Parenting methods

[Gerr]

As children of earthly parents get older, the ideal is that they become more and more independent.  As children of God, what I see is that God wants His children to become more and more dependent on Him as they mature.  Do you find this odd?

[whbae]

It is very odd, however, our earthly parents want the children to be independent of material source.  I am sure the old parents would be tickled if the children seek advices from the parents and follow. This will never happen as the kids to be at the peak of teens they know everything and even better than the parents!!!  One of my granddaughters did not like my advice about her boyfriend and protested  "how do you know, you haven't even met him?".

I said the experience and wisdom of old age.

[Outta Here]

Interesting thought. I never really thought God wanted us to grow to be more and more dependent on Him. It's my opinion that He wants His children to love Him, follow His commandments...and learn through living that His way is best and eventually adopt His way as our own way as well. 

[Gregory Matthews]

 

I do not believe that God wants us to become more dependent on Him.

 

I do believe that God wants us to trust Him more.

 

Edited June 13, 2015 by Gregory Matthews

[Gerr]

If God wants us to trust Him more, that His way is better than our way, that His plans are better than our plans, is that not making us more and more dependent on Him?

[Gregory Matthews]

No!  One can trust without becoming dependent.

To what level do you trust your   wife?  Does that mean you are dependent upon her?  Absolutely not!

 

 

 

 

[Gregory Matthews]

If you are telling us that we are dependent for physical life on something outside of ourselves, of course. 

Even within that context the message of the gospel is that God has given us freedom of choice, freedom to make our own decisions, freedom to chart our own choice, which God will accept even when that choice is eternal.

 

A dependent person does not realisticly have freedom of choice.  The most dependent person is a new-born.  That new-born is totally dependent.   That new-born does not realistically have freedom of choice.

It is only humans who have had that choice to live independently.

 

Adam & Eve had the choice to live outside of Eden in a world that they and the freedom to create.  They exercised that independency.

We who live today have the freedom to chose to live independent of God.  God will accept that choice.

The condition of our lives and of society today testifies to the fact that God ahs allowed us to live independent of Him.

Having that independence does not relive us of the consequences of our actions.

I once exercised my independence by stepping out of a helicopter that was 90 feet above the level of the ground--no, I did not have a parachute.  The consequence of my choice was to break a rib.  That was not a choice that was forced upon me.  The helicopter was not in trouble.  I could have stayed on the aircraft and ridden it to landing on the ground.  But, I chose to step out.

 

Edited June 14, 2015 by Gregory Matthews

[Aliensanctuary]

I think that the experiment of human independence has failed, just by looking at our long history of harming others, and ourselves, aka, theft, abuse, rape, murder, war, etc. It's our sense of dependence upon our Creator that directs us away from selfish and criminal behaviors. In the Kingdom, self will be removed once we become One with our Creator. As servants, we will be totally dependent upon his actions to keep us fed and warm and healthy. In return, we will willingly fulfill our assigned tasks in that Kingdom.

It's the ability to choose our Master that gives us a chance at joining the Kingdom. In the End, there will be a sorting out, where the good is kept and the bad is discarded and burned. In that sense, the human independence experiment did not fail, but will result in a workforce, tested by fiery trials, even to death, willing to serve the Creator.

As parents we try to guide our children from total dependence to independence, as far as education, jobs, and daily life go. When parents fail to give proper guidance to their offspring, the harmful effects tend to continue for generation after generation.

Edited June 17, 2015 by Aliensanctuary

[Lauralea]

I think he wants us to continue to have childlike faith. But for some of us, we learn it as adults, ore relearn it as older adults, perhaps when we sense our need more. In terms of dependence, yes it is kind of a paradox.

[whbae]

One can be depend  on someone and have a choice of freedom.  When someone comes to me for my opinion that someone is depend on me, however, I would give all the information one needs and the someone will make the choice of his own.  This is the freedom of choice he just exercised.  The same principle applies to our relationship with God. We depend on Him more and more as we live longer as our knowledge and experiences would not give us sound decision.  We ask God for His will for us and we exercise our freedom of choice on the matter.

[Gail]

LOL  A child needs to learn... and then coming to Christ he needs to learn all over again! Not only that but we are directed to become as little children! And then we are to grow up into the full stature (fully grown) of Christ.

We are counseled to seek, ask and find; then we are to take up our cross and deny ourselves.

I see it like this: The Holy Spirit will impress you with what you lack at what moment.