http://nogreaterjoy.org/articles/sanctuary/ Over 500 articles from Michael and Debi Pearl on Child Training, Homeschooling, Family, Marriage, Christianity, the Bible, Missions, Simple Living, Gardening, and other topics! Fri, 18 May 2012 19:40:56 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 http://nogreaterjoy.org/articles/sanctuary/#comment-5588 Maddie Gaskill Tue, 31 Jan 2012 21:15:37 +0000 http://new.nogreaterjoy.org/?p=792#comment-5588 You're absolutely right. I really, really wish that my associations had been more diligently monitored. I think it's very important. I was thrown for a loop the first time I was sitting with a group of 'church kids' and some of them started talking about something inappropriate and others laughed - I was a little surprised and disappointed. It made me question whether there was such a thing as "good" anywhere. Thankfully the Lord showed me that you don't look at the snakes hissing on the ground, you look up at the One on the cross. It seems the prevailing opinion in churches as far as I've seen is not to 'have a seeds mentality.' Which I guess means having an attitude of only associating with your own kind and shutting everyone else out. (?) Not sure. They say that we're supposed to teach our children to be witnesses for Christ in a fallen world, and I agree. But, you never send someone to a task for which they are completely unprepared. We don't feed infants New York strip steak because we're aware of their physical limitations, but we expect an 8-year old to have intellectual and emotional abilities that they almost certainly cannot possess at that tender age. I 100% agree that a person must carefully watch over their children. We have blaring alarms in our cars that sound-off with lights simultaneously flashing, we have automotive steering wheel lock bars to make it harder, if not impossible for a thief to turn the steering wheel and thus steal a car, we park close by so we can keep an eye on our SUV, but we think it's weird to be careful with our kids. You’re absolutely right. I really, really wish that my associations had been more diligently monitored. I think it’s very important. I was thrown for a loop the first time I was sitting with a group of ‘church kids’ and some of them started talking about something inappropriate and others laughed – I was a little surprised and disappointed. It made me question whether there was such a thing as “good” anywhere. Thankfully the Lord showed me that you don’t look at the snakes hissing on the ground, you look up at the One on the cross.
It seems the prevailing opinion in churches as far as I’ve seen is not to ‘have a seeds mentality.’ Which I guess means having an attitude of only associating with your own kind and shutting everyone else out. (?) Not sure. They say that we’re supposed to teach our children to be witnesses for Christ in a fallen world, and I agree. But, you never send someone to a task for which they are completely unprepared. We don’t feed infants New York strip steak because we’re aware of their physical limitations, but we expect an 8-year old to have intellectual and emotional abilities that they almost certainly cannot possess at that tender age.
I 100% agree that a person must carefully watch over their children. We have blaring alarms in our cars that sound-off with lights simultaneously flashing, we have automotive steering wheel lock bars to make it harder, if not impossible for a thief to turn the steering wheel and thus steal a car, we park close by so we can keep an eye on our SUV, but we think it’s weird to be careful with our kids.

]]> http://nogreaterjoy.org/articles/sanctuary/#comment-1840 ruby woods Mon, 27 Jun 2011 20:07:25 +0000 http://new.nogreaterjoy.org/?p=792#comment-1840 Thank you so much for this article! I love receiving NGJ magazine, and am always blessed by the information inside. My husband and I have struggled greatly with this very issue. We homeschool and are diligent always about who our children associate with, but seem to hear things at church that go against our beliefs. We do our best to make sure our children are grounded in the Word, and know to choose the good over the evil always. We have questioned if we should even continue to attend our church as the teachings seem to veer further and further from the right path. I write with my husband's blessing, and ask would our home Bible study be better, or should we continue to attend in hopes that we might reach others? Thank you again for the work that you and your family are doing , God Bless You! Mark, Ruby, Joseph and Denim Woods Thank you so much for this article! I love receiving NGJ magazine, and am always blessed by the information inside. My husband and I have struggled greatly with this very issue. We homeschool and are diligent always about who our children associate with, but seem to hear things at church that go against our beliefs. We do our best to make sure our children are grounded in the Word, and know to choose the good over the evil always. We have questioned if we should even continue to attend our church as the teachings seem to veer further and further from the right path. I write with my husband’s blessing, and ask would our home Bible study be better, or should we continue to attend in hopes that we might reach others? Thank you again for the work that you and your family are doing , God Bless You! Mark, Ruby, Joseph and Denim Woods

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