The Lord’s Children - An Appeal to Baptist and Reformed Friends

I just finished reading this and really liked Ralph Allan Smith’s points on many issues. Here are some quotes:

How old does a child have to be before we take his profession of faith seriously? I do not mean to sound terse or rude, but I do want to put the issue in straightforward terms. Little children from the age of two to four or six can and do profess their faith in Christ. Our tendency — and I say “our” because I have done this also — is to reject their confession of faith on the grounds that they are children and their confession is not quite the “real thing.” I have come to believe that treating children in this fashion is wrong. We need to rethink what it means that God has given us children as a blessing to train for Him and His glory. We also need to rethink the implications of our Lord’s teaching about children.

A 4 year old can tell you what he believes, if you teach him. He will accept his parents? teaching that God is a Trinity, though, of course, he will not understand exactly what that means. That is not a problem. Neither his pastor nor his parents really understand all that it means that God is a Trinity. It is a faith we confess because like little children we are willing to believe what our Heavenly Father teaches us, even when it transcends our understanding. Why should the child’s lack of deep understanding bother us?

The fact is that most Christians in the advanced world commit their little children “who believe whatever they are told” to a godless educational system. From the time they are 4 or 5, children are trained to believe they can understand the world without faith in the Triune God, prayer, or study of His word. That training continues until they are adults. It occupies the greatest part of their time during the week for most of the years of their lives from the time they are 5 or 6 until they are 18 or 22. Now think. If we sent our little ones to the Mormons 30 or more hours a week for 12 years or more, would we be surprised if they eventually thought and acted like Mormons?

I trust in God with the same kind of faith that a little child of 3 or 4 trusts in his parents. I accept what Jesus taught that this is the only kind of faith which can bring us into the kingdom. When you were 4, I accepted your faith. I treated you like a fellow believer because your faith and mine were fundamentally the same. I have not progressed to some advanced condition in which I now have knowledge and no longer need the faith of a simple child. On the contrary, the older I get and the more I learn, the more my faith is purified to the simplicity of relying on Jesus. I urge you to stand in that same faith. Seek knowledge, wisdom, and understanding on the basis of that faith. Never doubt your Father in Heaven, just like you did not doubt me when you were 4. That is the kind of faith I have. It is the faith Jesus taught us all to have.