Subject: Jephthah and the burnt offering? |
Bible Note: THE FAITH OF A CHILD You wrote---- "She has shared this situation with me and is very concerned because the infants were not baptised before burial. She said that she has learned since then from reading that she could have baptised them herself."------- The child is undoubtably with the Lord. They died before the age of accountability. If the child is old enough to know that what they do is either wrong or right..then they are old enough to accept Christ into their heart. The Gospel of Christ Jesus is simple enough for even a child to understand but it seems to get flooded with RELIGIOSTY the older we get or the deeper into ones religion we get. LET US GET BACK TO BASICS. The little child can be told the gospel like this, "You know ,Billy, what you did was wrong." He nods his little head, "uh huh." "You also know that it doesn't make me very happy. Well, we all have a bigger Daddy who is God in heaven He isn't happy either when we do wrong things. He wants us to do right things, but we can't always. We will goof it up once in a while. The good thing to do is say your sorry for what you did and try not to do it again. Even I make mistakes and have to say I am sorry for what I did. (this is assuming your child knows the real reason we celebrate Christmas and Ressurection Sunday) "Billy, you know about baby Jesus, and you know about him growing and never doing anything wrong. Well He did that his whole life. Even when bad men came to hurt him and then killed him on the cross. That was really sad but the Good News is that 3 days later Jesus woke up with a brand new body, one that could never die again. Billy, do you know why He died?" Billy shakes his head, "uh uh". "Billy, Jesus died so we could have all the wrong things we do forgotten. WE still have to try not to do bad things, but God sent His Son Jesus to show us how we are to live, that's why your daddy is always reading the Bible and telling you stories from the Bible. You know, like the Jonah and the big fish? Did you know that Jesus can live in your heart and help you do good things?" Billy shakes his head, "uh uh." "Well He can and He wants to. Do you want Him in your heart to help you start doing good things?" Billy nods his head, "uh huh." "OK good He would like that very much. (notice I put the emphasis on HE would like that not I would like that. We don't need to manipulate them into accepting Jesus into their heart, the Holy Spirit will nudge them in His own way, we just need to tell our children about the Lord.) "Ok Billy, Jesus will never be rude and come into your heart without you asking Him. You have to let Him. Understand? If you want Him to come in then say this, "Jesus I am sorry for all the bad things I have done and I want to make your Daddy happy by doing right things. Will You help me? Will You come to live in my heart and make all the bad stuff forgotten and make my heart brand new? Thank You Jesus for loving me and dying for me and for waking up too. I love You Jesus and thank you for wanting to live in my heart." (never tlak down to your kids always meet them on their level, eye to eye, you will be surprised of how much they understand. They are smarter than us sometimes. As adults we tend to over-intelectualize things. God bless you all and I hope this helps some people.) AND FOR ALL THE BIG PEOPLE OUT THERE---- Sola-Scriptura!! http://www.mbrem.com/-- Read the book of James, for a faith that works. Letter to the (Roman Catholics)----And all the rest of us too. Romans 8:29-31 29For those God foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30And those He predestined, He also called; those he called, He also justified; those He justified, He also glorified. 31What, then, shall we say in response to this? If God is for us, who can be against us? |