The Challenge of Christian Parenting in a Changing World

As a grandparent, I’ve watched things change dramatically over my lifetime. How can Christian parents raise children with biblical moral values in a world that has abandoned them?

The other day I was busy with a quilting project and had the radio babbling in the background. The topic was parenting, and specifically they were talking about texting.

This caught my interest as I have watched my granddaughter’s thumbs work their magic on her cell phone. How does that work, I’ve wondered, and do I really want to learn?

If I had children at home, it seems I would have to, as a mother on the radio program mentioned that texting has become the communication method of choice for teens. “They will not answer a phone call. I can only reach them when I text,” she commented. Texting is her way of checking in and keeping up—her electronic parenting tool.

We are in deep trouble!

Then the mother referred to a text she had received from her teenaged son recently. It was something like, Went to party. Yes Mom, took a condom, but I didn’t have to use it.

I stopped and looked at the radio. Did I just hear what I thought I heard—on national radio—from the lips of an unabashed mother? Did the panel laugh a little, as in “boys will be boys”? I think so.

Hmmm … texting is not all that has changed in my world. “Safe sex” has replaced the teaching I grew up with: Sex belongs in marriage—period.

We are in deep trouble, I thought to myself. We’ve got technology but we’ve lost our morality.

The West awash

A couple of weeks later I was encouraged to know that I am not alone in my consternation concerning the moral shift I’m seeing gain acceptance, not only by teens but their parents as well.

In its Aug. 21-22 edition, The Wall Street Journal ran a piece by Lord Jonathan Sacks, the chief rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth. In his article, “Reversing the Decay of London Undone,” he decried the recent mob violence in London.

As he analyzed the causes. he observed: “Britain is the latest country to pay the price for what happened half a century ago in one of the most radical transformations in the history of the West. In virtually every Western society in the 1960s there was a moral revolution, an abandonment of its entire traditional ethic of self-restraint. … The Judeo-Christian moral code was jettisoned.”

Later he wrote of “the tsunami of wishful thinking that washed across the West saying you can have sex without the responsibility of marriage, children without the responsibility of parenthood, social order without the responsibility of citizenship, liberty without the responsibility of morality and self-esteem without the responsibility of work and earned achievement.”

Some who met the challenge

Christian parents today certainly need all the help they can get to combat such negative pressures and influences. I think of several inspiring examples of those who met that challenge in ages past:

• Hannah, who lived in a tumultuous time when the priesthood was corrupt and Israel was determined to drift from God. She prayed for a son, promising to give him to God for His service (1 Samuel 1). God answered her prayer, and Samuel grew to be Israel’s last judge, a prophet and a spiritual leader seeking to turn Israel back to God.
• Lemuel’s mother, who cautioned her son to stay clear of immoral conduct that would destroy him as a king (Proverbs 31:1-9).
• Eunice and Lois, mother and grandmother, who joined forces in teaching young Timothy the Scriptures, putting in place a foundation that God would later build upon (2 Timothy 1:5; 3:15).
• Paul, who exhorted both children and fathers in the Ephesian church: “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. … And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:1, 4).

Can’t do it alone

Even the most diligent of parents can’t do it alone. They desperately need a support system—physically and spiritually.

Every year the Church of God participates in a special service we call the Blessing of the Little Children, usually after the Feast of Tabernacles. It is based on Jesus’ example found in the Gospels.

One commentary on Matthew 19:13 says: “It was customary among the Jews, when blessings were sought for others in prayer, to lay the hands on the head of the person prayed for, implying a kind of consecration to God. … They had also much confidence in the prayers of pious men, believing that those blessed by a saint or a prophet would be happy” (Barnes’ Notes, Electronic Database, 1997, 2003).

Luke 2:25-35 provides a snapshot of such a blessing on a very special family and child, Joseph, Mary and the infant Jesus.

I’m looking forward to witnessing this very moving ceremony later this year, when ministers take up the precious little ones in their arms and humbly pray for God’s blessing, guidance and protection for them. I feel privileged to be able to add my “Amen.”

Related links:

• The Christian Parenting Blog.
• “The Family,” on the Media page, go to the sermon by Jim Servidio on Jan. 29, 2011.
• “Reflections on ‘Gramma Camp’ 2011.”
• “Why Is London Burning?”
• From Holidays to Holy Days: God’s Plan for You.

Karen Meeker enjoys quilting, especially for her grandchildren. And she looks forward to a world filled with righteousness and peace for the next generations.