4. The Flood of New Ideas and Temptations – Some solutions

As parents and Christian educators, we must provide the opportunity for young people to articulate doubts, pose hard questions and consider various perspectives. We need to maintain our certainty of faith, whilst giving room for our young adults to explore.

One of the ways to do this is to welcome and encourage other adults to join our family conversations who will listen, honour, and respond well to our children’s’ questions.

This is one of the encouragements of the Shema[1]:

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.  You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.  And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.  You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.  You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.  You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”

The passage is addressed to the whole of Israel indicating the community responsibility to nurture children in truth.

It is significant that, when looking for community support to help their children to maturity, the people of Israel were most unlikely to seek that support from the prophets of Baal!

For twelve years now, Maureen and I have been grandparents. What a joy it is to be able to input into the lives of our grandchildren. What a comfort to our children, as they parent, to know that we can support them.

What effectively happens, is that we, as non-parental adults, are able to communicate truth, listen to doubts and meaningful questions. Our faith foundation is strong and sure, but we can often provide more space for exploration than parents.

This is a potential role for Christian Leaders and teachers also – to aid courageous curiosity that will enable our young people to establish meaningful faith and thinking.

Blessings
Brian

 

 

[1] Deuteronomy 6:4-5