Learning and Imparting the Answers February 27, 2007
Posted by Joe in : General Lessons , trackbackErin,
I wholeheartedly concur my wonderful wife! This blog definitely serves to stimulate my thinking. I am also quite encouraged by reading your posts. Often, we don’t have the opportunity to sit and pause in order to think these things through adequately. Or maybe I am just talking too much! That is a legitimate possibly for sure. Yet, I am inclined to think that the word spoken cannot necessarily reach the same depth as the word written. To write things out takes more time, but it is well worth the effort.
The first thing that hit me in response to your post was the way in which this blog is helping you see all the various ‘encounters’ with our children as learning experiences (for them and I assume, you as well) rather than hassles or interruptions. That’s a very important reality and I would like you to comment further on that matter at some point. You can either put that on your someday/maybe list or do it right away. It’s your call. Either way, you know I will have something to say on the matter! I will hold back for now though.
The second thought that came my way was in regards to the importance of having answers for our children. As you know full well, I appreciate your diligence and desire to learn the necessary theological realities that we want imparted to our children. Of course, this is a never-ending process, but there are definitely some central themes that need to be mastered. Too often, I believe, Christians today somehow end up believing that ‘having the answers’ is only for those in the pulpit or some other sort of leadership or teaching position. They should know the answers of course, but one thing is missing: We have to remember that the teachers are there to teach so that everyone understands it themselves!
I could go on at some length here, but that is simple right? A teacher in a classroom is present to impart knowledge to the students so that they can make it their own. So it is in the Church. It must be made our own. It is meant to be made our own. That is why teachers are there. That is why the Lord has gifted us with them. Yet for some reason, there is a sort of anti-intellectual mentality present today that somehow thinks that only ‘they’ (the teachers) should have the answers! No way!
As I said, I could keep going, but I want to point out one more thing. As it relates to having the answers for our children’s questions, let us ask ourselves:
What is the message we send to our children if we don’t have the answers to their questions–or at the very least, if we don’t search for the answers until we find them?
I am inclined to think that if we don’t either have the answer or search for the answer, we are telling our children that having the answer to their question really isn’t that important. Whether this is vocalized or not (and we probably won’t say that out loud!), this is the message we are sending when we don’t deem it important enough to have good, solid, Biblical answers to their big questions. Or again, when we don’t at the very least search out the answers. And this is true not only for our children’s questions, but for every other person who asks us the same.
And maybe this is the case in much of the Church today. Maybe a lot of Christians really don’t understand why understanding (and having the ability to explain) justification (or any other key Biblical doctrine) is all that important. This is sad. Very sad. Doctrinal and theological clarity has been minimized to a point that all our children get is some simple Bible stories with a moral lesson. But surely the Lord has given us rich words for us to understand them and impart them. Surely He has given us such rich theological truth so that He might be revealed and our hearts might be satisfied! Surely the Lord has His reasons for making us think!
And surely He has His reasons for leading our children to ask the great questions of the universe. The ask because they want to know–and because they need to know. May the Lord grant us the grace to always be prepared with an answer to any question our children raise regarding the hope that we have! And if we don’t know, may He grant us the grace to search out the answer with diligence until we can share it ourselves!
Searching for answers with you,
Joe
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