Tain up a Child in the Way He should Go

I agree, there is a difference between dedicating a child and forcing a child to believe. I believe if a child is given the freedom to choose Christ he or she will be more open to the gospel and even the church.

When I was growing up I would always be given these scare tactics that if I don't accept Jesus right away that if my life were to be taken right now that I would die and go to hell. Billy Graham would preach this in his messages. He would say, "If you were to die right now, where would you be?" I can understand the sense of urgency, but I can also see a lot of fakey Christians who really haven't come to a full commitment to the faith as a result of such preaching. I believe a soul has to be seasoned and ready, if not it just doesn't work. I have seen many come forward at a Billy Graham Crusade that their life doesn't change at all. I had a friend that went forward and he lived his life as he normally did. It didn't change him one bit.

I believe the same thing holds true to a child. If he or she is forced to believe because parents want the children to grow up right, I don't believe this is what is meant by training up a child in the way he or she should go. To influence the children with the gospel is not the same thing as forcing them to be Christians or at worst, forcing them to be Gothardites.

Now as far as enforcing Gothardism and saying that is training up a child in the way he should go is just plain scarry. Gothardism is not the ultimate handbook for raising children. He doesn't even have children himself, so how can he be telling parents how to bring up their kids when he has no experience himself. Even I don't have a right to sound like an expert on the subject. Who knows how I would be at parenting. All I know that forcing a child to come to a level of perfection that is just humanly unattainable is not the way to go. No one can reach the level of moral perfection that Gothard perscribes.