The Bible (For Kids!)

One of my first priorities in training my children in the faith is to immerse them in the stories of Scripture—especially The Story of Scripture. Theology and commandments are important, but ultimately it’s the stories that kids will latch onto. They’re easy to remember because our brains are wired to think in narrative (as an anecdote, I’ve noticed when quizzing my daughter on her history lessons, she struggles with the facts; but when it comes to the stories of these ancient cultures, her eyes perk up as she retells the events back to me). Stories hold incredible depths of meaning. And, really, they’re the primary way God has chosen to speak with us. Think about it. The majority of the Bible is not law or theology. It’s story.

Consider how Mark begins his book: “The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” When Mark sets out to lay out the Gospel, he does not do so by laying out a list of propositions or a road to salvation. He tells a story. The Gospel is a story—one of how God took on flesh, submitted unto death on a cross, defeated death and paid for sin, rose from the grave, ascended to the right hand of the Father, and is coming again to judge the living and the dead (c.f. the Apostle’s Creed).

But, I digress. This is supposed to be a post about some of the tools I use to help immerse my children in those stories, namely children’s Bibles. There’s a lot of choices out there when it comes to children’s Bibles, and despite being somewhat of a collector, I’ve not tried them all. But, I can share with you a few favorites I’ve come across as well as how I use them. For me, I have three main functions I try to fill with children’s Bibles.

Pray (Letters To My Family)

What kind of legacy do I want to leave my family? What character and vision and story do I want to instill in them? That is the inspiration behind this series of letters--an attempt to set down and share in words the values I hope to lead them in by example.

Alongside reading the Gospels (and the rest of Scripture) I would encourage my family to pray. These two activities go hand in hand. Each one on its own can feel a bit like a one sided conversation; together is sometimes as close as we can get to dialoging with God (though it may often seem a bit disjointed).

I will admit, this one is a bit harder for me to write. I'm not the best at praying, nor do I really understand how it works. Some days it feels like I've gotten into a rut, repeating the same words day after day almost mindlessly. Other days, I don't know what to pray or I just forget. I often wonder what prayer means for the God who knows everything. I suppose there are two or three things that I hold onto to anchor my belief in prayer.

Read The Gospels (Letters To My Family)

What kind of legacy do I want to leave my family? What character and vision and story do I want to instill in them? That is the inspiration behind this series of letters--an attempt to set down and share in words the values I hope to lead them in by example.

When I consider the question of what advice I would leave with my family, the first thing that comes to mind is: Read the Gospels. Read the whole Bible, too. But, especially the Gospels. Read about the life and teachings of our Messiah, who is our life. Immerse yourself in the story of the Gospel. Soak up His wisdom and see in Christ the face of God. Walk in His footsteps as He leads you as a good Shepherd. Come to know Him who gave His life for you.

The Ethics of Parenting (Nine Paradigms)

Photo by Daniel Cheung on Unsplash

Our Sabbath fellowship has been studying ethics using Steve Wilkens' Beyond Bumper Sticker Ethics. The book goes through nine different theories on what makes something right or wrong and how we can know the difference. Anyway, I put together the following descriptions to make some of this theory more relatable. I give you the ethical theories of parenting. Enjoy!


Cultural Relativism
Look to your neighbors and fellow Mommy bloggers for advice. Follow the culturally accepted standards

Ethical egoism
You're raising up your future caregivers. Also consider points for present enjoyment and cuteness, help with chores, and how they contribute to your status / reputation.

An Unexpected Turn

Sometimes life takes us in a direction we didn't expect. It's not always dramatic; sometimes it's only a subtle shift, but significant nonetheless.

Over the last couple of months, my wife and I have been re-evaluating our priorities in the context of our family and our community. We took a hard look at our plans to launch a business and/or a ministry and to find a way to work from home. What we realized is that these things are not a priority in this season of our life. Rather, our focus needs to be on building up our community and establishing a foundation for our young, growing children.

I tried to extend Parashah Messiah too long -- past its purpose. Keeping up with it has been a challenge, much less trying to build up FBTL as a whole. That's why I've decided to let both of these go for now. I thought I could work on establishing traditions for my own family and share/promote those formally through the FBTL page simultaneously. It proved to be too much. So, I'm cutting the latter in order to better focus on the former.

I've learned a few things over the last two years. For one, engaging an audience (and especially recruiting writers) is just as hard as it ever was. I remember this difficulty back from my days of publishing the Midrash Newsletter; I just thought that I could put in the effort necessary to overcome it this time. And, I did, for a time. Until I started running out of people to ask to write.

I also have another point of experience in my continuing inner struggle between the structured/formal and the messy/informal. Both have a place in this world, but finding what works best for me in engaging others has been a back and forth tug of war. What I've learned here is though I think I would love to work in the formal (I had such a blast working with the HarvestMag team), I'm not sure I'm cut out to lead such a venture. For now, I fall back on my informal, but honest blog.

