Children

I don't about you but there have been so many times I have heard from parents that they do not want to force their children into making decisions about church and religion. One of the scriptures for today in my devotions was from Proverbs 21:6. "Start the children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it."
I often think about parenting and the difficulty that we have. I believe it is common sense that parents are responsible for teaching their children about ways of keeping themselves healthy, what is nutritional, how to treat others, and about faith. We need to be set quidelines for our children rather than take a passive role. As a therapist, I often saw children who had problems adjusting to others or who would continually make poor decisions because their parents refused to be parents and wanted more to be their friend. There is a time when our children reach a certain age that they are capable of making decisions about how they live their life and even about church. But if they have no experience about church or life in general how can they make a good choice.
There are parents who grew up in abusive and neglectful families of origin who struggle as to how to relate to their children. They have not experienced a parent who cared for them and helped teach and guide them. The same is true about faith. If we want to have our children have a relationship with God, they need some experience in learning the scripture and being part of a community of faith. A parent cannot ignore their responsibility for raising their children and providing some teachings that there is more to life than just what is good for me. This is true regardless of Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddha, Hindu. It transcends the individual and begins to focus on seeing beyond ourselves and working to a common good.