Got Farkles?
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| Obi-wan and Black Widow on the run |
Yesterday my twelve year old and I were having an in-depth conversation. I had been watching The Island during my workouts, and he slipped in and watched with me.
If you haven’t seen it, The Island is an underrated film dealing with a lot of ethical issues. The definition of life, the value of life, and the potential future medical dilemmas make for interesting mental fodder. (There are plenty of explosions and helicopter chases Mark, so it’s up your alley as well :D).
My son and I discussed some of the implications of the movie. He made the comment, “Boy, if I could talk to everyone about their worldview, I could agree with all of them.”
This statement surprised me.
We’ve taken care to teach our kids about worldview and what it means to have a Biblical worldview. We use the book Who Is God? (And Can I Really Know Him?) to teach them about God and His character and ways. I thought we’d done a lot to inform them about this kind of thing.
I talked to him about worldviews and how everyone has one, but if anyone can make their own standards, how can we know what is true. Is there an objective standard?
I grabbed a ruler and measured my water jug. It was 8 inches high. I then told him about a guy who didn’t like inches, so he made up a new measurement: farkles. According to these measurements, the jug was 15 farkles high.
Which one is right? How do we know what farkles are?
My analogy has some holes. Inches are arbitrary as well. Still, I showed him how we can be confused if we all appeal to a different standard. If the Bible is truly what it says it is, the revealed Word of God, then we have a standard from the One who made everything and is worthy to establish an objective measurement.
Hopefully my message got through. It made me realize that we have to be diligent in always training our kids up in truth and pointing them to Jesus. I ended with saying that I believe the Bible to be our standard and living for Jesus to be our ideal-but that I couldn’t make my son believe the same things. He would need an encounter with God on his own, that he was responsible for his own walk with God. I can lead them to water, but I can’t make them drink, as the old saying goes.
Anyway, I’ll keep training them as best I can, and pray that they will be able to grab hold of Jesus and all He has for them in their lives. That’s the frustrating thing about being a parent. No matter how much you value something, you can’t force things on your kids. They need to come to their own understanding of it. I believe it will happen for my children.
I just wish it would hurry up. 😉
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