We have highlighted several resources produced by our friends at Focus on the Family intended to help you teach your children and your church about important truths found in scripture.
Today, we want to share a resource intended to help parents teach their children about difficult passages of scripture.
There are plenty of stories in the Bible that, especially if taken out of context, appear confusing or downright evil. In fact, arguably much of the books of Genesis and Judges falls into this category.
Jessica Thompson at Focus on the Family’s “Thriving Family” magazine writes,
It’s easy to look at a lot of Bible stories and imagine them in some sleazy supermarket tabloid:
“War hero vows to sacrifice first thing he sees after deployment. It’s his daughter!” (Judges 11)
“King takes soldier’s wife as his own. Has her husband killed.” (2 Samuel 11)
“Jealous brothers sell their younger brother into slavery, tell father he was killed by wild animal.” (Genesis 37)
The headlines could go on. Rape, incest, homosexuality. Murder and polygamy. It can be difficult to answer our kids’ questions about these troubling scriptural passages. What is the moral? Where is the hero? Can God be both good and in control of this mess?
So what are we supposed to do when our children ask us to explain these confusing or difficult passages of scripture? Again, Jessica writes,
We need to help our children learn how to read God’s Word — how to understand what’s going on in individual stories and how to frame those tales within the big picture. This isn’t a collection of moral stories meant to inspire us to be better people. Rather, the Bible is a realistic depiction of the condition of the human race. While there are moments of heroism and moral clarity, the Bible isn’t about larger-than-life people making flawless decisions and reaping the reward for their perfection. Humanity has an ugly history, and the Bible doesn’t ignore it, but rather takes hold of it, owns it and gives us a Savior who makes things right.
“Thriving Family” lists age-appropriate talking points you can use in discussing these passages of scripture with your children. I hope you will check them out; besides equipping you to educate your children, they may help you gain a deeper appreciation for God’s word as well. Click here for more information.
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