Alarming Statistic

It's not the fault of the big bad world. The heathen will do what the heathen will do. It's the fault of Christian parents for not separating themselves and their children from the big bad world, thus not protecting their children, not training them up in the way they should go and losing 88% (or whatever number) of them at the age of 18.

 

AMEN, SCARLETT, AMEN... This is exactly what I have been preachin!
You got me going now, where I want to preach!

You are exactly right... quit playin church, and get right...

BTW, can I use what you wrote... I'll give you credit... I know a lot of Christian parents that could benefit from your insight!

 

Rufus, if that was what the verse meant, then none of the children of believing parents would ever leave the Christian faith.

The Bible does not lie. Therefore, that cannot possibly be what that verse means -- unless you are going to say that there are an awful lot of wonderful Christian parents who somehow fell short of raising their children up in the way of the Lord...

 

"The way" occurs in the Holy Bible 340 times. When it is not referring to a geographical instance or the like, it is often referring to either the way of the Lord or the righteous or the way of the wicked. Since we are certainly not bein instructed to train the child up in the way of the wicked, this verse is talking about training the child up in the way of the Lord. Some examples...

"For I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the LORD..."- Genesis 18:19

"That through them I may prove Israel, whether they will keep the way of the LORD to walk therein, as their fathers did keep it, or not." - Judges 2:22

"And he forsook the LORD God of his fathers, and walked not in the way of the LORD." - 2 Kings 2:22​

I agree that the Bible does not lie. What I disagree is that today's "wonderful Christian parents" are training children up in the way of the Lord. Did you see the other highlights in that link I posted? According to the Family Life Council, the divorce ratio among members of evangelical churches is virtually the same as among non-church members. That suggests that churched families are divorcing at a rate of 50% or better. Does divorce train children in the family model of God?

Another point they made is that two thirds of the members of Southern Baptist churches attend church only sporadically. Does this train children on how to not forsake the assembly?

Perhaps the most important point is the majority of children in America have less than 10 minutes of meaningful conversation with their parents each week and if you remove the mother you can measure this statistic in seconds! How is it possible that "wonderful Christian parents" are training up their children in the way they should go when they aren't taking the time to even talk to their children? How does that 10 minutes compete against the instruction children are receiving on television, in movies, and at their antichrist state schools?

So yes the Bible does not lie and yes the Bible says train them up in the way they should go and they will not depart from it but no, the cold brutal reality of contemporary Christian America is the "wonderful Christian parents" are not training up their children in the way they should go.

 

Our church has placed an emphasis on mothers staying home to raise children, homeschooling, modesty, and godly men leading in the church and homes. Being a smallish church, the atmosphere is more like family than any other church I have been to. My oldest child is seven years old. Others in my church have children that are young teens. I suppose time will tell whether they are all going to jump ship or not. But I suspect that most of them will stay.

 

All of our church knows about Baptistboard.. They like to read my comments... so I have to be good sometimes raying:

So I cut and pasted your post, and emailed it to the whole church!
Of course I did give you the credit, because that is just the right thing to do. You must be a great asset to the church you attend.

 

If the answer were simple, there'd already be a book on it down at LifeWay.

My three turned out fine: all active Christians. Who knows why? I do know that we homeschooled them up to a point, then put them in Christian school and college. Church was central to our lives and the kids knew that we meant business and didn't tolerate hypocrisy. And we never had a television, which probably nipped 80% of our problems in the bud.

But who knows?

 

A MAN made works salvation...

From the baptist view the 88% that walked away from their salvation was proberly NEVER saved to began with...

Plus, look at the Title that you gave...How To Bring Your Children To Christ... And Keep Them There. I see two things wrong with this title:

1. We do not bring anyone to Christ, Rather they are drawn by the Holy Spirit, beacuse salvation is by GRACE, nto by man.

2. The children are NOT kept by the power of the parents, we are kept and sealed by the power of the Holy Ghost.

The title of the book should have been: How GOD brings your children to Christ and kept by HIM.

GOD save people by GRACE, not how a the parents raise thier children.

We can't earn our salvation, nor can we earn the salvation of our children...

:godisgood:

 

Well one of the biggest problems is the church has written out any consequences for the believer to for the church playin' church is okay. Because it doesn't matter what you do in the end everyone gets their their slice of paradise pie, and then they teach that you aren't going to care that your slice might be smaller than the next guy. So why are we so surprised that people play church and the church is so lukewarm. When we take away the consequences for bad behavior then lawlessness will run amuck.

Glad I wasn't drinking anything

Sad, but becoming more and more accurate these days

 

My 2 cents worth

IMHO a big part of the problem is parents trying to cram their brand of religion, their standards, their extra-biblical beliefs down their kid's throats.

Your kids aren't dumb. they can smell a lie, a hypocrite, or a double-minded man a long ways off.

One of ours is out of the nest, married, a father and in the ministry. Our youngest is in his last year of high school and is looking into Christian colleges. I don't take any credit for it. I screwed up many times as a husband and father. Only by the grace of God have my kids turned out well... so far.

