What to do with our children.

[Gregory Matthews]

http://newsok.com/adventist-leader-dan-j...article/5073144

A high-level SDA administrator tells us of the time when:

1) His oldest daughter complained that she was forced to attend church, to make her dad look good.

2) His youngest daughter who had left home in her teens returned and announced that they were now grandparents.

NOTE: The above article discusses some other issues not related to children.

[rudywoofs (Pam)]

not sure what the topic of this thread is supposed to be.... my first impression, upon reading the article paragraphs specific to children, was, "well, welcome to the real world."

[Bravus]

I think there are two separate issues here.

1. We did similar things in terms of having 'rites of passage' at particular ages, where the girls knew that after, say, 16, more of their decisions would be their own. Prior to that, some decisions were made for them - and the reasons for the decisions explained.

2. Was it true that the kids were being taken to church to make their Dad look good? Rather than for their own spiritual growth and development? If that was even part of the motivation, then in my view the family needs to take a good hard look at itself. Doing things for cosmetic rather than intrinsic reasons is no way to live an authentic life of faith.

[Jeannieb43]

Doing things for cosmetic rather than intrinsic reasons is no way to live an authentic life of faith.

Wise words!

[Stan]

It is weird...often Fathers want support from their kids.

I live where they build GM cars.. Fathers want support by having their kids purchase the cars they make rather than Japanese imports.

I grew up in the oil patch, Fathers wanted their kids to purchase gas from the company that sold gas from the Oil Company their fathers worked for.

I even knew of a MacDonalds Franchise owner who wanted his kids to purchase from MacDonalds rather than Burger King.

[Gail]

I was so happy to hear the speaker be real. My daughter who is a therapist is always talking about permitting ourselves to be vulnerable and honest. He was certainly that and I appreciated it.

But when you think about it, I think that a decision that comes on its own, isn't that FAR better than a church membership via inheritance? Inheritance is good if at some point the child does make that distinction of having been converted. I think that as adults we need to remember that conversion needs to come about in our young ones as for everyone else and not assume that they are "in by default".

I know church members who have always been church members and reflect the culture yet have not yet let on their struggle with gossip (the one I hate the most) or criticism, two things that I think are very damaging. I feel sad for those whose whole social structure revolves around church. As salt, aren't we supposed to mingle in the places that need to be salted?

Feeling secure within the church circles may be safe but in reality Christ told us that in this world we WILL have tribulation. The early Christians had no choice but to be "out there". I feel that kids know this. I feel that they want to be real and that it is us that need to be real, too.