The Good, The Bad, & The Filter
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[0 Comment]By the time a child graduates from high school, she's watched 22,000 hours of TV. That includes 16,000 televised homicides and 640,000 commercials, according to J. Kerby Anderson, national director of Probe Ministries. Add to that thousands of hours of music, Internet, video games, and telephone usage. That's a lot of information streaming into our kids' minds, and most of it is at odds with our Christian values.
Because of this, many parents resort to blocking channels, prohibiting certain music, and installing Internet filters, which all work well. But unless you can figure out a way to shield your kids from all forms of media and outside influence, sooner or later your child will come face to face with the questionable messages this world has to offer.
Believe it or not, this isn't a new problem. Paul was talking about this way back in Romans 12:2 when he wrote, "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will."
He recommended Roman Christians use the same thing that can help screen impurities from your children's minds: a moral filter. This is a set of beliefs firmly implanted in your mind that helps you evaluate behavior, beliefs, and ideas and respond to these in a way that brings honor to God.
So how can we help our children develop minds that think in moral ways? Here are seven suggestions:
1. Know thyself. "I don't think a lot of parents are aware of their own moral filters," notes Barb Bouthillier, former coordinator of children's ministries at her church in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and a homeschooling mom to teenagers Amanda and Nick. "They're not conscious about how they process things, but are just acting as they were trained or raised to think."
Helping children develop a moral filter begins by educating ourselves in worldview thinking. Summit Ministries, a Colorado-based organization focused on worldview development in young people, sees worldview incorporating ten different disciplines: theology, philosophy, biology, psychology, ethics, sociology, law, politics, economics, and history.
"Morality has got to be more than, 'the pastor said so' or 'my youth director said so,'" says Chuck Edwards, director of Bible study curriculum. "Morality goes back to theology: i.e., what God is like. In biblical morality, something's not right because God said so, but because that's a part of God's nature."
Parents need to determine their own values, rigorously. Al Menconi, who runs a California-based ministry to that end, recommends, "I'd take 30 days to pray and figure out what's important in your home. Determine your guidelines for TV, movies, and music. My wife and I talked about when our girls could date, whom they could date, whom they could be in a car with after dark. These aren't just moral issues, but your core values."
Originally published in: Christian Parenting Today, Page 40
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