Rasining Our Children in the Declining Christianity of Americanism (Part Two)

Going back to yesterday, and the books that have been and are being published on the subject of parents who raise their kids without God in the home, it is a very disturbing subject.

Many kids these days are raised not knowing the true meaning of why we celebrate Easter and Christmas. They get to college and beyond and think it is about Easter bunnies and Christmas trees.

A friend of mine a couple weeks ago had a garage sale. A little girl and her mother came and the girl saw a display of Noah's Ark that my friend was selling. The girl was interested in it and my friend told her about it. She had never heard the story about Noah. Her mom came up and said, "Oh, that is Moses."

Where do we go wrong these days? Many families are not teaching their children about God. Is it no wonder that this country is heading towards a decline in Christianity?

So how do we stop this decline in our country?

Some parents raise their kids with the idea that when they get older, they can choose to believe whatever they want to. Is that the kind of attitude we really want?

Years ago, Dr. James Dobsen spoke on that very thing during one of his radio broadcasts. He said the problem with that is, if you don't teach them about God, someone else will come along and teach them something that you might want them to learn. That is not a direct quote but think about it. Do we really want someone teaching our kids the things that we don't want them to learn apart from God?

Personally, I believe we need to....
fill their minds with the goodness of God.Modeling godly behavior to them and start teaching them about God when they are young. 

Children are always wanting to mimic whatever they see. You and I are sometimes their first teachers. Why not let them see Jesus in us?

Start children off in the way they should go and they will not depart from it when they are old. Proverbs 22:

The King James version of that verse says to Train up a child in the way they should go. 

The words to train, or to teach are action words. It involves the action of not only doing but being an example for our children to see Godly qualities in us. 

To turn our country back to the core of beliefs it was founded on, we must start in the home. It begins with us as parents. It begins with you and I. That is just one way, it happens. Stay tuned for more on this subject. There will be more to come.

Thanks for coming by today friends. Have a blessed day and be a light to someone's life. Because you may be the only light he/she sees. Take Care!

Rasing Our Children in the Declining Christianity of Americam (Part One)

Have you ever gone to buy a book on raising children? And if so, have you seen just how many there are? Back when my kids were little, the most popular book of the day was one that Dr. Spock wrote. He was an American pediatrician whose book, Baby and Childcare became a best seller in 1946. According to the New York Times, it sold 50 million books by 1998, second only to the Bible.

As of more recent years, many more secular books have been and are being written today. Some titles include: Godless Parents Are Doing A Better Job, My Kid Will Be Raised Without Religion, and Why I Am Not Raising My Children To Be Religous.

The list of these books is endless. And more and more are written all the time. They are leading many unsuspecting parents away from the Bible.

Where did we go wrong in the belief system that taught us that parents teaching their kids about God in their homes was no longer normal? When did it become ok to not say prayers in school or pledge our allegiance to a flag that had become our nations symbol of freedom? When did it become fine for our schools to teach evolution and not creationism? When? When? When?

How has these kinds of belief systems in this country been able to sneak up on us? Or have they really done that?  Why have we allowed the truth of the bible be traded for a lie?

Did you know that one in five people do not believe in the story in the Bible concerning Christ's birth? And that figure is declining as well. Source: 5 facts about Christmas in America | Pew Research Center

Take note of the following:

The other day we came across an article in Advertising Age that blew us away. The article was discussing marketing and religion, but what impacted us so profoundly were some figures from the American Religious Identification Survey by the Institute for the Study of Secularism in Society & Culture at Trinity College.

According to that survey, 15% of Americans now say they have “no religion” which is up from 8% in 1990.

It is important to realize that not all of those 46 percent are unbelievers. According to a survey by Bohan Advertising/Marketing, the Barna Group and the United Methodist Church, 62 percent of Americans in that age group consider themselves to be “spiritual”, and 43 percent of them have prayed to some higher power in the last 2 months.

But what it does mean is that almost half of all Americans between the ages of 18 and 34 do not identify themselves with any particular religion.

And when you look at more recent poll numbers for Christianity in particular, the numbers become even more staggering.

Another new survey by the Barna group reveals that less than 1 percent of all Americans between the ages of 18 and 23 hold a Biblical worldview. This new poll data clearly demonstrates that the youngest adults in America are clearly rejecting traditional evangelical Christian teaching.

The Barna survey defined “a Biblical worldview” as holding all of the following six key beliefs:

1) Believing that absolute moral truth exists.
2) Believing that the Bible is completely accurate in all of the principles it teaches.
3) Believing that Satan is considered to be a real being or force, not merely symbolic.
4) Believing that a person cannot earn their way into Heaven by trying to be good or by doing good works.
5) Believing that Jesus Christ lived a sinless life on earth.
6) Believing that God is the all-knowing, all-powerful creator of the world who still rules the universe today.

