How to Protect Your Kids From False Teaching

Colossians 2:4-8 "So then, just as you have received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in him, being rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, and overflowing with gratitude. Be careful that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deceit based on human tradition, based on the elements of the world, rather than Christ."

There's no way around it.  Your kids will be exposed to false teaching.  They will get it from their friends, from the school, from books, from TV, from movies, from the internet, etc.  This is not only a post-Christian society, but an anti-Christian society.  Our kids are not only hearing alternatives to Christianity, but hostile attacks on Christianity.  How can parents prevent their kids from being led away from Christ?  Colossians 2:6-8 provides us with five weapons we can use to protect our kids.  

One:  Help them to grow deeper in comprehension.  This is what verse 7 means by "being rooted."  Help your kids grow deep theological roots.  Help them understand sound, Biblical doctrine.  Many people cannot recognize heterodoxy because they do not have a firm grasp on orthodoxy.  An effective method for this is to use a catechism.  See my Home Discipleship Catechism for more info.  Also see my post on "How to Catechize Your Children."

Two:  Help them to grow higher in character.  Verse 7 says "built up in him."  Help your kids grow  up in Christlike character -- loving God and others more and more.  You cannot lead someone away from Christ if they are focused on growing in Christ.  

Three:  Help them to grow stronger in conviction.  Verse 7 says "established in the faith."  Step one is about helping them understand sound doctrine.  This step is about helping them become convicted about sound doctrine.  There's a big difference between belief and conviction.  "Having convictions can be defined as being so thoroughly convinced that Christ and His word are both objectively true and relationally meaningful that you act on your beliefs regardless of the consequences (Josh McDowell)."  To help your kids grow stronger in conviction, you must teach them not only what to believe, but why they should believe it.  They need to learn the Biblical justification for sound doctrine, as well as be trained in apologetics so they can defend their faith when it is attacked.

Four:  Help them to grow louder in celebration.  Verse 7 says "overflowing with gratitude."  When you praise the God of truth for the benefits of the truth, you cannot be pulled away from the truth.  Teach your kids to raise their voices to God in passionate praise and worship.  

Five:  Help them to grow wiser in caution.  Verse 8 says "Be careful that no one takes you captive through philosophy...."  Help your kids to be more careful about false teaching.  To do this, lead them to read their Bibles daily.  Bring them to church every Sunday to hear the word preached.  Get them involved in church, because we are less vulnerable when we are in community.  And expose them to the most dangerous false teachings so that they are prepared for them.  

Protecting our kids from false teaching is less about insulating them and more about preparing them.  It's about helping them grow deeper, higher, stronger, louder, and wiser in Christ.