A Reading

As promised in a previous post, Our Posture As Parents, here is a reading of Chapter 3 “Innocents or Devils? The Spiritual Nature of Children” from Our Covenant with Kids by Dr. Timothy Sisemore. Before I possibly offend people with the title of this chapter, I just wanted to share that I struggled for a moment with sharing this reading because of the title in which the author calls children devils. I believed it to be super harsh and could see some taking offense to this and Dr. Sisemore does not call them devils in the actual chapter. But here it is because I came across this article, “Don’t Be Embarrassed by the Doctrine of Sin” by Caleb Greggsen that made me understand my pause and encouraged me to press on. He also quotes, “To ignore, euphemize, or otherwise mute the lethal reality of sin is to cut the nerve of the gospel.” Cornelius Plantinga And so, although a very long listen, I hope you will take a listen because a biblical understanding of the nature of children is very important. I’d love to hear your thoughts! Here’s a clearer description of the reading: Many parents are guilty of "adopting parenting techniques without understanding exactly why they are supposed to work." We have parenting methods and techniques that include the Bible in some way, but "fail to incorporate the 'big picture' of all that Scripture has to say about children and raising them.” He also states that "Parenting techniques must flow from a biblical understanding of the nature of children." So are children sinners or innocent? The reading included topics like: the roots of popular thought, the image of God, original sin, image of God after the fall. It's an important biblical discussion on the nature of children. I hope it encourages others to pick up this book, Our Covenant with Kids: Biblical Nurture in Home and Church by Timothy A. Sisemore. Please excuse my humble reading and unprofessional recording as you listen. As always, thanks for being here! God-willing, in between homeschooling and VBSing, I will find time to do the other writings that I have promised this summer. Hope everyone is having a blessed summer of much growth in becoming childwise, gaining much wisdom about who you are as a child of God, and growing deeper in the knowledge of God as love. Happy summering! This reading was done with permission from the publisher. Get full access to Becoming (Child)Wise at becomingchildwise.substack.com/subscribe