Vengeance Is God's

One of the most important things that children should learn is that the proper authorities are supposed to make matters right. God gives justice, and He promises that on Judgment Day at the latest justice shall be done.

First, this should encourage the children because they need to know that God will punish those who hurt them.

Second, this should bring discomfort to the children because they need to know that God will punish them if they sin against those around them or against God.

Third, this should teach the children not to fight back. They need to know that God will avenge, so they are not supposed to get even with anyone. They are supposed to turn the other cheek, not because they are letting people walk all over them but because they need to obey God's commandments. God doesn't let them stand as judge.

The Eighth Commandment

One of the most important commandments to teach about is the eighth commandment. We live in a covetous culture filled with legalized theft. Therefore, it is very important to teach children about property, and that means other people's property.

One story to give the children is a basic stealing story. A child steals some crayons from school and gets caught by the teacher.

Another story to give the children is a stealing story where the child isn't caught right away. In this case, the story is about how God sees you stealing, and God will judge you. These are God's commandments, not mine, so we are all going to be judged by a God who knows every thing we stole.

That's all for now.

Should We Teach the Seventh Commandment?

One of the most difficult things to teach children is the seventh commandment. Children from the ages of three to ten know nothing about what happens in marriage. They understand little of the atrocity of committing adultery.

Should we even teach children at so young of an age about the seventh commandment? Our hesitance comes from a proper discretion. We are discrete with children, and we hide certain things from them until they are ready for them.

Our opposition does not have the same discretion. Children are taught sex education in the public schools starting at Kindergarten. In Kindergarten, they are taught, "Thou shalt commit adultery." We must first teach them, "Thou shalt not commit adultery." We must first teach them that homosexuality is wrong. That God created marriage to exist between one man and one woman, and that same-sex marriage is not an alternative lifestyle.

We must be discrete with children. But we must teach them the command, "Thou shalt not commit adultery." They can learn specifics much later in life (and Lord willing they will learn those specifics much later in life), but we must not deny them the command that God has given to everyone: "Thou shalt not commit adultery."

Dumbing Down the Commandments

Those who teach young children often seek to "dumb down" what they are teaching the children. They know that children do not understand nuances, so they seek to simplify things for the children. Making something simple so that children can understand it is one thing, but dumbing it down is something entirely different.

It is a daunting task to simplify something for children. How can you describe something for children that they have never experienced? How can you tell them about something that they cannot intellectually comprehend? A teacher must put a lot of thought into explaining the stories just so in order to teach the children. It takes time. It takes practice. It takes a lot of work.

When a teacher does not make the effort to simplify the material for the children, one of two things happen. Either the teacher teaches at an adult level, and only a handful of the children pick up bits and pieces of the lesson. Or the teacher dumbs down the information, excludes certain important facts, and teaches the children a half-truth.

For example, consider the episode between David (before he was a king) and Nabal. David and his men had protected Nabal's flocks. When it was time for sheep-shearing, David sent a message to Nabal asking Nabal for some meat.

A teacher who was dumbing down the information would say that it wasn't fair for Nabal to have so much wealth and not help out those like David who had very little. There are some serious consequences with this way of portraying what happened. If Nabal was supposed to give his wealth away to the poor, then all rich people are supposed to give their wealth away to the poor. Recall what David did when Nabal refused to give David some food: David and his men mounted an assault upon Nabal. Does that mean that poor people can take wealth by force? Obviously, dumbing down this story causes problem after problem after problem to creep up rather swiftly. We must be responsible for what we teach. We must make the effort as teachers to simplify things so that children understand us and so that we don't dumb down material which needs to be taught clearly.

Teaching Kids New Material

When teaching kids new material, you need to tell them the answers. You should never ask a child a question that you have never answered before. A child comes into the world ignorant of everything. They do not know what revenge is. They know how to take revenge, but they don't know what revenge is. So you must tell them.

The best way to do this is to use a story to show what taking revenge looks like. Then tell them that it is bad. Give them a good reference to the Scriptures (something that God has actually said). Then give them a clue word. By clue word, I mean, a word that you will use in your stories later on to clue the kids in on which commandment you are talking about.

For example, when talking about "revenge" always mention that vengeance is the Lord's, He will repay. Always use the clue word "revenge." And emphasize that word. Repeat that word a couple of times throughout the story. Ask the kids what sin was committed: "revenge." This is all very basic, but you must never forget that repetition is the key. The kids need to begin to recognize the sin of revenge, and they need to be able to call it by its biblical name.

