Why You Should Indoctrinate Your Kids

Why You Should Indoctrinate Your Kids

A Christian recently told me that they weren’t going to teach their child what to believe about God because they didn’t want to indoctrinate their child and tell them what to think or believe.

It sounds noble on the surface, doesn’t it?

At the very least it causes us to really think about where we stand on the issue and why we’ve chosen that stance.

Critical thought is critical for our faith.

Now, indoctrination these days usually means to get someone to hold a set of beliefs uncritically. It can (and in the title of this post does) mean simply to instruct. Hopefully as a Christian parent - you want your child to think critically. After all, scripture calls us to love Him with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength. The Early Christians were uniquely aware of their need to understand their faith. Earlier followers of Christ held to a worldview that was wholly different from the predominate cultures that they were immersed in and so each follower of Jesus intimately understood what it meant to:

“Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect”
(1 Peter 3:15)

Augustine once said

“No one believes anything unless one first thought it believable…. Everything that is believed is believed after being preceded by thought…. Not everyone who thinks believes, since many think in order not to believe; but everyone who believes thinks, thinks in believing and believes in thinking.”

And Origen

“It is far better, to accept teachings with reason and wisdom than with mere faith.’’

Justin Martyr continued to wear his philosopher’s robes and considered it his duty to contend with Roman philosophers of his day in order to proclaim the truth of Christianity.

We want our children to think critically about their faith but we also want to teach them what to believe.

Why teach your kids what to believe?

At first it sounds contradictory, doesn’t it? You might argue that it’s best to teach kids how to think and then let them decide for themselves what they ought to believe. I say - do both. Here’s the thing. It’s your job as a parent to pass on to your children what you’ve learned and how you best understand this world that we live in. Let me share with you why I think that’s the right thing to do.

The World Is Round.

Consider how absurd it would be for a moment for you to teach your child that you think the Earth is round but some people disagree with you and each viewpoint is equally valid. I know that’s not exactly the same thing as faith because the roundness of the Earth can be proven through science and observation but faith can’t (bear with me though because I want to address that later).

Consider too that nearly every people group on this planet has worshiped (even remote people groups that were isolated from outside contact). The vast majority of humans throughout history have had a spiritual or supernatural aspect to their worldview. Not only this but guess what the majority consensus of these worshipers are? It’s that Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. This worldview has pervaded for nearly two thousand years and throughout vastly different cultures. In other words, it’s a truth that transcends space and time and culture.

The Christian Faith is History, Not Science.

We mentioned before that the roundness of Earth can be proven but the idea of Jesus as God is less scientifically verifiable. This is because Christianity is less like math and more like History. History can be reenacted but it can’t be duplicated. This idea comes from Augustine who says that History is passed on to us through trusted authorities and that it’s this trust in authority that allows society to operate and thrive. He invites his readers to consider what it would be like if everyone operated as if they couldn’t trust their mother’s authority on who their father was. After all, in Augustine’s time, there was no scientific way to verify your Father - you had to trust an authority (your mother) and to this day the vast majority of humans choose to trust their mother’s authority when it comes to how they relate to their dad.

Why say all of that? To point out the obvious - we don’t only pass on information that’s empirically verifiable and that’s perfectly reasonable and even helpful for the thriving of society.

If You Don’t, The World Will.

Here’s the truth. Your child will go to preschool and they’ll be taught to believe in a purely material world. They’ll watch TV and they’ll be discipled in the way of American consumerism. They’ll listen to their favorite celebrities and pop culture icons and they’ll be taught that pursuing their own happiness is the path to fulfillment. The vast majority of Americans would readily disagree with these three notions so why would we hesitate to pass on the wisdom and truth that we’ve gained through devotion, experience, reason, and authority?

Yes, teach your kids what you know about God.

“Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.” (Proverbs 22:6)

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.  Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates.” (Deuteronomy 6:4-5)