Responsible Christian Parenting

“Train up a child IN THE WAY he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” (Prov.22:6)

All of us as parents have a tremendous responsibility placed on us in the upbringing of those precious sons and daughters entrusted into our care. We dutifully and carefully prepare for and seek to provide everything necessary for our children’s PHYSICAL NEEDS. We want the best education, the best nutrition, the best in safety and security. But if the Lord has graciously brought us to see Christ’s righteousness alone as our ONLY HOPE and CAUSE of salvation, our priorities and responsibilities radically change toward those entrusted into our care, i.e., our children. As much as I cared for and sought to provide for my two sons PHYSICAL NEEDS, I knew and understood those PHYSICAL NEEDS are only TEMPORARY, and of no ETERNAL VALUE. Knowing God’s absolute sovereignty in all matters, including the salvation of His elect, I knew I couldn’t change God’s mind or make Him save my sons. But as a parent I could do everything possible to keep them both under the Gospel and keep them AWAY from every FALSE GOSPEL, praying that if they were God’s, He would be pleased to use the means of His Gospel to bring them to a saving knowledge of Christ as “the Lord our RIGHTEOUSNESS.” This position brought a whole new set of unique problems and circumstances. After the Lord brought Pam and me to true faith and true repentance we decided we would not allow our children to participate in any religious activities with either their friends or our families. We wouldn’t let our boys merely “go to church” with others because it was time to “go to church”. We wouldn’t let our families carry our sons to Vacation Bible school, allowing them to be TAUGHT DEADLY ERROR by well-intentioned, sincere, religious individuals who were “ignorant of the righteousness of God and going about to establish their own.” One of my sons thought I was being too hardline and strict in the matter. My family thought I was being divisive and judgmental. Trust me, it was a hard position to take, but we both feared our God MORE THAN we feared what mere creatures of clay thought of us. But the good thing was my children never made a false profession of religion under some emotional experience or due to peer pressure. Keep in mind, man by nature is INDEED RELIGIOUS, but apart from the grace of God, all religious effort and energy leads them further away from the true and living God, leading them into religious darkness and superstition. If we who know the grace of God allow our children to participate in religious activities with those who are religious and moral, yet “dead in trespasses and sin”, we are compromising God’s Gospel and His glory, and setting ourselves up for heartache when our children follow “another gospel”, a "way that seemeth right unto man", even turning against us because of our love and belief of God’s true Gospel.