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Originally Posted by timmopussycat  Quote:
Originally Posted by SemperFideles Quote:
Originally Posted by timmopussycat Speaking as one real reformed Baptist, I don't see the difficulty. We bring our kids to church and pray with them for exactly the same reasons that you might bring an unbelieving friend to church and pray with them if they let you. We chatechize our kids and teach them the Christian faith a) so that they know what it is, b) it is our duty to evangelize and most important of all (I hope) c) out of love for both neighbours and kids. We would offer to teach the same lessons to any interested unbelievers because we know that it is through hearing Christian truth that the Holy Spirit draws Christ's elect to him. | Really? I want to examine this for a moment. You state that you bring your kids exactly the same way you might bring an unbelieving friend.
You see, the last time I checked, Baptists were against compelling their friends to attend. When was the last time you invited your children to attend worship with you? I assume you are not telling your unbelieving friends that they must attend worship with you.
In fact, if you wanted to consistently treat your children as your unbelieving friends you would give them the option every week. "Tim Jr., would you like to attend worship with me today?"
Then, as a good Baptist, who doesn't want to force an unbeliever to attend worship, you would drop him off at a friend's house so you could attend worship without him.
I'm sorry but I don't find this argument about the way your treat your children to be just like your neighbor to be a credible argument. |
I did not say we bring our kids in the "same way" as we bring unbelievers. What I said was that we bring our kids to worship for the "same reasons" as we bring unbelievers. I freely admit that "the way" we bring our friends to church is not the same way as we bring our children to church. As friends of unbelievers, we do not have the right to force them to do that which is good for them i.e. obtain a detailed knowledge of the Christian faith, so we just invite them to church and do not force them to come. But, as parents, we do have the right to require our children to do that which is good for them. Since we know it is good for them to acquire a detailed knowledge of the Christian faith, we bring our kids to church without offering the option of declining attendence. |
I don't understand the distinction. Are such things not good for your neighbor as well? If the
reason "...We chatechize our kids and teach them the Christian faith..." is that it is good for neighbors in general then why distinguish between "reprobate" minors and those of majority status?
Let's keep putting those building blocks together "on the fly", shall we?