As I read Tim Challies’ review of To Train up a Child, this paragraph jumped out at me:
What is this training? Before I answer that question, let me tell you what the training isnot. Pearl’s training is not moral or spiritual, which means he believes that the mandate of Proverbs 22:6 is not fulfilled by instructing your children in Biblical truths. In the book’s opening pages he writes, “we are not talking about producing godly children, just happy and obedient children. The principles for training young children to instantly obey can be applied by non-Christians as well as Christians.” Training in godliness will come later in a child’s life and is outside the scope of the training he teaches here. This training is applied to children between birth and approximately twelve years of age and can be done by Christians and non-Christians alike.
A few years ago Timothy Paul Jones invited me to write an essay on what the OT has to say about Family Discipleship, so I wrote what I would describe as an Old Testament Theology of Child Training. This essay focuses on precisely what Pearl’s book doesn’t do, examining the OT’s instructions on how parents should train their children in the things of God, in the words of Scripture, that they might know the Lord.
Read the rest at JimHamilton.info.
Jim Hamilton
July 31, 2012
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