To I'll be back

Since you didn't leave a blog address I thought I would respond to you here. At first, I read your comment and honestly had thought about just ignoring it, but then I realized that I should respond. First, I have to say that I'm assuming (although pretty confident from what your comment said) that you don't believe in the Bible. I'm not of course trying to persuade you to believe that, because I don't believe I personally could persuade anyone -- any persuasion comes from the Holy Spirit not me. My husband and I know it to be true and so I am going to go ahead and include the scriptures where it shows the Bible is God's Word and not mans.

2 Peter 1:20 & 21 "Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not at any time by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit."

Deuteronomy 29:29 "The secret things belong unto the Lord our God; but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law."

As far as why we teach our children about Jesus, first again here are the Bible verses that we claim:
Proverbs 22:6 "Train up a child in the way he should go"
Ephesians 6:4 "And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord."

We feel it is our God given responsibility to raise our children according to the Bible. Of course, this means that we will be teaching our children about God, Jesus, heaven, etc. And quite honestly, I have yet to meet a family (of any religious views) that do not influence their children by the way they are raised. Obviously, this includes religious beliefs, but it also includes other things. For instance, veganism, I doubt a vegan is going to give their toddler a choice to eat animal products. And of course, at least for a while, we are all influenced by our parents choices. It can even be something as crazy as sports teams, my girls scream "Go Blue" in this house because their Daddy loves Michigan, and his dad did, and his dad.....A family will be teaching their kids their values and beliefs even if they aren't purposefully teaching them. As far as letting her decide if she believes in Jesus or not, I can't MAKE her believe anything. Right now, I can hope to influence her and I can pray that she trusts in Jesus, but I also know that we cannot do it for her. As she gets older, she will have to decide things for herself.

John 3:16 says "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in Him, should not perish but have everlasting life." It does say whoever, but it doesn't say whoever's parents, grandparents, etc. She has to decide this for herself. And I also know that she will have to answer to God for her own life as she gets older. Romans 14:12 "So then each of us shall give account of himself to God."

Right now, whether you agree with our belief in Christ or not, I do know better than my 4 year old. If it were up to her, she would eat candy at every meal - maybe even AS the meal :), she would not be in her carseat for sure, and would go to bed when she just konked out on the floor. If we hadn't trained her, she wouldn't know to brush her teeth, take a bath, etc. I feel in every way that it is our responsibility to train her to live life.

And lastly, you mentioned that she was more logical in her thinking than I am. Aside from the comical thoughts that come to mind of what my "logical thinking" child has said to me -- I have to say that in some ways you are correct because it is even mentioned in the Bible that we have to believe like little children.

Matthew 18:1-5 At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” Then Jesus called a little child to Him, set him in the midst of them, and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever receives one little child like this in My name receives Me.

My child has most definitely been influenced by me, my husband, our friends and family, by her teachers at church, but if you said to her right now "I don't believe in Jesus", she would not look at me and say "Mommy isn't Jesus true?" She would gasp and tell you how Jesus died on the cross for us. I may be teaching her, but she is much bolder than I am in sharing these beliefs. I know her beliefs are being influenced by us, but she also has seen God answer prayers for her, as simple as those prayers are. Her beliefs and thoughts regarding heaven are confusing to her, it can be confusing to anyone, especially a 4 year old to think about not being here on earth. I can't say that I honestly had been trying to teach her about death and heaven, maybe I should have, we had slowly been trying to teach her what the Bible says, yet I wasn't exactly wanting to talk to my child about death. I did feel she was a little young to understand it (she's my first, so I believe I probably underestimated her - or any child for that matter), but I didn't have a choice, she loved her aunt Nunu, she loved writing her cards, she loved going to see her and now she can't do those things. When my aunt passed away, I was thinking "But God, Isabella was praying for you to heal her aunt Nunu" and I was afraid what she would think, if she would say "BUT I prayed" (as she had done when Nunu was in the hospital again), but when I told her that Nunu was no longer here on this earth, that she was no longer sick in the hospital, but that she had died and gone to heaven. She with her eminently wiser thinking (not logic, because it is much more precious to trust than to have to "investigate" something) responded "Well then He answered my prayers." I thought she must not understand, surely she would ask to go see Nunu. But she hasn't, to her He didn't have to answer OUR way, He just answered.

I do appreciate your stopping by, your compliments on my pictures, and even your comment. I hope you keep coming back. Like I said before, unless the Holy Spirit persuades you to believe differently, I'm not going to try to do that. But I also will continue to write about my faith as I feel it influences, controls, effects, every aspect of my life. Thanks!