So what do all of these poll numbers mean?

They mean that evangelical Christianity has totally lost almost an entire generation of American young people.

Meanwhile, the Christian Science Monitor recently published an article about the “coming evangelical collapse” that they believe is coming. They openly predict that “within two generations, evangelicalism will be a house deserted of half its occupants.”

 source: The Decline of Christianity in America

If our belief in the God of the Bible and all it entails is declining in this country, what is to become of us? Where are we headed? Is there any hope for our families?

Please come back tomorrow for more on this crucial and very important subject.

 Cartoon of the day

Thanks for coming by today Friends. I am so happy that you did. Until tomorrow, may God richly bless you and those you love!

Mothers of the Bible (Conclusion)

Mothers of the Bible. Young or old. God has created women to take on this important role from the beginning of time. 

These are just a few of the mother's in the Bible. And being a mother and even a grandmother is a very important job that God allows us to have. And not only is it a job, but it is also a privilege.
Children are a gift from God. Psalm 127:3-5  We are to be with them and talk to them all through the day and at night. Deuteronomy 6:6-7. We are to nurture them. Titus 2:4. Training them. Proverbs 22:6. And teaching them. Deuteronomy 4:10. Not last but surely not least God wants us to discipline our children. Proverbs 22:6

Being a mother is a very important role today as in biblical days. It is ongoing and changing with every season of a child's life. From pregnancy to adulthood, it brings with it love, encouragement, support, teaching, joy, laughter, and yes, sometimes even pain and heartache.

 And we sometimes as mothers, fail and make mistakes. Some of us were really too young to start families. Some of us came from abusive parents that didn't know anything but abuse themselves. Sometimes we have to work to help support our families. Or some mothers are single and have to do it all themselves without a mate to help them.

Let's face it. Sometimes mothering can be demanding and hard. Even in the best of homes. It can be challenging. Thankless and
makes us want to throw our hands up in the air to just want to give up.

That is why we need to look to God for help because that is where our greatest help comes from.

And looking to God, who created us to take on that role, we know that he helps us through each of those seasons, no matter what they bring. And we do the best we can. And he forgives us when we do fail and when we ask him.

God created us to be mothers. Just as he created those of the bible. If he created us to have that role in our lives, he is not going to leave out the ability to perform it if we trust him. No matter what it brings. No matter what we go through. He will help us. If you have made mistakes in your role as a mother, if you have become discouraged, ask him for help. He will give it to you. Because he created You for it.

I hope you have enjoyed this look at some of the mom's that God created. I hope also that you will come back tomorrow for another look at what he has to say about raising our kids from a biblical standpoint. Take care and have a blessed day!

Mothers of the Bible-Elizabeth (Part 6)

Elizabeth

Elizabeth was married to a priest named Zechariah but they had been unable to have a child. They were righteous people that loved God and lived by his commands.

One day Zachariah was serving in the temple when an angel came to him and told him that God had heard his prayers and his wife would have a son who they were to call John. Luke 1:13-14

Elizabeth was overjoyed that at last, she was to bear a son. Luke 1:25. God had answered their prayers at last.

Mary, the mother of Jesus and Elizabeth were cousins and when Mary went to visit her, Elizabeth's baby leaped in her womb and she was filled with the Holy Spirit.

She did name the baby John and he would grow up to baptize people with water, preparing the way for the Messiah.

God always keeps his promises to us. Maybe not today. Maybe not next week. Maybe not next year. But at the time he deems best as he knows when the time is right for us to receive them. We can be assured that he hears us and wants the very best for us and wants to give us the desires of our hearts. Are you waiting for something you have been praying for and it seems like he will never get around to answering it? If so, just remember these women of the bible that prayed for a long time for children and God gave them to them in his own timing. He will for you as well.

Thanks for your visit today Friends. I am glad you came. Til tomorrow be blessed!

Mothers of the Bible-Sarah (Part 5)

Genesis 21

Sarah

Of all the mothers of the Bible, I  think the most courageous one would have been Sarah. For many years, Sarah could not have children. And she desperately wanted one. She prayed for many years for God to give her a child. God had promised her husband Abraham that he would bless them with a son. But when? As they grew older, it must have been discouraging for them to not be able to conceive, month after month.

Sarah did grow tired of waiting and eventually, she convinced Abraham to sleep with her handmaiden to produce an heir for them. However, that is a story for another time.

God did keep his promise to them and finally gave them the promised son. At the age of 90, she gave birth to Isaac.

But that was how much Sarah had longed for a child. They named him Issac which means laughter.