Revenge - First Commandment

There once was a boy named Thomas. And Thomas was friendly to all the kids in his class. But one of the kids in his class, a tall boy named Oswald, like to pick on Thomas. Oswald poked Thomas in the back sometimes. Other times Oswald stole toy trains that Thomas had brought to school. And other times Oswald would call Thomas names.

All of these things upset Thomas a lot. But Thomas knew if he told the teacher what Oswald had done, the teacher would punish Oswald.

One day, however, Thomas brought in a bright red fire engine. His mom and dad had given him that fire engine the day before for his birthday. He brought it to school so he could show all of his friends. The lights lit up on it, and it made a real fire engine sound too. All the kids at the school gathered around to look at it and hear its siren. When it was time to learn letters, Thomas put the fire engine in his backpack.

Well, later that day, after naptime, Oswald decided that he wanted Thomas's red fire engine. It was so shiny, and made such a great noise, and it even had a ladder on the back! Oswald knew that it was the coolest toy he had ever seen. So, Oswald sneaked over to Thomas's backpack, and pulled the red fire engine out of his backpack. Then Oswald began to play with it, but he was very careful not to make a sound at all. He pulled the ladder up and down, and he rolled the fire engine this way and that way.

Finally he decided to put it back, but he wasn't careful with it. He dropped the fire engine by accident and broke the ladder off. Thomas saw him when this happened, and Thomas went and told his teacher. The teacher punished Oswald for breaking Thomas's toy and for trying to steal it. But the teacher couldn't fix the toy. Thomas's bright red fire engine was broken.

Thomas was very upset. And even though Oswald had said he was sorry, Thomas was still upset. It just wasn't fair that Thomas's fire engine was broken.

Later that day, during letters time, Oswald poked Thomas in the back, and Thomas had had enough. Thomas turned around, grabbed Oswald's finger, and began to try to hit Oswald. Thomas wanted revenge.


Was it fair that Thomas's fire engine was broken? No. Oswald had done a bad thing by breaking it.
Was Oswald punished for breaking Thomas's toy? Yes. The teacher punished him.
Was Thomas supposed to start fighting with Oswald to get revenge? No.

God says, "Vengeance is Mine. I will repay." How much power does God have? All the power. God will punish people like Oswald who steal and break other people's things. It is not your job to punish them. At school, it is the teacher's job to punish. But, we are supposed to realize that God will judge us for our sins, and he will judge other people for their sins.

Who saw Oswald break Thomas's toy? God.
Who wrote the Ten Commandments? God.
Who will judge us by the Ten Commandments? God.

New Question: Vengeance is GOD's. GOD will repay.

Obeying Your Teachers When It's Hard - Fifth Commandment

There once was a boy named Robert. And Robert had a problem. He liked to ignore his teacher, turn around, and talk to his friend who sat behind him in class. The teacher got so used to Robert turning around to talk, that the teacher would put him in time out whenever he did that.

One day, Robert's friend was playing around behind him, and he was talking to someone other than Robert. Robert began to turn to look behind him, but as soon as he began, he stopped. He didn't want to get tricked into disobeying his teacher again. But the teacher had already seen him begin to turn around, so his teacher put Robert into time-out.

When Robert heard his teacher say, "Time-out, Robert," he began to protest. But, instead of protesting, he decided that he needed to obey his teacher. Robert put himself in time-out and obeyed his teacher.

Did Robert do anything wrong before his teacher punished him? No.
Did Robert do the right thing by obeying his teacher even though he was being punished for no reason? Yes.
Who saw that Robert was being punished for no reason? God.
Who saw Robert obeying his teacher? God.
Who will reward Robert for obeying his teacher and accepting the punishment his teacher gave him without arguing? God.

There is coming a Day of Judgment. On that Day of Judgment, God will tell everyone that Robert obeyed God's commandments by obeying his teacher, and God will say, "Well done, good and faithful servant."

God is in Control - First Commandment

Story goes with the question: How much power does God have? All the power.

When I was a child, my family and I were on a vacation. We were driving in our van. Our van had a door on it that was really hard to close. We really had to yank on the door to get it closed. But once it was closed, it wouldn't jostle or make any noise whatsoever; and if it was closed right, it would take quite the yank to open that door. Sometimes, we would not close the door the right way, and whenever that happened, the door would jostle to let us know it wasn't closed all the way. And if it wasn't closed all the way, the door could just fly open with even the slightest yank.

