by Max Brennan, United Methodist Pastor of
St. Matthew and Eastern Hills United Methodist Churches
St. Matthew -- Sunday 11:00 A.M. -- Thursday 6:00 P.M.
off Meadowbrook - 1 short block east of Sandy, turn right to 2414 Hitson
Eastern Hills -- Sunday 9:00 A.M. and 6:00 P.M.
off Meadowbrook - Jenson to Wilson - 1509 Wilson Road
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I know some parents who are keeping their kids Out of Sunday school and church.
"We don't want them brainwashed," they say. "We want them to grow up and make their own choice about religion."
How sad. I wish these parents had the good sense to know that they are making sure their children have no choice at all, because people can neither accept nor reject what they know nothing about.
Most adults now can at least look back on a time when they were in church as children. When the hard times come, they remember there is a Lord who loves them. Many children today will not have that memory when they grow up.
I know a young woman who was raised outside the church. Her parents were nominally Christian, but never attended worship. The daughter did attend a church with friends for a while when she was 10. She even wanted to join, but her parents told her she was too young. So she gave up - on joining - and on going to church altogether. She is 25 years old now, and knows little about Jesus Christ and the difference faith can make.
She went to her doctor recently with a serious but treatable illness that was made worse by the careless way in which she was living. "My medicine can help you," the doctor told her, "but there are some things this medicine will not do. It will not heal the hurt in your life. It will not ease your stress or lift your burdens. Only God can do that. And you are going to have to include the Lord in you life now, if you really want to get well." She had to hear this from her doctor, because her parents had made sure she never heard it in church.
Do you remember the sad story a few years ago of the couple who locked their son in chains and starved him to death? That, of course, was an act of evil. But I know some good and loving parents who are starving their children spiritually. They think they are giving their children a choice, when, in fact, they are depriving them of God's side of the story. Children cannot choose the Lord when they hardly know His name?
Isn't it time to get your family to church? And wouldn't this Sunday be a good Sunday to start? |
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This file last modified October 8, 2000
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