blhowes
Puritan Board Professor
This question is primarily for those of you (if any) who have children in public schools, but anybody is of course welcome to chime in.
My youngest son comes into contact with a variety of kids at school from different backgrounds and is not shy about asking them what they believe and if they're Christians. Most, if not all, of those he asks with any church background answer yes, which is not surprising considering how broadly the term 'Christian' is used in our Christian society.
Lately, he's been asking questions about whether I think his friends, who are catholic, will go to heaven. I wanted to be careful how I answered.
I tried to refocus his attention away from churches and their beliefs to what the scriptures teach. We talked mostly about John 14:6 and 1 John 5:11,12 and the fact that trusting Jesus is the key. When we focus on Jesus and what the Bible says, we can be confident of going to heaven. If we add things to the scriptures or believe something that's not in the scriptures, like the catholic church and some other churches do, our confidence is lessened that what we believe is the correct thing to believe.
Have any of you had to talk with your children about this kind of thing? How did you handle it?
Bob
My youngest son comes into contact with a variety of kids at school from different backgrounds and is not shy about asking them what they believe and if they're Christians. Most, if not all, of those he asks with any church background answer yes, which is not surprising considering how broadly the term 'Christian' is used in our Christian society.
Lately, he's been asking questions about whether I think his friends, who are catholic, will go to heaven. I wanted to be careful how I answered.
I tried to refocus his attention away from churches and their beliefs to what the scriptures teach. We talked mostly about John 14:6 and 1 John 5:11,12 and the fact that trusting Jesus is the key. When we focus on Jesus and what the Bible says, we can be confident of going to heaven. If we add things to the scriptures or believe something that's not in the scriptures, like the catholic church and some other churches do, our confidence is lessened that what we believe is the correct thing to believe.
Have any of you had to talk with your children about this kind of thing? How did you handle it?
Bob