Parenting

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Marylu and I have some longtime Christian friends, a Christian couple from the Chicago area. We were often puzzled by the husband’s behavior patterns—and so was he—until he was finally diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome. After his diagnosis, he began attending an Asperger’s support group. His behavior improved; he now monitors his responses and reactions.

Asperger’s Syndrome is part of the Autism Spectrum. Autism varies from high-functioning to low functioning, and research is ongoing. But the question arises, “How should Christian parents bring up their autistic children?”

Dr. Laura Henrickson points the way in her 144 page book, Finding Your Child’s Way on the Autism Spectrum. Hendrickson is uniquely qualified to write such a book: she had been a practicing psychiatrist, believes in biblical counseling (with an emphasis on personal responsibility), and successfully raised her autistic son. She views autism as a type of personality—with both pros and cons. And she recognizes the contributions autistic people have and are making in society, referring often to autism’s chief contemporary spokesperson, Dr. Temple Grandin, who is one of many success stories.

Originally posted at Proclaim & Defend, used by permision.

(From Voice magazine, Nov/Dec 2015. Used by permission. Read Part 1.)

Our culture continues to hold fast to the same sins we read about in Genesis, reveling in perversion and condemning any who refuse to join in the celebration. So while we may (and should) shelter our family from sins of this nature, it is inescapable that we as parents will have to address these sins with our children at some level. And the place to begin, is in the beginning, where God created a perfect world and joined the first man and the first woman in the perfect union: marriage.

Show and Tell

But then the question arises: “Where do I go from here?” Outside the safety of the Garden, gross sin lurks on near­ly every page. You may be wondering, does my four-year-old son even need to know about homosexuality? He does, but he doesn’t need to know every last detail just yet. Sometimes it’s as much about what’s not said as what is said.

(From Voice magazine, Nov/Dec 2015. Used by permission.)

How do you talk to your children about sexual sin? That question has become all the more pressing since June 26, 2015 when the U.S. Supreme Court enshrined same-sex marriage as the law of the land. This ruling—the latest in a string of victories garnered by homosexual activists—came a little more than a week before Independence Day, summer’s unofficial halftime break. So while scores of gay rights celebrations ignited across the country, many families washed down campers and cleaned out coolers in anticipation of midsummer getaways.

But as many families got away the following weekend, they quickly realized there was nowhere to go—at least nowhere they could go to get away from the Supreme Court’s ruling. As the homosexual agenda continues to gather speed, the American family can expect to find fewer and fewer safe havens. What was only whispered about in past generations is today broadcast in the mainstream media.

(Read the series so far.)

In the last installment of this series we were looking at a motto which is often misused by the Christian community, and which could mislead young people if not carefully explained. That motto was “All truth is God’s truth.” This time round I want to take a look at another slogan; a slogan which should not be adopted by Bible believers, even though some prominent and respected authorities use it.

The phrase I have in mind is this: “The Bible tells us how to go to heaven; science tells us how the heavens go.”

On the face of it, this legend might seem non-objectionable. We are all aware of the fact that the Bible is not, nor does it ever claim to be, a textbook on Science. It doesn’t inform us about botany or biology or chemistry or physics. Science does—so what’s the problem?

Studying Scripture is essential for every Christian family, but the Christian homeschooling family often asks, “How do I teach Bible class in my homeschool?”

Like most homeschool families, we immediately started searching for a Bible curriculum. An organized program is like a security blanket. It makes us feel as though all bases will be covered, and there will be no knowledge gaps. Teaching involves little to no elbow grease, as lesson plans are already laid out. We have confidence someone with expertise has chosen this material for a specific reason, and approved it for publishing. After all, how many of us homeschooling parents are theologians or curriculum publishers?

As we searched for Bible curriculum, we found discrepancies between what we believe to be Scriptural and what the curriculum was teaching. Many were shallow, or had an obvious gimmick. The emphasis was sometimes inconsistent with our values and priorities. The format and illustrations were often too cartoonish or too trite, and some felt disrespectful.

Read the series so far.

Since the Enlightenment, when unaided human reason was promoted to a place above the authority of the Holy Scriptures, it has been presumed that mankind can, at least in principle, explain himself and his surroundings without recourse to “the God hypothesis.” Although they couldn’t agree among themselves about how to rely on the human mind, they “knew” at least one thing: God—if He or it existed, would have to pass their examinations and fit within their logical formulations.

The Creator would have to become subject to the creature. Of course, their examinations were naively inapplicable, and their use of logic off-target. The god of unbelief is always a straw man.

Last time we looked at the importance of commending a biblical worldview to our children. If we can communicate that, then we have given them a solid frame of reference from which they can comprehend the world about them and make decisions about which directions to take in it. That is a valuable gift; and it is one that will be increasingly needed in the years ahead.

The Wisdom of the World Versus True Wisdom (1 Cor. 3:19)

I said last time that we would begin to see how the right worldview helps us do this. Let me start by listing again those pat catch-phrases which are frequently met with in the world: