Angyl
February 12th, 2004, 11:41 AM
My pastor's been preaching on this for the last couple of months (rasing Godly children and family) and now that he's pretty much finished he passed out this list yesterday. I found the sermon to be quite hillarious at times...my personal notes included.
If you want to raise a child who is constantly battling against you and lost in the world, my pastor recommends:
how to Rear a Rebel in 20 Easy Steps
[list=1]
Be too busy to pray daily for your children from birth.
Be too busy to read your Bible daily so you won't know how to rear children God's way.
Never have a family altar.
Be so busy with your job, church and other responsibilities that you never spend time with your children.
Simple formula: To a young child Love=Time Spent with Them.
Tell yourself when your children are young that when they are teenagers, you will make up for the lack of time spent with them; and you will be more fun then.
Criticize authority any time your children are mistreated.
Every time your pastor says or does something you disagree with, make sure your children are aware of it.
This goes along with the previous rule. The pastor of your church is chosen by YOU to help...ONLY HELP instruct your family in God's ways. If you spend time tearing down the things he says in front of your kids you are teaching them to not respect the pastor or his authority...same with their teachers at school, etc. If you have a problem with something the pastor teaches then it is fine for you parents AFTER DISCUSSION to gently try to correct the teaching to your kids later...not bringing up the pastor at all if possible. If there's a problem with the teacher at school that needs to be dealt with, rather than tearing the teacher down in front of your kid or marching off to school dragging the kid along to chew the teacher out, handle the matter privately, without the child's knowledge. It is vitally important that children see us as unified with the Authorities WE have set above them or else they will grow to disrespect all authority whether you agree with them or not.
When your teenager does not want to work, do the work yourself because it is easier.
Raising Children is WORK. Part of that work is teaching them to do something and watching them try it and fail and getting them to do it again and again and again until they get it right, even though it would be easier for you to do it yourself. This starts when the child is a toddler and should be putting their own toys away before bed.
Simply scream, yell, and criticize teenagers when they don't obey.
Be happy with mediocrity because it is too much effor to require teenagers to give their best.
allow them to constantly occupy their minds with television, video games and the internet.
I challenge anyone reading this to think of a mainstream televison show for teens & young adults that does not have regular violence, fornication, witchcraft, sex, or talk of sex (even jokes) as a regular part of its script today. I couldn't think of any.
Move to the place your company sends you irregardless of God's will or whether there is a good church for you and your family to attend.
Allow them to listen to rock music which will encourage rebellion against authority (Both secular and so-called "Christian rock").
Funny little part of the sermon last night as he pointed out that some music is just DESIGNED to encourage rebellion. Imagine the house, where you hear a lot of yelling and screaming and doors slamming and dishes breaking, then the front door opens and slams shut as a teen comes out with a deep scowl on his face and goes charging down the walkway toward the garage, still yelling at the people back in the house. He gets in the car and slams the car door shut, turns on the engine and guns it up hard. Tires squeal as he drives off, kicking gravel up against the side of the house and he turns on the stereo REAL LOUD and you hear: ((sung normally))"Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch, like me..."
I-WAS-ROLLIN when our pastor changed up like that and started singing that soft tune. Totally made his point, though.
Allow them the freedom to dress like the world because you don't want to pay the price to set limits.
Give them money, since they were not taught to work as children and you do not want to take the time to help them get a job to see that they must work for needed money.
Let them choose their own friends and acquaintances.
This one, IMO, is the most important one on the list because 9X outta 10 this is where children will become lost to their parents... from the influence of unGodly friends. You get the first five or six years of your child's life to WIN-THEIR-HEART. If you succeed, any friend they make from then on out will be in a battle, whether major or minor, to also win your child's heart. If the friend comes from a Godly family with values similar to yours, it won't be much of a fight and the outcome won't matter much. However if the child is of the world, and they win your child's heart away from you, your child will be more inclined to heed their words than yours in many ways. As parents it is imparative to take steps to keep that from happening EARLY. Know who they're hanging out with, and who their parents are/what they believe. It's pretty easy to nip a possible friendship with the world in the bud. Darn near impossible once it has taken root. Do this when your children are young and you will find that as they grow older they will gravitate towards believers and eschew friendships with the world without any help or advice from you.
Let them go where they want to go and do what they want to do because "everyone else is doing it".
Never set rules for teens because they are old enough to decide what they want to do.
Ignore undesirable behavior by saying "It will go away."
When they are hyperactive, give them medication to calm them down.
