Question for Christian parents ?

Question

How can we live in such a way so our children will have confidence in our testimony, and not think it's hypocritical or phony and thus our children abandon the faith because of this ?

Answer 1

hi..I think this is a tough question but i will give my best to try to answer it as i believe....first it says in Pro 22:6   Train up a child in the way he should go, And when he is old he will not depart from it....each and everyone's testimony is different. All of our past make up our testimony. Unfortunately we have all sinned. Rom 3:23   for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. I think for me and when I get to this point with my own children I will be honest with them and tell them I have sinned and have done things in my passed, but God has forgiven me for them. Its tricky cause in my case I wasn't raise in a godly house as is different for my children. I came to Christ late in my 20's as they were raised from the day they were born to know God and love Him.  I think it is so important to explain to our dear children that the things we did before knowing Christ we wrong and i know for me if i could go back in time I would run from my passed sins. Its also important to let them know that our past sins have consequences that will stay with us for life. Example if we have s*x before marriage we can come down with an STD, and will have this the rest of our life. So it is important to live your life and set a good example.

Answer 2

In order to be a Christian, a leap of faith must be taken in order to believe what the preachers are preaching. Therefore, if they are exposed to Christianity, they might learn it.

Answer 3

I have found that it is best for children to learn and accept their faith on their own.  I am a Christian parent and we do not baptize our children until they are old enough to know what it means and can come to the conclusion on their own that they are choosing the Lord as their savior.  If you push religion, just like anything else, they will rebel.  Take them to church, expose them to a great Christian atmosphere among other Christian youth and they will fall into it naturally.  Church camp in the summer is a wonderful way too! Good luck and God Bless!

Answer 4

Be honest with your children. Be an example to them. Take them to church, read the Bible with them and let them see you reading as well. Apologize when you mess up or are wrong. Let them know you love them and are there for them always. Show them respect and show the other parent respect as well.

Pray for them and with them.

Your not going to be perfect and you are still going to run across problems with your children. Keep close to God and your children will see that God is the most important thing in your life.

Answer 5

Don't teach them anything. I'm not a Christian and I'm not a parent, and if you tell me that I'm going to h**l, I will laugh. Instead of taking everything exactly the way it is (now a problem because of religion), understand the forces in the universe that are not divine and understand them well. It will help you come to better sense and judgment without sounding like a bumbling fool. I was raised Catholic and believed in Jesus Christ as my personal savior and that He would allow me to go to "heaven" when I die. I believed this for about 14 years, and then I just starting throwing it all away for whatever reason. I am now 16 and am very moral and somewhat just without any religious motivations holding me back. Religion causes more hatred than it does love.

Answer 6

I believe that all religious education and teachings are a form of child abuse. Why not wait until your children are over 18 and let them make their own minds up.

Answer 7

I just live my faith out & do not preach or quote too much, if at all. They are teens now and very vigilant and watch me closely. When they were small, we had Bible Study & prayers and it was so cute one day in the supermarket, when my son aged 5, held on to the shopping cart, singing, 'Fairest Lord Jesus'....but now...

They see me read the Bible. I talked to them about my funeral, to not be sad, but to celebrate, for I will be celebrating up there!!

I just relax and live according to my faith. They know..the seeds have been planted, at the appropriate time they will bear fruit.

Just don't overwhelm them, preach at the them or force them.

Answer 8

keep taking them to church and talk to them about the goodness of God and things that He did when you were in difficulty and tell them to try pray to him when they have a problem

Answer 9

Never show an ugly spirit when correcting your children or be excessive in your discipline is one way.

Answer 10

We are Christian parents as well.  We take the kids to church on a regular basis and let them see us volunteering in different ministries.  We let them see us reading our bibles, having people over for bible study groups.  We encourage them to do bible studies on a daily basis in summer and as allowed by homework load during school.  We lead by example and let them see us fail and pray for forgiveness and get back up and start over.  We encourage them to take their step to salvation when it is time for them.  Thus said we have 4 children aged 16, 12, 10 and 4 the 3 older have all taken their step toward Jesus by asking for salvation and being baptized.  Only 1 of them (12yo) lives the life in a way pleasing to us or Jesus.  He turns the other cheeck, prays reads his bible, is going on a mission trip with church this summer and lives for his weekly teen meetings at the church, the other 2 lie, steal, vandalize and talk mean and feel proud about it.  They were not ready to ask to be saved and did it to please dad.  There is no real formula, just let them see how you live and how you deal with your failures and shortcomings and the good things in your life.  If you do al of this in front of them, they will see what they are suppossed to do but there are no guarentees.  If they do not "get it" now hopefully they will before it is too late.  God Bless and keep praying for them!

Answer 11

When you mess up, admit it.  Apologize and tell your kids what happened and why you made wrong decisions - let them see you pray for forgiveness.  Just do your best.  Being a Christian doesn't mean your perfect.  We're all going to mess up.  From a song "David was a man after God's own heart.  Not because he never failed, but because he never failed to ask for forgiveness".