#7 TEACHING OUR CHILDREN that Life is Sacred

What is the solution to stopping the mass murders that are in the news these days? More policemen? Arm the teachers? Raise the age for buying guns? Laws against assault weapons? Clearly, the best answer is to teach everyone, especially our children, that life is sacred. We should never take the life of anyone—a fundamental Bible teaching.

If we teach our children that life is sacred, then they will never instigate a mass killing.

The following may be helpful in these troubling times.

Suggestions on talking with your children:

  1. What we say to our children depends on their age and their understanding:
  2. For very young children, the best way to start is to ask what they know and feel about a tragedy, if anything. Primarily, very young children are interested in being assured daily of parental love, protection from perceived dangers, and maintaining a normal routine of life. Let the child tell you what concerns him or her. Then answer with understanding and love. For very young children this questioning/assurance may have to be repeated often during the day. This is an excellent time to stress the role of God in the daily family Bible reading and prayer. God loves us and protects us in this life. In this way the parent will begin to teach the overriding governing role of the Bible in our lives.
  3. For children old enough to understand, learning the Bible teaching of respect for human life can be an important subject for a family Bible reading session. Several verses can be used because they clearly show how God’s rules and feels about any murder.

Exodus 20:13 “You shall not murder.”

Revelation 21:8 “…as for murderers,… their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire …”

1 Corinthians 3:16-17 “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.”

  1. At some age the child can be taught the difference between murder by an individual and the times when God directed taking life or the government taking life. God directed extermination of wicked people in the Old Testament. These people were guilty of murder in their human sacrifices as they worshipped idols. God asked for their complete extermination because they would influence the Children of Israel to worship idols.

Deuteronomy 20:17-18 “but you shall devote them to complete destruction, the Hittites and the Amorites, the Canaanites and the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites, as the LORD your God has commanded, that they may not teach you to do according to all their abominable practices that they have done for their gods, and so you sin against the LORD your God.”

The Apostle Paul directed Christians to obey the government and stated that one of the functions of the government is to execute evil people.

Romans 13:1, 4 “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God… for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer.”

  1. What we say to our children when a mass murder has occurred will vary with the age of the child.
  2. If the child is very young, a simple question as to how the child feels is appropriate. Then assurances of love and safety can follow.
  3. For an older child, emphasis can be placed upon the Bible as our guide and the sin of any individual taking the life of another.
  4. An even older child can be taught to value all of life, including pets and animals that work, like oxen and horses.
  5. Finally, parents should monitor what is going into the minds of the child—TV programs that stress murder or games that involve killing?

The Bible is plain that the mind or the heart of man is the source of evil things, such as murder. Jesus made it plain that evil results from what is in our minds.

Mark 7:21-23 “For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”

Thus, whatever is in the mind governs what we do. As much as we can, we should insist that the TV programs our children watch or the games they play do not constantly put sinful actions, such as murder or killing, into their minds.

Passages that can be cited and read to the child during the daily Bible reading time: Exodus 20:13; Revelation 21:8; 1 Corinthians 3:16-17; Deuteronomy 20:17-18; Romans 13:1-4; Mark 7:21-23; Genesis 4:1-16  (Each family is encouraged to have a daily Bible reading or story time.)

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