Lately, I’ve been reading through the book of Ezekiel in my morning Bible devotional time. Oh my, some of words and imagery are quite…blunt, to put it mildly. Yet, even this part of Scripture “is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness,” (2 Timothy 3:16 ESV). That being said, would I include Ezekiel 16 in a first grader’s Bible reading plan? Probably not. But sooner or later, we must expose our children to these parts of Scripture and be prepared to explain them in a truthful yet age-appropriate manner. Why not just skip over these parts? Consider these words from Pastor Robert Brady:
As a pastor, I sometimes have parents express concern about that to which their young children are being exposed in church. Whether it is a reference to the Old Covenant sign of circumcision going on the male reproductive organ or some part of a biblical story being discussed in Sunday School—there is no way to avoid exposing our children to the raw portions of Scripture in a biblically faithful church. In fact, I would suggest that we are called to expose them to the reality of these things in the right way.
- God commands it.
- Culture necessitates it.
- Our hearts need it.
(From, “Teaching Our Children the Raw Parts of Scripture” at www.reformation21.org)
I would strongly encourage every pastor, parent, and Sunday school teacher to read the entire article (available here.)(Image courtesy of Iamnee at FreeDigitalPhotos.net.)
