What Should We Teach our Children About Sin?

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.” Deuteronomy 6:4-7

            The words of God, spoken to the people of Israel, are as relevant for the Christian today as they were so many years ago. God charges the people to take the lead in raising the next generation to know the Lord. As I look at American Christianity in the 21^st Century, I am worried that we may be falling short in this area, as we shy away from teaching our children about the Bible, or we “outsource” the teaching to our churches and Sunday School teachers.

            My concern started when I was putting my five-year-old son to bed one night. As is our custom, I was reading a couple of books to him before bedtime. He picked the books, and one book was a children’s Bible story book which had the account from Genesis 22 where Abraham is told by God to sacrifice his son Isaac. Of course, I know the story, and I know the ending of the story. Abraham travels three days with his Isaac, prepares an altar for the sacrifice, lays his son on the altar, and then hears the voice of God telling him to stop the slaughter. God then provides a ram to be sacrificed in place of Isaac. The episode is a test of Abraham’s faith in God.

            On that night, my son saw the illustration of Abraham, hand raised over his head, ready to thrust a knife into Isaac’s flesh. My son asked to read that story, and I diverted his attention to the previous story, telling about the birth of Isaac. I thought the story was too weighty for him to digest. A couple of days later, my son picked the same book at bedtime, turned to the story and asked me to read it to him. And I did. After reading the story, I talked to him about the meaning of the episode, and explained to him that while God prevented Abraham from sacrificing his son because of God’s love, that many years later God would allow His own Son to be sacrificed because of His love for us. I talked about the goodness and righteousness of God, and our rebellion against Him. I told him that the sin was so costly that an animal’s blood sacrifice was required to remedy the transgression. And I told him that according to the Bible, Jesus became the final sacrifice for humanity’s sin.

            My son was understandably upset by the story. I can understand. The story wounds me on the deepest levels, as I come to terms with my sin, the penalty for that sin, and the obedient response of my Savior to lose His life that I might have eternal life. I am overwhelmed with emotion when forced to consider my response if God had asked me to do something similar. And I become overwhelmed with emotion when I realize God did the very thing he would not let Abraham do. My son acted out and hit me as I explained the story to him. I was unable to determine if his violence was a result of the ram that was sacrificed (he does care for animals), the magnificent sacrifice of Jesus, or the realization that he is disobedient to God. He was visibly moved, and tears were in his eyes. I did not tell him that I was holding back my own tears as I read the story to him.

            Since that night, I have been considering what we teach our children about the Bible. I lead a children’s Sunday School class at my church. As I looked at the curriculum, I have become aware that what we teach our children is often not enough. Our Sunday School lessons, which are age graded, teach our children that Noah survived the Flood in an ark, but do not teach why God brought the deluge. The lessons teach our children that God gave Moses the Ten Commandments, but do not teach what those commandments are or why they are important. The lessons teach that Jesus healed a paralytic man, but do not tell how he first forgave that man of his sin, or what sin is. And our lessons teach the children that Jesus loved his friends (disciples) but only tell of His crucifixion on a surface level.

            I understand that age-graded material will be limited, and appropriately so. I do understand that preschool-age children are not cognitively able to process big-concept ideas. However, as I look at more advanced material for older children, I have found that some of the central doctrines of the faith, including the Fall, sin, and Christ’s atonement are treated superficially. It is as if we don’t want to alarm our children by telling them they are in rebellion against God. It is as if we would rather teach morality rather than God’s mercy and grace. It seems easier to tell children that God wants you to do this and not do that, rather than walk them through these more difficult, but essential truths. And, I am afraid that this easy faith is not just found in our Sunday School curriculum, but in our churches and our homes.

            Which begs the question: Did I tell my son too much on that night I read the Abraham story and then pushed it forward to talk about Jesus’ crucifixion? Is he too young to understand? I don’t think so. I appreciate that he may not totally understand the connection between Isaac and Jesus. I understand that he cannot process more abstract concepts. But, he can understand that some of the things he does are disobedient acts. He can understand that that there is consequence for wrong acts. It’s often easy to give a simple, or a “cheap” answer to our children to quell a deeper conversation that delves into areas with which we are uncomfortable. But this does not mean we are acting correctly when we do so.

            During that evening I prayed for the Holy Spirit to anoint that time and use that time to plant seeds in my son’s life. My prayer, then and now, is that one day the Spirit will draw my son into a faith relationship with Jesus. But, my prayer has also developed in this area, so that I am now praying for all of those children being “raised” in the church. My prayer is that we can teach them all of the truth of Scripture. My prayer is that we would not shy away from the difficult questions. My prayer is that we would be able and willing to impart the whole reality of the biblical message. My prayer is that parents and grandparents would be so biblically literate that they can teach their children and grandchildren, as God told the Israelites to teach their children. My prayer is that the next generation learns God’s truth, the whole of God’s truth, and nothing but God’s truth. And my prayer is that this truth sets them free.

For more Faith of This Father, you can like the Faith of This Father page on Facebook or follow on Twitter @faithotfather. Or email me at faithofthisfather@yahoo.com.