CURRENTLY IN MUSIC

Are you teaching your kids what to think or how to think?
Al Menconi

How do you talk to your kids about their entertainment? Does every conversation end up in a fight? If it does, you are doing something wrong.

When I make that statement in seminars, I get puzzled looks from the concerned parents. Although they don't say it out loud, you can almost see their thoughts, "How could it be my problem? It's my child who is listening to that awful music!" That may be true, but how you respond to their behaviour is up to you.

The first thing you have to do is decide what your goal is for your child. Is it to control his behaviour? Or is it to teach him how to think biblically? Do you spend all your efforts getting your child to conform to your image or to God's? I'm afraid most of us spend our time managing our children's behaviour and trying to get them to submit to our authority at the expense of learning how to submit to God's.

Is it wrong to want your children to be obedient and submissive? Not at all. The Bible teaches that children should be obedient. My question has to do with how we get them to obey.

Some reports say 70% or more of children with Christian parents will not live for Jesus as adults. Why? The problem isn't with the answer we give our kids. We have the right answer. Jesus is God. There is no other way of salvation. The Bible is God's complete Word. The problem is how we convey the right answer to our children.

I'm afraid most Christian parents simply tell their kids what to think instead of taking the time to teach them how to think. Often a parent asks, "isn't that what a parent should do--tell my child the truths of Scripture?"

In response, let me ask you a question: Would you send your children to a school where all the tests were multiple choice and all the right answers were filled in? All your child would have to do to get a perfect grade is simply sign his name. No? Why not? Because he wouldn't be learning.

When you confront your child about his spiritual beliefs or his entertainment choices, are you merely coercing him to "sign his name"? Or are you challenging him to think spiritually? Are you filling in the answers for him, or are you teaching him how to find the answers in the Word of God?

Reprinted by permission of Al Menconi Ministries, P.O. Box 5008, San Marcos, CA 92069-1050, phone 1-800-MUSIC.

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