Raising Children of Light in a Culture of Darkness

“I do not want to drive across a bridge designed by an engineer who believed the numbers in structural stress models are relative truths.” – R.C. Sproul

I was delighted to speak on Sunday at Faith Christian Center in Arlington, Texas. I joined that community of believers in celebrating the 25th anniversary of the church’s affiliated school, St. Paul’s Preparatory Academy. The topic of my discussion was “How to Raise Christian Children in Today’s Culture.”

As I was preparing my remarks it occurred to me that raising children to both love and faithfully serve the Lord and Creator of the universe, Jesus Christ, is not unlike a primary goal of the late Dr. Jerry Falwell, founder of Liberty University.

In 1971, Dr. Falwell launched LU – now the world’s largest Christian university – and quickly got about the business of “training champions for Christ.”

I submit that “raising Christian children in today’s culture” and “training champions for Christ” are one in the same, and that both fruitful endeavors stem from the same rich soil.

But what is today’s culture exactly? What is a champion for Christ? And, perhaps most importantly, what – or Who – is truth?

Merriam Webster’s defines “champion” as “someone who fights or speaks publicly in support of a person, belief, cause, etc.” It is not merely a passing suggestion that Christian parents and educators train champions for Christ. It’s a command given us by God Himself: “Start children off on the way they should go (train them), and even when they are old they will not turn from it” (Proverbs 22:6).

We faithful are additionally tasked with an unambiguous calling on the way we (and our children) should go: “[Jesus] said to them, ‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned’” (Mark 16:15).

The Apostle Paul admonishes in Romans 1:16 that we should not be “ashamed of the gospel,” but, rather, should “Do [our] best to present [ourselves] to God as one approved, a worker who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15).

In addition to leading by example, this means steeping Christian children and young people in the “word of truth” – the Holy Scriptures – and equipping them, in love, to champion (to “fight or speak publicly in support of”) the infallible, unchangeable and absolute truths found therein.

This is so even when the absolute truths of Scripture have become unpopular in a world that prefers the absolute lie of relativism.

Indeed, though some may wander the prodigal’s path for a time, and still others may remain lost, we can only then – having obeyed the command to train our children in the way they should go – release, hope, pray and have faith that the Holy Spirit will be that eternal light to illuminate temporal life’s perilous path – that Christ will be a lamp unto the feet of our beloved.

Jesus commands His followers to be His hands and feet – to be salt and light in a rotting world that loves darkness (Matthew 5:13-16).

True, salt preserves, but in an open wound, it also burns. Today’s relativist culture is an open wound.

True, light’s bright glare can be illuminating to those eager to see. But it is also blinding to those whose eyes have become adjusted to darkness.

When the light of Christ is shined, it sends lovers of evil scurrying for the shadows.

For this reason, Christ warned, “You will be hated by everyone because of me, but the one who stands firm to the end will be saved” (Matthew 10:22).

In a culture that slaughters the unborn, mocks purity, celebrates sexual sin and makes a joke out of the institution of marriage by imagining sin-based counterfeits, it remains a daunting task for Christian parents to raise children with both the courage and conviction to stand unashamed for God’s truth. From an earthly standpoint, it seems counterintuitive to both welcome and find joy in being hated by the world.

Even more, for young people who might prefer popularity over principle – at least for now – the prospect of being “hated by everyone” lacks a certain level of appeal.

It boils down to instilling in our children a biblically orthodox Christian worldview – that is to say, absolute truth. Anything else is nothing at all. Anything else is relativism, which holds that there is no absolute truth and imagines, absolutely, that, as theological giant Francis Schaeffer often described, “Man is the measure of all things.”

As history has proven, when man is the measure of all things, all things can, and usually do, go horribly wrong. Consider, for example, the hundreds of millions killed under the relativist regimes of Hitler, Stalin, Mao, et al.

Indeed, train your children in “the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.” They will use God’s Word, the true measure of all things, as they endeavor to actually measure all things.

Funny thing, absolute truth. It’s absolute. It’s like a buoy pulled beneath the lake’s surface and fixed tight with rope. With time, and against the tide of Christ’s love, that rope – the lie of relativism – eventually rots. It snaps under its own weakness, hurling the buoy, truth, from cold darkness to warm sunlight.

If steeped in scripture, children – even the prodigal child – may be pulled under and tied down for a time by relativism’s glittery allure. But when the relativist rope rots, fear not, for those who have been fastened to “the way, the truth and the life” – who is Christ – will burst back into the light.

I believe completely in this in spirit. The problem is content. After intensive study of the Hebrew for many years, I have learned that we don't really understand all that well "a Biblically orthodox Christian worldview." It is a truth that demands pursuit, more than adherence. I know that may sound like relativism, but it is simply how things work out.

This article presents a good argument on how to raise children in this age of darkness however the premise of raising children in TRUTH then negates raising them in the traditional Christian church which is built on the traditions and doctrines of man. These deceptions tear down faith and many young people go the way of the world because of this. When the church offers pagan holy days and negates Lev. 23 holy days that God says are HIS to be celebrated throughout all the generations. When the church says the crucifixion was on Friday and resurrection on Sunday, there are not 3 days and 3 nights as Jesus said would be. When the Pope admits the Roman church changed the Sabbath from the 7th day to the 1st day and Believers negate God's Sabbath for the Pope's Sabbath...how can we raise our young people in TRUTH when we are too lazy or complacent to seek out Biblical Truths and accept the church's deceptions. That's why we are losing our young people they instinctively know traditional Christianity has a lot of “holes.”

Actually, it is a lack of faith rather than doctrine as presented by the Church(es); Absolute’s are double edged swords. If one says the Bible is Absolute, rather than the Church, then Faith would prevail. If one says the Church(es) are absolute in their doctrine then Faith loses every time. The Church is where you go to get “Man’s word” and Bible is you find “God’s word”. The origins of the Bible predate Jesus thus the NT is open to interpretation as a matter of Faith differently from the OT and I would rest my point on the Jewish not accepting the NT but remaining grounded in the OT/5 first books, etc. but I digress, or rather default back to FAITH as the central issue (period)

That's why we are losing our young people they instinctively know traditional Christianity has a lot of “holes.”

Yep, sure, right, uh-huh, that's why /sarc

Look for Christian missionaries to come to both America and the west to bring the good news of the Gospel of Jesus back to the nations that many years ago sent out missionaries to the global south nations.

"Look for Christian missionaries to come to both America and the west to bring the good news of the Gospel of Jesus..."

No kidding. I was just telling some folks recently that I feel like a missionary in my own church with the way things are turning.

"Look for Christian missionaries to come to both America and the west to bring the good news of the Gospel of Jesus..."

No kidding. I was just telling some folks recently that I feel like a missionary in my own church with the way things are turning.

I agree with you but when a young person, new in Faith, is hit with the discrepancies in church teachings, they become very shaky in their faith. Unless someone is there to help them discern the reality of religion, how it has NOTHING to do with the gospel Jesus preached and the Faith practices Jesus upheld then that young person most likely will enter into the secular or the New Age to try to make sense of their lives. Young people do that you know.

What does this mean, except that you do not trust the men nor the works? Then faith on all counts is lacking. Faith is not about something physical, e.g., the church or the Bible, but rather about knowing, understanding, feeling Gods presence in your own reality. I think your point is valid and this discussion should have been properly placed squarely what FAITH is rather than putting faith into misdirected directions such as the institution or the documentation.

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