Which brings me to the future. Building a foundation for my family is my priority right now, so I don't know that I'll necessarily have the time to pick this blog back up in the way that I used to write (though, when I do have the time and have thoughts to share, the Hopeful Heretic will be here for that purpose). Most of my focus is going to be on a renewed effort in my own education (working on some Greek, early church history, and basic philosophy) and building traditions and practices for my family.

I'll leave the FBTL website up for now, though I imagine I'll probably take it down toward the end of the year (hosting a website isn't quite free). I'll keep a backup of all the wonderful Parashah Messiah articles. A big thank you to everyone who participated in this project. It's impact may have been small, but it was there. Especially early on, I received several messages from folks talking about how the Parashah Messiah posts encouraged them in their faith. More importantly, I have seen God moving throughout other teachers and parts of the Messianic movement to bring a restoration of the Gospel to this corner of the church.

I'm not sure where the future will take me, whether I'll eventually take up FBTL up again or join someone else in their work or just keep quietly working in my own family and community (with the occasional blog post, of course). But, for now, this is where I'm at. Thank you to all who have been with my on this journey thus far. I look forward to the years ahead.

Family Vision

Build a Foundation

Create a Home

Inspire a Generation

Grow a Family

Build a Foundation
Values: Faith, Scholarship, Questioning Spirit

I want to build a foundation for faith and practice for my family from a position of scholarship and discipleship, to challenge them in asking questions so that they might own their beliefs, and above all to encourage them in placing their trust in God and His promises. I want my children to be prepared when they go out into the world, such that they know their foundation is sure and tested.

Create a Home
Values: Family, Tradition, Authenticity

Home is where we are free to be who we are. I want to foster an atmosphere of warmth, of tradition, and of freedom. Warmth, that we might each find rest in each others love. Tradition, to carry our identity and guide us in the ways of life. Freedom, to be uniquely ourselves without fear of judgment in a world that often pressures us to fit in. It’s a shelter from the world, a Sabbath all of its own.

Inspire a Generation
Values: Hope, Tikkun Olam, Joy

Our vision is one of hope, centered squarely on the Gospel. It's this hope that propels us to redeem our world through the deeds of Tikkun Olam. It is this hope that brings the sparks of eternity, moments of joy into the everyday of our lives. Open your eyes, see the joy and wonder in the world--there is so much more to life than meets the eye.

Grow a Family
It is in bringing these all together that I hope to see our family grow, recognizing each person's unique talents and working together to build the Kingdom. Ours is a faith that is unshakably rooted in God and His Word, joyously reaching toward hope, and compassionately wrapped in the day by day expressions of love.

Where I've Been and Where I'm Going

It's been a while. For the most part, I haven't posted on here in several months. I figure I owe it to you to let you know where I've been, and I want to let you know a little bit about where I'm going.

The Little Feet Walking In My Footsteps

Photo Credit: Eric Chan

I've heard that in the first hour of life, a newborn can be quite alert as she searches for the faces of the people she will soon call mother and father. The question I have been asking myself over the last few months is who will she see when she looks into my face? Will she see a man of integrity who stands by his values and walks out his faith day by day? Or will she see a hypocrite who says one thing and does another?

The Little Things of Marriage

#ChickenSoup

It was not a day after our wedding when I came down with some sort of sickness. The details are a little fuzzy (at the time, everything was a little fuzzy), but I remember it was enough to keep me in bed. Less than twenty-four hours earlier, I was taking Brittany as my wife--now we were celebrating our honeymoon with chicken soup. Yet, through it all, Brittany did nothing but shine.

While I stayed in bed and tried to get some rest, Brittany volunteered to go out and get some chicken soup. She took care of me much in her kind and compassionate way. That's one of the reasons I married her--her servant's heart. I love this moment for two reasons. One, I got to see Brittany's character shine. Two, for the first time since moving out on my own, I was not alone. I had someone to care for me and be there for me. I didn't have to bear this burden by myself.

Tradition

I didn't inherit a whole lot of tradition from my family. Before we got into Torah, we were sorta non-denominational floaters. Never could really find a church where we felt at home. Didn't really have any special holidays--fireworks for 4th of July and a family gathering for Thanksgiving was about the extent of it. You could say Silver Dollar City was a bit of a vacation tradition. But, it's a struggle to recall much else.

I want my children to have a tradition that they can hold onto and pass on to their children, but I face the same struggle that my parents did. I don't belong anywhere. I'm not a Jew; I don't fit in with the Christians. This whole Messianic thing is, well, a mess. My family took a bit of a Karaite approach to Torah, though we didn't consider ourselves strictly Scripture only. We were not anti-traditionalists by any means.

Family Vision

Tomorrow, my wife and I are going in for the ultrasound that will tell us if we're having a boy or a girl. It's an exciting moment for both of us. Our ongoing debate will finally be resolved (I'm rooting for a daughter).

We already have names picked out for both a boy and a girl, so after the ultrasound, Little One will actually have a name. No longer will we have to refer to him/her as "it" or "the baby." Suddenly, this whole fatherhood thing is going to become a lot more personal. A lot more real.