[/list=1]
Follow these easy rules--all of which completely ignore God's dictates for raising children--and you will raise a child that will break your heart...GUARANTEED!
If you want to raise a child who is constantly battling against you and lost in the world, my pastor recommends:
how to Rear a Rebel in 20 Easy Steps
[list=1]
Be too busy to pray daily for your children from birth.
Be too busy to read your Bible daily so you won't know how to rear children God's way.
Never have a family altar.
Be so busy with your job, church and other responsibilities that you never spend time with your children.
Simple formula: To a young child Love=Time Spent with Them.
Tell yourself when your children are young that when they are teenagers, you will make up for the lack of time spent with them; and you will be more fun then.
Criticize authority any time your children are mistreated.
Every time your pastor says or does something you disagree with, make sure your children are aware of it.
This goes along with the previous rule. The pastor of your church is chosen by YOU to help...ONLY HELP instruct your family in God's ways. If you spend time tearing down the things he says in front of your kids you are teaching them to not respect the pastor or his authority...same with their teachers at school, etc. If you have a problem with something the pastor teaches then it is fine for you parents AFTER DISCUSSION to gently try to correct the teaching to your kids later...not bringing up the pastor at all if possible. If there's a problem with the teacher at school that needs to be dealt with, rather than tearing the teacher down in front of your kid or marching off to school dragging the kid along to chew the teacher out, handle the matter privately, without the child's knowledge. It is vitally important that children see us as unified with the Authorities WE have set above them or else they will grow to disrespect all authority whether you agree with them or not.
When your teenager does not want to work, do the work yourself because it is easier.
Raising Children is WORK. Part of that work is teaching them to do something and watching them try it and fail and getting them to do it again and again and again until they get it right, even though it would be easier for you to do it yourself. This starts when the child is a toddler and should be putting their own toys away before bed.
Simply scream, yell, and criticize teenagers when they don't obey.
Be happy with mediocrity because it is too much effor to require teenagers to give their best.
allow them to constantly occupy their minds with television, video games and the internet.
I challenge anyone reading this to think of a mainstream televison show for teens & young adults that does not have regular violence, fornication, witchcraft, sex, or talk of sex (even jokes) as a regular part of its script today. I couldn't think of any.
Move to the place your company sends you irregardless of God's will or whether there is a good church for you and your family to attend.
Allow them to listen to rock music which will encourage rebellion against authority (Both secular and so-called "Christian rock").
Funny little part of the sermon last night as he pointed out that some music is just DESIGNED to encourage rebellion. Imagine the house, where you hear a lot of yelling and screaming and doors slamming and dishes breaking, then the front door opens and slams shut as a teen comes out with a deep scowl on his face and goes charging down the walkway toward the garage, still yelling at the people back in the house. He gets in the car and slams the car door shut, turns on the engine and guns it up hard. Tires squeal as he drives off, kicking gravel up against the side of the house and he turns on the stereo REAL LOUD and you hear: ((sung normally))"Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch, like me..."
I-WAS-ROLLIN when our pastor changed up like that and started singing that soft tune. Totally made his point, though.
Allow them the freedom to dress like the world because you don't want to pay the price to set limits.
Give them money, since they were not taught to work as children and you do not want to take the time to help them get a job to see that they must work for needed money.
Let them choose their own friends and acquaintances.
This one, IMO, is the most important one on the list because 9X outta 10 this is where children will become lost to their parents... from the influence of unGodly friends. You get the first five or six years of your child's life to WIN-THEIR-HEART. If you succeed, any friend they make from then on out will be in a battle, whether major or minor, to also win your child's heart. If the friend comes from a Godly family with values similar to yours, it won't be much of a fight and the outcome won't matter much. However if the child is of the world, and they win your child's heart away from you, your child will be more inclined to heed their words than yours in many ways. As parents it is imparative to take steps to keep that from happening EARLY. Know who they're hanging out with, and who their parents are/what they believe. It's pretty easy to nip a possible friendship with the world in the bud. Darn near impossible once it has taken root. Do this when your children are young and you will find that as they grow older they will gravitate towards believers and eschew friendships with the world without any help or advice from you.
Let them go where they want to go and do what they want to do because "everyone else is doing it".
Never set rules for teens because they are old enough to decide what they want to do.
Ignore undesirable behavior by saying "It will go away."
When they are hyperactive, give them medication to calm them down.
[/list=1]
Follow these easy rules--all of which completely ignore God's dictates for raising children--and you will raise a child that will break your heart...GUARANTEED!