It was a stunning moment for me, thirty-two years ago. I remember the overwhelming emotion and consternation with myself at the time. The setting was a second/third grades’ reading group that I was teaching as a substitute. My son, Jared, was in the class. To my surprise, I was supposed to present materials that were obviously designed by the authors to teach evolution to these young children (e.g., True or False: “The longer ago man lived the more he looked like apes.”).

It was against the rules, but I felt compelled to teach these children something about creation. So I put aside the lesson for the day. One little second grade boy said, “I don’t believe in God.” At that moment in time I was confused. How could one so young make such a dogmatic statement? And how in the world could I even begin to teach a young child why we believe in God.

Unfortunately, I stumbled my way through that day. But I resolved that I would not remain unprepared to show children reasons for belief in God. I developed materials that were based upon my husband’s book, Fortify Your Faith, In An Age of Doubt*. After a number of years of working on these lessons and teaching them to my own children, and their Bible class peers, we published, We Believe Because. Though it is out of print at this moment, it was well received. Lord willing, we will have it reformatted and reprinted in the not-too-distant future.It is my firm conviction that parents need to prepare themselves for the battle at hand. Be knowledgeable of the subject matter, and the threats of a wayward society. Things are not the way they were twenty and thirty years ago.

One mother told me that she felt we didn’t need so much on evidences, but that we needed more teaching on the issues that face young people today. We do need to teach concerning the cultural woes of our times. Parents need to be more watchful than ever. However, the complexity of the worldliness characteristic of so many “Christian” young people cannot be addressed under this topic. But to suggest that we should teach heavily on morality, and “light” on evidences, is far off target. On every hand Evolution and Humanism are worked into school curricula. Even in business classes much focus is upon serving self. We need to remember that many of the “Sixties generation” are now teachers in the public school. Their anti-authority propaganda is not dead. Their agenda centers on a revolution against belief in God and responsibility to him as Sovereign. Morality is thrown to the wind because of their disbelief.

There are some materials readily available for children. And there are online sites that are useful. Apologetics Press* has recently produced some excellent books. They still publish a monthly magazine for children called Discovery. But I have not found too many sources for very young children (preschool-early primary). Yet, these formative years are important foundations for developing belief in God.

Cause And Effect

Parents do not need a lot of materials to start with little children. Basic principles are easy to teach, and lots of fun. A child can comprehend the principles of “Cause and Effect” and “Design/Designer” from their early years. For example, you can bake a batch of cookies, and tease a child who is four years old or so, “What if I told you these cookies came from nowhere. No one made them, they just appeared!” You know the response. “Mommy, you made them!” Then you can talk about the rule of “Every thing must have a cause.” Discuss the meaning of the word “cause.“

Teach them with many examples that show cause-and-effect as you go about your daily activities. When they successfully respond, give them lots of praise. Teaching small children ought to be fun and playful. Art time can include some pictures of bird nests (or make one from shredded wheat and peanut butter) and birds. You can walk in the garden and point out a spider web, and discuss the spider as the cause. As these concepts become familiar, drill the “cause-and-effect rule.” “Every thing must have a cause.” Eventually, you may want to teach the word “effect,” using it in place of the word “thing.” Do this by saying, “We are going to say the rule in a new way.”

Once the relationship of cause-and-effect is firm in your child’s mind, begin to introduce another level of this truth. “Every effect must have an adequate cause.” Use lots of examples to show that there must be a cause that is “able, strong enough, adequate” to make the effect. “Could an ant build a house? Could a spider build a bird’s nest?” etc. As you teach these concepts, tell them that the world had a cause, because it had a beginning. Stress the fact that only God could make or cause the world, the moon, and the sun. Only the Great Creator is adequate to cause such wonderful things. Begin to drill the rule: “Every effect must have an adequate cause.” A memory verse for this “rule” is Hebrews 3:4.

Design And Designer

You will find many wonderful examples in nature for teaching the concept of “Where there is design, there must be a designer.” But first you must illustrate what these words mean. You can do this with things around the house. While you help a child dress, you might ask, “What are shoes for?” Say, “Shoes were planned for wearing on our feet.” Then you can say, “Shoes were planned or designed for wearing on our feet to keep our feet safe and dry.” Clothing, toys, kitchen gadgets and appliances, tools—all kinds of everyday things will help drill the definition of design (noun: a plan; verb: to plan something for a special use). You can ask, “What is the special use or design of an automobile? What was an airplane planned to do?” Use lots of examples from man made items.

Later, you can begin introducing the definition of the word “designer.” Begin by teaching that a designer is someone who plans something for a special use. “What is the special use of shoes? Who designed the shoes? A shoemaker or shoe designer designed or planned the shoes.” So you begin to build upon each little session. You can drill the “design rule.” “Where there is design, there must be a designer.”

Then develop some sessions that show the design of things in nature such as flowers, trees, bees, birds, and the human body. “Only God could design an eye or ear. Only God is smart enough to make a bird.” Again, over time, show many such examples. You will want to introduce some memory verses that go with these lessons (e.g., Psa. 139:14). A memory verse for older primary children is Romans 1:20, with an explanation of the verse.

Little children can learn tremendous amounts of information if it is gradually and repetitiously incorporated into their daily lives “when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lay down at night, and when you get up.” (cf. Deut. 6:5-7). You might want to take six months or a year to accomplish these simple lessons, depending upon the age of your child. Perhaps such lessons could be worked into your “Science” curriculum, if you home-school.

We must build the faith of our offspring. It is a dangerous neglect of parental duty to fail to prepare children for the atheistic, hedonistic world in which we live. A “second-hand” faith is not true faith. It will not sustain when the tempest blows.

Related Materials and Links

The book Fortify Your Faith, In An Age of Doubt by Wayne Jackson is available from Courier Publications, Inc. Call toll free: 1-888-818-2463. Credit cards acctped. Office hours: 9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. PST. Price: $5.95, plus S/H $3.84. California residents: sales tax: 7.75%.

http://www.christiancourier.com/articles/read/evolutionary_theory_a_reed_in_the_wind

http://www.christiancourier.com/articles/read/the_feud_among_evolutionists

http://www.christiancourier.com/articles/read/problems_for_the_theory_of_evolution

http://www.christiancourier.com/articles/read/al_gore_on_evolution_and_school_violence

http://www.christiancourier.com/articles/read/evolutions_useless_organ_argument

http://www.christiancourier.com/articles/read/why_people_believe_in_evolution

http://www.christiancourier.com/articles/read/mapping_the_human_genome_does_it_prove_evolution

http://www.christiancourier.com/articles/read/an_evolutionary_anomaly_or_barking_up_the_wrong_tree

http://www.christiancourier.com/articles/read/do_the_ages_of_the_earth_and_mankind_really_matter