There came a time in the lives of each of my kids when mom and I had to let them do some things that we don't do- or would rather they not do. Go with friends that we thought were not good influences. That training up your kids verse does not mean insulating them from evil influence. It is IMPOSSIBLE to insulate your kids from evil influences.

Should we let them do whatever they choose to do? God forbid! however the wise and godly parent will choose his battles carefully.

I have many good friends who 'kept the screws on' their kids as they were growing up. Almost without exception their kids have left the church, married wrong and gotten divorced, or fell into other types of sin.

I would say more but I need to run.

 

There is a lot of truth in this joke:

Little Johnny was crying all the way home from Sunday Worship.
His father finally asked him what was wrong.
Johnny said, "The pastor said he wants us kids raised in a Christian home, and I want to stay with you all!"

 

Hey all, I am new to this board and have been doing alot of reading and learning when I came across this thread. By no means can I speak for all churches in regard to this discussion, but in the church that I am in currently as well as some of the ones I have been to in the past I would have to completely agree with what was stated in this post. I just recently took on the very official sounding title of "Director of Children and Youth Ministries" and in the short time that I have had this role I have dealt with kids whose parents would seem to be good christian parents (dads a deacon) but these kids know nothing about even the most basic Bible stories. I would love to get to the point where our youth and childrens ministry is more missions minded and having Bible studies that are substantial and geared toward helping to mold mature adults but for right now I am having to proceed as I would if these kids had never been in church before. When I try to get them to learn memeory verses I am told by the kids and the parents that the verses are to hard to learn and that I should pick shorter verses, (never mind the fact that these same kids can almost quote verbatim the lines from their favorite movies). I have to believe that alot of times (again based on my observation not meant to be a general indictment) that what we would consider as good christian parents are really dropping the ball. If parents aren't taking church seriously then I think that we can expect to see more of this trend and not less. I believe that alot of times we as parents have our priorities for ourselves and our kids completely messed up. We want what we want and we pass that to our kids and then we are shocked when they decide to drop out of church to pursue what the world has to offer. If we really want to see this trend reversed I would suggest that each of us that have kids take a long look in the mirror and realize that we are the ones that are going to have to take responsibility for their spiritual education and step up to the plate and play ball. I fully understand that our kids have free will and sometimes no matter what a parent does a kid will use that free will to decide to reject God and the church, but if we are doing our jobs correctly and seeking Gods will and leadership we will greatly reduce the chance of that happening.

 

I do not agree with female preachers, but after reading this post I find myself looking for an altar call to rededicate myself to making sure that my kids see how very meaningful God is because of the model they see in my life. I completly agree that we as parents are the most important influences for Godly living that our kids have. I think that now more than ever we need to realize this and get down to the business of not just playing church but actually being what we all like to say that we are, Godly, Christian parents. The world wants our kids and we have to decide if we are going to fight for them or continue to play games and then be shocked by the "unexpected" results. By the way, mission accomplished, a whole TON of bricks landed squarely on my feet. Than you.

 

Amen, and welcome to the board.:wavey:

 

I hear you, Mexdeaf, and I understand your concerns. But you'd be hard put to find a more narrow-minded and overbearing father than I was--and none of my three rebelled. (I wouldn't allow it.)

And from day one I heard the unending refrain "you can't raise them under a glass bowl" or some variation thereof. To which I replied (silently, in my thoughts), "You watch."

I don't claim to have the answers or prescriptions. I did what I thought was right. It worked.

 

Helen, I do not mean to hijack this thread but I have read some of your other posts and I see that you have alot of knowledge in the area of creation science and evolution. Could you please refer me to some reliable websites or other sources of material that I could use to help the kids in my youth group be able to do exactly what you said give an answer for their faith. Any help that you could give would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

 

I think his statistic is exaggerated for shock effect.

But, if that is true, then his children will leave the church.

 

I've always agreed with Josh McDowell's quote: "Rules without relationship leads to rebellion."

As one who has worked with teenagers for twenty years, I can't replace a parent...and I won't try.

But, I've seen many, many kids come through these tumultuous years with a deep and abiding faith in Christ...no thanks to their parents. Will most kids make that trek, if they are their household's spiritual leader? Nope...but some will, and that some keeps me going.

Keep in mind, God doesn't play the odds anyway...we're talking about Someone who left the ninety-nine for the one...

 

Bro. Pipedude,

You must have walked it as well as talked it. That is what I am trying to say more than anything.

I wasn't referencing rebellion per se, more like when the kids want to do something like, go to a movie or something like that that I don't particularly care for. Both my kids have done it and never expressed a desire to go again. Maybe a poor example but there have been just a few times (when they were in their late teens) that I let them try something and every time they came back and said, "You were right." There were more numerous times when I said "No" outright.

My oldest son told me he was going to raise his son just like I did him. I told him, "No, you raise him better than I did you." I neglected my family far too much at one time in our lives and yet God was gracious to allow me to change my ways and be blessed to have the relationship I do now with my kids. I am not worthy.