Yesterday, we had a special time at church, with our attention focused on the beginning of the school year. We called all of the students up front and gathered around them to pray for them.
We did a number of scripture readings throughout the service, passages that had to do with education. One passage we used was the first chapter of Daniel. I told the kids that their situation wasn’t really like that of Daniel and his friends, though it might feel at times that they were being dragged to school by force. But I told them that there were some similarities.
We live in exile. Even in the nicest places, there are people around who don’t believe in God. Or books that promote ideas that aren’t entirely godly. Or peers who are choosing to do the wrong things.
I think that we need to teach our kids to be ready to be like Daniel and his friends, to say, “No, I can’t do that.” Groups like the Jehovah’s Witnesses prepare their kids very well to say, “I can’t participate in that.” I think all Christians could do a better job at teaching their kids discernment. (And our grown-ups, too!)
As the school year begins, I pray for protection for our kids and for those who work in the educational system. I pray that they can always remember who they are and Whose they are. May they be salt and light in this world.
Groups like the Jehovah’s Witnesses prepare their kids very well to say, “I can’t participate in that.”
I have friends who are Jehovah’s Witnesses, they have many good traits, but I would not say preparing their kids to live in this world is one of them. and like it or not they live here. What I mean is they go to far. and I don’t know that they teach their kids why.
First of all, thank you, Tim, for a post which has given me another item to add to my growing list of things we can do to give the church a higher profile in the community and still be political non-participates. I looked longingly at a Christian Chronicle post in which one congregation gave away school supplies to all who came to a special educational activity. I knew our little group of Christians could never afford anything like that even in our small town, but very personal prayer and attention to their spiritual needs in education, such as your congregation did, costs no extra dollars and also makes a great impression on the kids.
As for understanding that there are some things to which kids must say, “I can’t do that,” it was once a part of most Christian young people in my part of the country. Unfortunately, it as become less of a given in recent years. We have become too concerned about having them accepted by the world, rather than having them accepted by God. Child or adult we must be in the world, but not of the world. As Jesus pointed out, the world loves its own but may not love us.
As for Jehovah’s Witness children understanding why they can’t do certain things, at least the three I grew up with understood very well. Some of their reasons were Biblical and some were not. I learned to apply some of their Biblical non-participation to my life without accepting JW doctrine and I hope they learned some Biblical doctrine from me without anything that was opinion on my part. In any case, I may have been the only friend in school that they had who was not of their faith. They were three of the few real friends that I had. As with them, the scarcity of friends was a result of my faith. At the time, we were still called Cambellites by those who did not know better and the subjects of a great deal hatred. How times change! Not that acceptance in the community is wrong, but it might be a good idea to occasionally take stock of why we are accepted.
Peace,
Wes
Wes, I was one of those “Cambellites ” too , things have changed since the 1940s .