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Friday, August 21, 2009

Voddie II

"The key to understanding the role of the family in discipling children is understanding the purpose of the Fifth Commandment. This commandment was not given for the sake of the individual child as much as it was given for the sake of the community. The Fifth Commandment was the foundation upon which the concept of multigenerational faithfulness is built. God designed the family to disciple children and insure the faithfulness and perpetuation of the community of faith throughout the ages. In other words, God says to us (through the Fifth Commandment), "If you want to continue to exist as the people of God in the midst of the pagan land that I am about to give you, you will have to do so by training and discipling your children." This is the linchpin in every argument I have made or will make in this book. God has designed your family--not the youth group, not the children's ministry, not the Christian school, but your family--as the principal discipling agent in your children's lives. The most important job you have as a parent is to train and disciple your children. This truth completely transformed the way Bridget and I viewed our role as parents. Suddenly we realized that if we raised our children to be great doctors, lawyers, athletes, or musicians but did not train them to honor us and obey God, we would have failed. Thus we had to rethink our schedule, our priorities, everything. In fact, this is one of the key truths that led us to home education. It was inconceivable to us that we could accomplish this monumental task without giving our children an education that completely embraced and undergirded this philosophy."


Voddie Baucham
Family Driven Faith, p. 118-9

7 comments:

Eron said...

C,

Hmm.

You might also consider Total Church, chapter 12. I like Voddie's stuff for sure, but I'm still thinking through some of his family/church philosophy.

BTW, Total Church needs to be your next read! It was the best book I read this whole summer.

Plev

chance n said...

EP,
I actually bought it about a week-and-a-half ago. It will be the next book I read. Thanks for the recommendation. (I bought the book after you mentioned it on your blog.) I think Voddie's approach in extremely "Biblical", mainly because Paul never mentioned the qualifications for Youth Minister. :) We do have a youth group in our church (and a nursery). At this point, I'm not opposed to either, but Voddie definitely makes me think. It doesn't seem like it's a matter of "sinful v. not sinful", but more of a "what's best for the kids" type thing. In the future, when you're holding your son or daughter, you'll probably side with Voddie.

Eron said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Eron said...

C,

Yeah, I reread the quote again and I think he's right on. I'm still thinking through the homeschool/public school issue. I understand the worldveiw issues behind it, but I don't know yet. If anything, from the Voddie-ites I have encountered (which I don't consider you one of), they say things like, "Youth ministry (or whatever) is not biblical," in a way that functions as, "Youth ministry is anti-Biblical." It seems across the board. I think Voddie is right, and I don't necessarily think he is overbalanced, but those who are exposed to his stuff sure seem to be. Overall, even at Southern there is diversity on the whole "family-centered" movement, and I'm just wondering if Voddie's views are the best.

"In the future, when you're holding your son or daughter, you'll probably side with Voddie." Hmm. I think anti-Calivinists argue that way about Arminianism, too. :)

Peace (really).
Plev

chance n said...

"Hmm. I think anti-Calivinists argue that way about Arminianism, too. :)"


...good point. :)

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