Caroline
Puritan Board Sophomore
Ok, I've been commenting on other posts like crazy, trying to work up the nerve to start my own thread.
*deep breath* Here goes. The first ever question from Caroline (please don't kill me).
Is anyone other than myself concerned about the lack of flexibility regarding church membership and sacraments in Reformed churches?
Before everybody yells at me, please let me explain. There are actually a couple of reasons for my asking. Here is the one that I will start with ....
I have mentally challenged children. My son (13 y.o) is autistic, my daughter (10 y.o.) has some milder autistic traits, and another (adopted) daughter (18 y.o.) is mentally retarded. We are a really fun family, between that and my Parkinsons/connective tissue disease and my husband's diabetes. I always say that, in this family, if you want sympathy for your disability, you have to get in line and wait your turn.
But the problem here is this ... according to the BOCO, before my kids can take communion, they have to make a profession of faith, which involves taking vows.
I submit that my children (particularly my son) are unable to comprehend the significance of vows. In the language in which they are currently structured, they would not even comprehend the vows themselves. But even if reworded to be easier to understand, I am not certain it is proper to ask the mentally challenged to take vows, considering that it is a sin to break them, and they might not always remember that they took them or comprehend the seriousness of breaking them.
So if my son takes a vow promising to obey the church leaders and then five years from now, he breaks his vow, then I caused him to stumble by encouraging him to take the vow in the first place, which brings up the whole millstone-around-my-neck-and-cast-into-the-sea concern for me.
On the other hand, if I do not permit him to take the vow, then he can never be allowed to take communion his whole life, and, since he loves Jesus very much and witnesses to his teacher and all of his classmates, I think it is his right as a Christian to take communion. (His teacher told me that they have the most 'religious' class that she has ever seen because of my son. She said that whenever anyone is mean to him, my son says, "I will pray for you", and then goes over to the window and looks up and folds his hands and says, "Jesus, please help my friend Nate to understand that taking my scissors was wrong ... etc") I do not think God would approve of me denying him the Lord's supper for his whole life just because he was born with a disability.
I wish there was some way to simply get the requirement waived due to special circumstances. Quite honestly, I am not sure what to do.
Thoughts?
*deep breath* Here goes. The first ever question from Caroline (please don't kill me).
Is anyone other than myself concerned about the lack of flexibility regarding church membership and sacraments in Reformed churches?
Before everybody yells at me, please let me explain. There are actually a couple of reasons for my asking. Here is the one that I will start with ....
I have mentally challenged children. My son (13 y.o) is autistic, my daughter (10 y.o.) has some milder autistic traits, and another (adopted) daughter (18 y.o.) is mentally retarded. We are a really fun family, between that and my Parkinsons/connective tissue disease and my husband's diabetes. I always say that, in this family, if you want sympathy for your disability, you have to get in line and wait your turn.
But the problem here is this ... according to the BOCO, before my kids can take communion, they have to make a profession of faith, which involves taking vows.
I submit that my children (particularly my son) are unable to comprehend the significance of vows. In the language in which they are currently structured, they would not even comprehend the vows themselves. But even if reworded to be easier to understand, I am not certain it is proper to ask the mentally challenged to take vows, considering that it is a sin to break them, and they might not always remember that they took them or comprehend the seriousness of breaking them.
So if my son takes a vow promising to obey the church leaders and then five years from now, he breaks his vow, then I caused him to stumble by encouraging him to take the vow in the first place, which brings up the whole millstone-around-my-neck-and-cast-into-the-sea concern for me.
On the other hand, if I do not permit him to take the vow, then he can never be allowed to take communion his whole life, and, since he loves Jesus very much and witnesses to his teacher and all of his classmates, I think it is his right as a Christian to take communion. (His teacher told me that they have the most 'religious' class that she has ever seen because of my son. She said that whenever anyone is mean to him, my son says, "I will pray for you", and then goes over to the window and looks up and folds his hands and says, "Jesus, please help my friend Nate to understand that taking my scissors was wrong ... etc") I do not think God would approve of me denying him the Lord's supper for his whole life just because he was born with a disability.
I wish there was some way to simply get the requirement waived due to special circumstances. Quite honestly, I am not sure what to do.
Thoughts?