Train up your child.

Posted by Rod Hamilton on Feb 03 2010

It seems that the longer I live - and it is becoming longer everyday - that I learn more about how to “train up” my children. A good lesson was taught to me last year by a man whom I respect very much, when he mentioned, in passing, The Heidelberg Catechism. It was a certain thing that he said that caught my attention; it was this: “...and that’s how Christians taught their children 500 years ago.” Out of sheer admiration for this man and his faith, I decided to explore exactly what that meant. For starters, I’ve come up through pretty contemporary Christian channels via the Church Growth Movement (CGM), and seriously, a catechism was something that I knew some Catholics used with their kids but it was not at all anything I understood Protestants to use. And to say the least, the CGM has left far behind many of the great practices and principles of The Reformation. Wow, how that partial sentence has changed the lives of my family and me!

A couple of months ago my wife began teaching our five year old daughter “The Catechism for Girls and Boys,” and just what she has learned, and what we all have learned, is astounding. When you study a Protestant Catechism, the first thing you learn is that this whole faith thing ain’t really about us! It’s about a mighty God Who created us with some expectations, and a Catechism teaches those expectations and formalizes a system of theology not just for the young, but for the old as well. Now, can a girl of 5 years old fully understand all that she is reciting? No, but that’s not really the issue. What is developing is a lens, and as she enters into an age of critical thinking, she will read and understand her Bible through that lens. Why is that important? In a world so inundated with different doctrines, where so often all doctrines are accepted as equal, she will grow to recognize heresy and poor teaching when she reads it and hears it.

Proverbs 22:6 exhorts us to “train up a child in the way that he should go” with an understanding that “when he is old he will not depart from it.” It is of premium importance that we (particularly fathers) plant solid doctrine in our homes by employing solid biblical practices in the area of teaching and understanding our Bibles as well as using other tried and true methods to reinforce those things. The Catechism for Girls and Boys is the best tool I have found.

Here are the first ten questions/answers. They become more challenging as you work through them. Trust me; if you are interested in teaching your child this way, he or she is highly capable of learning this way.

1.Q. Who made you?
A. God made me (Gn 1:26, 27; 2:7; Ec 12:1; Acts 17:24-29).

2.Q. What else did God make?
A. God made all things (Gn 1, esp. verses 1, 31; Acts 14:15; Rm 11:36; Col 1:16).

3.Q. Why did God make you and all things?
A. For his own glory (Ps 19:1; Jer 9:23, 24; Rv 4:11; 4:15).

4.Q. How can you glorify God?
A. By loving him and doing what he commands (Ec 12:13; Mk 12:29-31; In 15:8-10; 1 Cor 10:31).

5.Q. Why ought you to glorify God?
A. Because he made me and takes care of me (Rm 11:36; Rv 4:11; cf. Dan 4:39).

6.Q. Are there more gods than one?
A. There is only one God (Deut 6:4; Jer 10:10; Mk 12:29; Acts 17:22-31).

7.Q. In how many persons does this one God exist?
A. In three persons (Mt 3:16, 17; Jn 5:23; 10:30; 14:9, 10; 15:26; 16:13-15; 1 In 5:20, 2 In 9; Rv 1:4, 5).

8.Q. Who are they?
A. The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit (Mt 28:19; 2 Cor 13:14; 1 Pet 1:2; Jude 20, 21).

9.Q. Who is God?
A. God is a Spirit, and does not have a body like men (Jn 4:24; 2 Cor 3:17; 1 Tim 1:17).

10.Q. Where is God?
A. God is everywhere (Ps 139:7-12; Jer 23:23,24; Acts 17:27,28).