Article Roundup

To get this new blog going, I want to link to a few articles that I have had bookmarked for a while, waiting for me to piece through them.

Don’t Control the Remote--The first article is by Spunkyhomeschool and is about TV. It is a short article, but gets at the heart of why I’m glad that we threw our TV away. It is one of those articles that I read and think, “Yeah, this is what I think too….I just never would’ve been able to explain it.”

There are TVs in all of the nursery’s in our church and it bothers me. My boys are young and I hear otherwise solid parents rave about the positive effects of Baby Einstein videos and the like. To them Spunky says:

“The sad reality is that the shows may be innocent or "educational" when they are little but as they grow up so do their tastes. Barney may satisfy Jr. when he's five but when he's fifteen he is going to want to watch something a little more attractive than a purple dinosaur. The problem is that his habits have been established and his appetite to be entertained has been satisfied for so many years he doesn't know what to do with himself.”

The Youth Group Question—This one is from Spunky too. As the wife of a former youth pastor, this one is especially relevant to me. Surprisingly, Joe would probably agree with some of her points, even if not with her conclusion. It definitely made me think. One dead-on quotation is:

“Sally Carkston said in a conference I attended, "In the absence of biblical conviction you will go the way of culture."”

The Hearts of my Children--Last one for tonight, from Tim Challies on how he views the state of his children’s souls. Are they saved? Should he be treating them as if they are? Unsaved? Should he be explaining the gospel to them or acting as if they already believe? It is a well thought-out article (as I have always found his writing to be so far). Highlight quote:

“It is entirely possible that one or more of them have already been saved. But I do not assume this to be the case. Rather, I assume that my children continue to worship idols until I see them faithfully and diligently serving God. It seems to me that the task of a Christian parent is to seek to guide children from idols to God. It is to understand that your children will worship something and to shepherd them "as a creature who worships, pointing [them] to the One who alone is worthy of worship." This is the task I have undertaken.”

On a completely different note, I wish I could post the pictures that I took tonight. The lighting as the sun went down was breathtaking--a pink sky cast a red glow on everything and the glimmer of fading sunlight transformed our yard into this beautiful dreamlike fairy land. I doubt that the pictures could even capture it, but I tried. Unfortunately, our USB is still acting up.