Book Review: "Will They Stand"

Will They Stand is a parenting book written by Ken Ham, the president of Answers in Genesis, The Creation Museum, and the Ark Encounter.  I highly recommend it to the parents at Church Acadiana because it falls in line with everything we teach.

The big idea of the book is to equip parents to disciple their children so that they be able to stand when faced with the giants of this age.  The goal is to raise our kids to stay spiritually engaged when they leave home, and to eventually pass on the faith when they have kids of their own.  Ham writes, "That's what the family was meant to do -- produce godly offspring who will marry godly offspring generation after generation."

Ham is insistent on this point -- parents need to disciple their children in the home.  "Our first component for a godly legacy is a compelling conviction that leads us to prioritize training up a godly generation."  This is what we teach at Church Acadiana.  Ham wrote about how he discipled his own children in the home.  I thought it was so cool that he called this time with his kids "Bible time," because that's exactly what we call it in my home.  

A couple of chapters are devoted to the roles of "diligent dads," and "mothers of faith."  Ham cites several verses that point to the dad as the spiritual leader of the home who should be instructing the children in the faith.  We talk about this at Church Acadiana.  Ideally, several times a week the dad needs to be sitting down with the kids for a structured time of spiritual instruction.  

What are the giants that kids face today?  Ham covers three:  Secular Humanism, Peer Pressure, and Compromise.  Secular Humanism is the dominant philosophy of our culture.  It claims that there is no God (or He is irrelevant), and that humans should define right and wrong for themselves.  The foundation for this is Darwinian evolution.  This is taught in public schools, on TV, on the internet, etc.  

The second giant that we must prepare our kids to face is Peer Pressure.  All of us are vulnerable to peer pressure, especially children.  Good children are more likely to be dragged down by the bad children, than pull up the bad children.  Be very careful about who your children spend time with.  Even watch out about the other kids in the church!

The third giant is compromise -- specifically within the church or Christian school.  When the church or the Christian school compromise with the word of God, it can be especially damaging for our children.  Be sure that your children are in a godly environment that upholds the authority and inerrancy of God's Word.  And be sure that you are in a church that does the same.

Ham spends a chapter on education.  How would God have us educate our children in this generation -- home school, public (government school), or Christian school.  Ham says unless there are special circumstances, parents must choose either home school or Christian school.  But even then you must be sure that the curriculum supports the authority and infallibility of the Bible. If for some reason you must send your kids to secular government schools, then you must understand the dangers, and you must be extremely vigilant to prevent your kids from being dragged down the secular slide.  Ham describes the ideal educational setting like this:  "When your home life, school life, and church match up at a foundational level, you have created a very powerful environment in which to raise your child biblically.  The family, church, and school should all have the same goal."  

Ham concludes the book with a chapter on how to teach your kids a biblical worldview.  He goes over the "7 C's of History":

1. Creation:  God created the heavens, the earth, and all that is in them in six normal length days about 6,000 years ago.  All the animals and the first two humans only ate plants.  The world was not yet affected by the curse.  There was no death, violence, disease, sickness, thorns, and fear.  
2. Corruption:  Adam and Eve sinned, plunging all of creation into a curse.  
3. Catastrophe:  As the population grew, the sin of the world grew worse.  Eventually God decided to destroy every person and all animals, creatures that moved along the ground, and birds with a worldwide flood.  The only people who survived were Noah and his family, and the animals that Noah took into the ark.  
4. Confusion:  After the flood the population began to grow, and eventually mankind decided to build a tower so they could stay together.  So, God brought a multiplicity of languages into place, causing the people to spread around the world.  
5. Christ:  God send His only Son, Jesus Christ, to rescue the world from the corruption caused by sin.  
6. Cross:  Jesus paid for our sins by dying in our place, on the cross, and rising again from the grave.
7. Consummation:  One day Jesus will come back and redeem all of creation by making a new heavens and new earth without sin and its effects.