Category Archives: Children

Titus 1:6 – ‘Believing’ children, or ‘faithful’ children?

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1:6 An elder must be blameless, the husband of one wife, with faithful children who cannot be charged with dissipation or rebellion. 1:7 For the overseer must be blameless as one entrusted with God’s work, not arrogant, not prone to anger, not a drunkard, not violent, not greedy for gain. 1:8 Instead he must be hospitable, devoted to what is good, sensible, upright, devout, and self-controlled. 1:9 He must hold firmly to the faithful message as it has been taught, so that he will be able to give exhortation in such healthy teaching and correct those who speak against it.…

Proverbs 22:6 – ‘Train a child’

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22:6 Train a child in the way that he should go,
and when he is old he will not turn from it.

This well-known proverb has been understood in a variety of ways.

In popular Christian thinking, it is thought to constitute an unconditional promise to parents.  It is taken as a guarantee of the success of early training of children.  But not a few parents find that, despite their best efforts at bringing up their child ‘in the way he should go’, when he is old he does turn from it. …

Jesus’ attitude towards children

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Some things Jesus did for children

1. He took them in his arms and blessed them.

2. He provided for their physical wants in feeding the four and five thousand—”besides women and children.” He commanded that something to eat be given the raised daughter of Jairus (Mark 5: 43).

3. He healed them. How many were boys? (See John 4:46-54 and Matt. 17: 14-21.) How many were girls? (See Mark 7: 24-30 and Matt. 9:18-34.) Are there still others?…

1 Corinthians 7:14 – Sanctified spouses, holy children

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1 Cor 7:14 – ‘The unbelieving husband is sanctified because of the wife, and the unbelieving wife because of her husband. Otherwise your children are unclean, but now they are holy.’

What is the meaning of ‘sanctified’ and ‘holy’ in this verse? Several options may be considered:-

1. That it is about the regeneration of the unbelieving partner.  According to this view, Paul would be stating that the unbelieving spouse has become regenerate through the believing partner. …

‘The Lost Message of Paul’ – The neuropsychology of sin

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One of the strangest chapters in Steve Chalke’s The Lost Message of Paul is chapter 24 – ‘Wired’.  Strange because it doesn’t really belong in a book about Paul and his theology.  Also strange because one has to wonder how competent Chalke is to deal with some of the subject-matter of this chapter.

Let me see if I can make some sense of what he’s trying to say.

While we all tend excuse our own bad behaviour (we are good people affected by bad circumstances), we are much more ready to attribute others’ bad behaviour as due to failed personal morality (they are bad people). …

50 maxims for men

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Full title: ’50 Maxims for Men in an Age of Toxic Masculinity and Identitarian Craziness’.

Michael Bird has created/collected a set aphorisms by way of advice that a father might give to his son.

Unusually (for me) I’m reproducing the list as it comes from the pen (or typing finger) of Michael:-

# 1: Marriage is a lot like a US airport, by law it must always be under construction and improvement.

# 2: Real men do not hit women.…

The child in Jesus’ teaching

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In Matthew’s Gospel, the figure of a child features prominently in the teaching of Jesus.  It:-

  1. expresses a doctrine of revelation and election. The Father and the Son are made known to the least likely, to “babes” (nēpioi, Mt 11:25–26); those, that is, who recognize their weakness and utter dependence upon divine grace and accept the invitation of Jesus as the Wisdom* of God (Mt 11:27–29).
  2. expresses a requirement of membership in the kingdom of God: radical humility (Mt 18:1–4; cf.
…

“Let the little children come to me” – sermon notes

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Mark 10:13-16

Imagine the scene: Jesus is resting, perhaps, in the home of one of his friends.  There is a sound of chatter at the door.  Mothers and fathers, grandparents too, are arriving with little children, toddlers, babies.  They’re asking to come in, so that Jesus can touch the little ones.

Peter and the others will have none of it.  Standing in the doorway, they seek to protect their Master from all this fuss and intrusion. …

Should children choose their gender?

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Children as young as three are being asked what gender they identify with.

Parents in Brighton and Hove who are seeking a place for their children in primary school, have been asked to ‘support your child to choose the gender they most identify with or if they have another gender identity please leave this blank and discuss this with your child’s school.’

Read a more detailed report, along with some thoughtful comments from one of the parents, here.  …

50 politically incorrect thoughts for men – 2

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11. Male obligations have been re-branded as “privileges”.  The male obligation to provide for his wife and children is now regarded as a privilege.  No-one has bothered to ask men whether they would prefer to go out and work in an office, mine or factory, rather than spend more time with the family.  But if a woman thinks she would be more fulfilled by going out to work, rather than staying at home, she should have the choice.  …