They had named him that because they had actually laughed when God had told them that they would have a son. They didn't think God could pull that off.

And yet he did. Is anything to difficult for God? Genesis 18:14  And so maybe they didn't believe it for a time. But they must have been happy about it as well when they finally had their son. And what of Sarah? At that time of her life, it had to be have been extremely hard. Were there times when going through her pregnancy that she asked God why he had waited so long to answer her prayers? Or did God allow her to have a relatively easy pregnancy due to her age?

I don't know. But I couldn't imagine even wanting a child at that age, let alone having one. Could you?  How was it back then when she found she was going to have a son? What kind of pregnancy was it? How was it at their ages, raising Issac? It is one of those stories that I would love to know about them to one day when I get to heaven.


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Thanks for coming by today friends. Blessed be the name of our Lord! Have a great day!

Mother's of the Bible-Bathsheba (part 4)

Bathsheba 

Bathsheba came from a God-fearing family. Her father was Eliam and he was the son of Ahithophel. Eliam was one of Davids officers. Bathsheba became the wife of Uriah who was the most loyal of all of Davids men.

Eventually, King David would send for Bathsheba and....well you know the rest of that situation. And the results were a pregnancy that David tried to hide. He had her husband Uriah to be killed and then he married Bathsheba.

It is interesting to note that nowhere in scripture is Bathsheba condemned for a sinful relationship that she had with King David. There is a theory that maybe because he was king and had her sent to him if she just did not have any other choice. Of course, that is speculation but, it makes me think differently of her then the alternative which is that she wanted the affair the got her pregnant.

Whatever the situation, this child died after he was born. And Bathsheba went on to live in King Davids harem. She would have other children with David, one of which was Solomen who ruled as king in his lifetime.

And not only that, God chose Bathsheba to bring forth the lineage of Jesus Christ.

Why did God do this? We do not know. But that being said, we know that sin is sin, no matter the type. And he is sovereign. No matter who would have been in the lineage of Jesus, they would have been imperfect. Not without sin. God had his reason and whatever it was, it did bring forth the Son of God. That is what matters. What do you think about this story of Bathsheba? Was she an adulterer or a victim? Maybe we will know the answer to that when we get to heaven. Until then, it is a mystery.

Thanks for coming by today folks. Have a blessed day and bless someone else!

Mothers of the bible-Rachel and Leah (part 3)

                                     Genesis 29-A very short tale of two sisters: Rachel and Leah 

 Jacob inadvertently married Lea when he wanted to marry her sister Rachel. Rachel was Jacob's favorite wife and the mother of  Benjamin and Joseph.

Jacob worked seven years for her father Laban (which was his uncle) so that he could marry Rachel. She was very beautiful and he had fallen in love with her. However, unbeknownst to Jacob, her father gave him the youngest daughter Leah instead of Rachel. When he found this out the next day, he confronted Laban. Laban told Jacob to finish  Leah's bridal week and then he could have Rachel because it was not their custom for the youngest daughter to marry first. And Rachel was the youngest daughter. Labon said that then Jacob could have Rachel and work for him another seven years. And so Jacob did.

However, Leah began having his children and Rachel could not. She prayed for God to give her a child. Finally, Rachel became very jealous of her sister and demanded that Jacob give her a child.

Rachel ended up giving her servant to Jacob so that she would have babies for her, and her servant did.
Years passed before Rachel herself gave birth to Jacobs children. And she ended up dying during childbirth later.

What was life like for women in the times of Rachel and her sister Leah? Here is just a brief look at some of the ways they lived.

1. When a bride married, she expected to receive a gift from her father. It might be money or goods such as land or cattle etc.
2. The women of the time were smart, strong and independent. When they wanted something, they almost  always got their way.
3. They did many things within their clans because, without them, their clan could not be managed and they knew it. 
4. They were not kept in the home. They moved about society freely.
5. They were active in religious matters.
6. They performed tasks together and were involved mostly with any that affected the household.
7. They made the major decisions of their households. 

That is just a short list of what their world held for them in those days. For more info you can follow the following links. 

http://www.womeninthebible.net/bible-extras/family-work-religion/ or
http://www.womeninthebible.net/bible-people/rachel_bible/

It would seem to me, that starting with Eve and continuing on, the fact that women could get what they wanted from their men lives on through today. Did they have a women's lib of sorts? Maybe, not to the degree it is today. Women today demand their rights and some of those rights are very unbiblical. Reading more about their roles back then, just makes me wonder about it. They did work within their homes. No doubt they worked very hard and life for them was not easy. They didn't go off to an office in that day. But they knew what they wanted and how to get it. Interesting, isn't it?

Thanks for coming by. Have a wonderful day!