Q. My husband and I are forever squabbling over how to bring up the kids. He’s a disciplinarian and I tend towards the psychological. What’s the right route to take?
A. The best Book you could get on raising children is God’s Word, the Bible. And, believe it, it IS relevant today. After all, God made us and He knows every aspect of our make-up and nature at every stage of our lives. Someone called the Bible The Designer’s Handbook!
Here are some scenarios to consider:
- If you were to let the children do what comes naturally to them, remember they were born with the same sinful nature that you and I have, a nature that tends towards evil, and away from God. For me that rules out the notion that one should not correct or guide them.
- Were you to allow their peers to direct their lives, and teach them their ways, this would be extremely dangerous. Not only would you be abandoning your responsibility for them before God, you would actually be gambling with their characters and natures.
- Allowing the norms of the world to shape them would also be disastrous. As a Christian you know that “the whole world lieth in wickedness”, 1 Jn 5:19. You would be thrusting them into the hands of Satan who is called “the god of this world” in the Word.
- There’s really only one way to bring up your children, and that’s God’s way! Don’t trust anything, not even your own experience and ideas, much less you emotions. Let the Lord coach you through His Word, which is full of instruction. You could start in Proverbs, and you could also seek the counsel of godly teachers in your Fellowship.
God’s way may not be palatable to a carnal mind, but it certainly works for a glorious Eternity!
And the Elders in your Church CAN help!