# family devotion



## puritanpilgrim (Sep 22, 2009)

I've been reading through the Bible with my children. I have a 4yo, 2yo, and a 1yo. I wondered how some you deal with texts such as Joseph and potifiers wife. Onan. And a few other highly sexual texts throughout the OT. I've just been skipping them for now, because I wasn't sure how to discuss this with a 4yo or if I even should. What do some of you do when you come to texts like this?


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## AThornquist (Sep 22, 2009)

Though I am relatively new to this family devotional practice, I would simplify the story or at least make it more vague. I wouldn't get deep into details that the little ones wouldn't even understand because it's not sinful to "lie down" with somebody in the way that your child will understand the story - and that's a _good thing_ at this point in their lives. So bring it down to their level a little bit. Off the cuff example: "Potiphar's wife wanted Joseph to do bad things, to sin against God. But Joseph wouldn't listen! He told her no because he wanted to do what was right. He didn't want to sin against God." Then of course the application is so easy in this story. _When other kids want you to do bad things, you need to say no and . . ._ you get the point. Trust me, I hate watering down the Word of God but I don't think this is actually watering it down at all. You are basically taking a story that would mean nothing to them right now and giving them a way to understand the most basic meaning of it. Later in life, as the kids understand sexual matters more and more, getting into details about just _how_ Potiphar's wife tempted Joseph will make a lot more sense.


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## he beholds (Sep 22, 2009)

If I were going to broach the subject, I would say something like, "Potipher's wife was married to Potipher but she wanted Joseph to pretend to be her husband, too. You know how Mommy and Daddy hug and kiss? Well, we do that because we are married and love each other in a special way. Someday you might get married and you'll hug and kiss your wife/husband. But you won't hug and kiss everybody. Just your wife and children. Joseph wasn't supposed to kiss Potipher's wife, because they weren't married, just like Mommy only kisses Daddy and you guys. So Joseph was good because he wouldn't kiss Potipher's wife."

Or something. I think it is good to allow the kids to know that mommy and daddy love each other and show that through kissing, and so I think you can explain this story using your own relationship.


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## Honor (Sep 22, 2009)

we told the kids that Potipher's wife wanted Josheph to sin. when reading though the Bible we skip Songs all together and we skip geneologies and the laws some of them got pretty graphic too. and just make just up as we go (meaning we paraphrase so it's not sexually graphic or gory). Read the chapter or section first and talk it over with your wife and come up with age appropriateness together.


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## SolaScriptura (Sep 22, 2009)

Um, how about just reading God's Word as God's Word was written?

Why exactly is it so hard for some people to come within 10 feet of the word "sex" with their kids? Good grief. If using the word or vaguely discribing what "it" is really bothers you, just say something like, "Potipher's wife wanted Joseph to kiss and touch and do things that are only permitted with her husband." 


On a separate but related note: Overly sensitive sensibilities is part of why I am not a huge fan of hard core age inclusiveness in contexts where Scriptures and life are supposed to be discussed in-depth - like Sunday School. I've been to more than a handful of chuches where they do this and in every case the subjects and discussion are always kept at a safe arms distance from the world in which adults live because of the presence of children. And I for one am not a fan of it.


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## puritanpilgrim (Sep 22, 2009)

Thank you so much for all of the replies they are very helpful.




> Um, how about just reading God's Word as God's Word was written?
> 
> Why exactly is it so hard for some people to come within 10 feet of the word "sex" with their kids? Good grief. If using the word or vaguely discribing what "it" is really bothers you, just say something like, "Potipher's wife wanted Joseph to kiss and touch and do things that are only permitted with her husband."



My 4yo will keep asking questions. He is quick to recognize if I am being too vague or passing over something. If I read the test outright he will ask me about the particulars that he does not know about. I'm not ready to have the sex discussion with my son at this point.


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## he beholds (Sep 22, 2009)

puritanpilgrim said:


> My 4yo will keep asking questions. He is quick to recognize if I am being too vague or passing over something. If I read the test outright he will ask me about the particulars that he does not know about. I'm not ready to have the sex discussion with my son at this point.



If you just say that she wanted him to kiss and hug her that is not lying, and even that would be wrong for a married woman to do with another man, so I personally think you could skip the word sex and the particulars, and still be faithful to the text with a four year old. Otherwise, maybe just skip it. There is no law regarding this--God has not said, "read every word to every age." I think a parent is allowed to share what he feels comfortable sharing and what he thinks will not confuse his son. You could just skip that specific story and share with your children Joseph's other good deeds and explain that he was imprisoned because a woman said he did something mean to her, even though he didn't really.


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## JM (Oct 22, 2009)

We read the text the way it is.


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## ChariotsofFire (Oct 22, 2009)

I don't think skipping anything is a good idea. How are your children to get the whole counsel of God? Explanation will be necessary, but God said it for a reason, and all Scripture is profitable. Skipping parts of the Bible should not be an option. What happens when the preacher preaches Song of Solomon? Do we rush our kids out of church?


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## Jack K (Oct 23, 2009)

I'm more likely to edit a word or two than to omit an entire story. I recall getting to the account of the angels who visited Lot in Sodom. I read aloud that the men of Sodom demanded, "Bring them out, so that we may hurt them." Now "hurt" was not how the text was written, but it gets the point across to a 4-year-old who doesn't need to have his innocence assaulted quite yet.


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## itsreed (Oct 24, 2009)

Read it the way it is. Your children are only going to understand up to the level of their exposure.

If you are coming out of a pagan background, with lot's of exposure to the wickedness described in such passages, then your children will begin to hear the right way to consider such wickedness, as opposed to the way our culture tells them to view it.

If your children are not coming out of a pagan background, they will only understand what you have allowed them to be exposed to. I.e., you control the timing and the depth of the explanation.

Read it straight, and use age appropriate explanations.

Try reading through the story of Lot with three teenage daughters sitting there with you. The mere closeness to the shame of Lot's daughters was much more effective in proclaiming the gospel in that passage than any effort on my part to tone down the text.

My 4 year old son meanwhile, was non-plussed.


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