Gold!
Contact me with any questions! Have a great Monday!
Nancy Stoltenberg
Director of WBT Certification and International Relations
Executive Board Member Whole Brain Teachers of America
NancyStoltenberg@
Twitter: @NancyStoltenber
Saturday, July 18, 2015
Gospel Words and Gospel Deeds
The strategy for making disciples involves Gospel deeds and Gospel words. We must engage in Gospel deeds to show the community that we care.
Gospel deeds do not validate the message. Because we speak the message of God's Word, it comes in the Spirit and in power, and it validates itself in the hearts of those who hear.
Gospel deeds do not validate the message; they validate the messenger. They gain us a hearing, so the Word may do its work.
David Watson discusses this in the eight-minute video below.
Gospel deeds do not validate the message. Because we speak the message of God's Word, it comes in the Spirit and in power, and it validates itself in the hearts of those who hear.
Gospel deeds do not validate the message; they validate the messenger. They gain us a hearing, so the Word may do its work.
David Watson discusses this in the eight-minute video below.
David Watson from Roy Moran on Vimeo.
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