Thanks for the reply. It’s actually a nice crisp fall day here. No sunshine, but I’ll take this over the rain!

I really think you it on four critical points when it comes to dealing with sin:

1. Sin is not a lists of do these things and don’t do these things and you’ll be OK. Sin is about a heart attitude and an attitude towards God. I think anytime we give kids examples of sins, we must be very clear that these are just some examples, but their are innumerable ways to sin.
2. I also think the heart grows harder and more deceitful as we grow older. I think that is why our Lord said we must be like children to enter the kingdom of God. Frankly, it’s also one of the reason I so enjoy working with kids.
3. There is an astounding lack of good adult mentors in our churches today, and those personal relationships are critical to the spiritual growth of children including learning about sin and redemption.
4. The marrying up of their feelings with the truth is important and gives kid personal application. My only concern is that we don’t teach kids that their feelings are the determiner of sin (i.e., if it feels bad or guilty it must be sin and if not, you’re fine). That said, God did give us this internal guidance system called our conscience to help guide us.

Thanks for your contributions. These Think Tank questions are always a lot more fun and edifying when people share their own views!

God Bless!

I agree with you on the concept from Jeremiah (I find myself repeating it a lot, actually). I was mostly thinking in terms of giving kids a list of examples of sins–i.e. lying to your parents, hurting someone physically, etc. I worry sometimes that, without good adult mentors to help kids understand the bigger picture of the nature of sin and of redemption and of those experiences in real life, we give kids a list that just sounds like “don’t do these things and you’ll be okay.”

I also think that, given the young age of your son in the examples you gave (and I’ve seen examples like that in my own two kids and in my own church), very young kids often begin by recognizing within their own hearts that something isn’t right–that they feel sadness or guilt, and if we can help them recognize/put together those feelings and the truth of sin, we go a long way toward helping them understand the need for God and God’s redemption. Personally, I think the heart gets more deceptive as we get older! And in working also with middle- and high-school youth, I do see what you’re describing that way, but more often in older kids.

I guess if there were easy, clear-cut answers (not the individual guiding and mentoring of each young disciple, which is so much more intensive and effective), it wouldn’t be a think tank question!

Blessings, and I hope you’re having some sunshine in your world today (it’s raining cats & dogs here),

Julie

I appreciate your comments and especially your desire to take biblical concept and convey them to children in age appropriate ways. And, I do believe that the Holy Spirit uses our conscience to convict us of sin. That said, when I read your comments my mind kept wondering back to Jeremiah 17:9 which indicates that the heart is deceitful above all things. I think teaching kids about sin based solely on their feelings is dangerous. As the father of four (and in my own life) I know that sin does not always lead to a feeling of being further from God. Children must be rooted in truth and truth is often at odds with our feelings. Especially in the post-modern world we live in where something may be “OK for you” but “it’s not my thing,” I think it is important that kids understand that things are sins, not because you or I feel they are, but because God says they are. There are lots of people out there who feel close to God because they are very legalistic and moralistic outwardly when in fact they are far away from God.

I do recognize that Children at that age often have a hard time stepping outside themselves to see their own sin. I think that it why it is important to give them a mirror. When they can’t step outside themselves to see sin, the truth of God’s Word serves as that mirror so they can see themselves in it – where they line up with God’s plan and where they don’t.

Finally, I have to say that I don’t think kids have to be “older” to understand that they are sinners in need of a savior. Oftentimes I think they grasp that concept better than adults. My eight year old son got baptized this past weekend with an understanding of the power and grace God has shown him in his life. At the age of seven he (out of the blue and unprompted), he took his knowledge of the gospel and told me this story (From The Mouth of Babes…. In my post above, I tell the story of where, at age five, he saw sin, recognized it for what it was, and talk about God’s solution for it. I am constantly amazed by what kids, even young kids, can grasp about sin and salvation, and I think that God calls us to share to full counsel of his truth with them from a very early age.

God bless you as a mother and a fellow Children’s Ministry Worker!

In him,

Wayne

Then as children get older and learn more about Jesus and the Gospels, we can start to connect the dots for them that God loved us enough to send us Jesus. Jesus loves us enough to show us the Father and then to die in our place. The Holy Spirit loves us enough to come and be with us always, guiding us always toward God. It’s complicated stuff to a small child, especially all at once.

I have a kindergartner right now who has a pretty short fuse. He and I are trying together to learn how to control the “mad” when it comes up. I need to talk with him about whether the “mad,” and what the “mad” makes him do, helps him feel closer to God or farther away from God.

Terry, Your point about making sure that Jesus is the yardstick is critical. When we compare kids to other kids, or when they do it, we miss the bigger point of God’s standard.

Jeri, your comments on parents being offended reminded me of 1 Peter 2:1-12.

A couple of the responses touched on the need to deal with heart issues in kids. The best resource I have seen on this for parents is Tedd Tripp’s book “Shepherding a Child’s Heart.” One of the points that book drives home is that discipline should not be mainly about corrective action but about bring a child to the Cross of Christ. I would encourage anyone who hasn’t checked it out to do so!