One day, we were travelling back home from our vacation. We had begun early in the morning before the sun had come out, and we were making good time. After we stopped for breakfast, we got back on the interstate. The interstate was crowded. We had cars behind us and cars in front of us. We had a huge 18-wheeler truck on one side of our car and we had a small red convertible in front of us.

All of a sudden the door started jostling. My mom told my dad that the door probably wasn't shut right, so my dad pulled over to the side of the road. But when my mom got out of the van to check our door, she couldn't get it open. The door was stuck very tight, and wasn't loose at all. My parents were a bit perplexed by this, but there's no sense in staying on the side of the road when you need to get back home.

My dad got back on the interstate and we started traveling, but all of sudden the traffic came to a halt. Some accident had happened up ahead of us on the road. When we came up on that accident, we found the big 18-wheeler had run over and flattened the little red convertible that had been in front of us.

God is in control of all things. God made our door shake so that we would be safe and not be in that accident. God also made that truck run over that red convertible. We cannot always understand God's will for our lives, but we must submit to His will.

How much power does God have? All the power.

Sally and the Oreos - the Fifth Commandment

There once was a little girl named Sally. Sally loved Oreos. She loved to dip Oreos in milk. She loved to twist Oreos open and lick off the creme filling. She even loved to eat Oreos plain without twisting them or dunking them in milk.

One day, Sally and her mom were walking through the grocery store. Sally just happened to notice the Oreos as she passed the cookies in the cookie aisle. When she saw the Oreos, she ran over to them in excitement. She had found Oreos!

She ran back to her mom, who was busy looking at the grocery list, and she pointed to the Oreos and asked her mom, "Mom, can we get the Oreos?"

Her mom thought about it for a minute, then she turned to Sally and said, "No, Sally. We can't get Oreos today."

Sally looked really hard at the Oreos. She imagined how much fun it would have been to have dunked those Oreos in the milk. She imagined how much fun it would have been to twist those Oreos and lick off the creme filling. She even imagined how good those Oreos tasted. Oh, she loved Oreos so much. And as she was remembering how good the Oreos tasted, she also remembered the fifth commandment: "Honor thy father and thy mother."

She looked at the Oreos. Then she looked back at her mom. Then she looked back at the Oreos. Then she looked back at her mom and said, "Okay, mom." She obeyed her mom. They walked off to a different aisle to pick up the bread and head home.

Questions to ask:
What did Sally do right?
Answer: She obeyed her mom.
What commandment did Sally obey when she obeyed her mom?
Answer: She honored her father and her mother.
What is the special blessing that God gives to those who honor their father and their mother?
Answer: Longer life and more prosperity.

The Story of Nabal: David's Request Scorned

In explaining how Nabal rejected David's request, we as teachers must make certain things very clear to the children.

First, Nabal was a very wealthy man who was evil in his doings (1 Sam. 25:3). He is described by the Scriptures as a bad man, and we are given one example of his wickedness.

Second, David and his men worked very hard to protect Nabal's flocks. They were like a wall to the flocks; they didn't let any enemy through. Nabal lost no sheep because David and his men had labored endlessly for his flocks. An employer was supposed to pay his employees. David had the status of an employee.

Third, when Nabal refused David's request for food,

The Story of Nabal: Summary

While David and his men hid from Saul in a certain valley, they took it upon themselves to protect some flocks of a very wealthy man named Nabal. They were like a wall to these flocks. They protected the shepherds from harm and never harmed the shepherds themselves. They never stole sheep out of the flocks for themselves, and they kept anyone else from stealing sheep from those flocks.

When sheepshearing time came, David sent ten young men to Nabal to ask politely if they might receive some of the feast. When Nabal heard the request of these young men, he treated them and David disrespectfully. He refused to give them any of the feast.

David's servants went back to David, and they told David what Nabal had said. David became very angry with Nabal, and he told his men to gird their swords. David felt that he and his men had labored so hard to protect Nabal's flocks in vain. They had received no payment for their services, not even gratitude. They were going to go to war against Nabal.

Nabal's wife, Abigail, was a very wise woman. She had not been around when Nabal received David's servants, so she did not know that Nabal had treated them rudely. A servant went and told Abigail about Nabal's rudeness to David's servants. The servant then told Abigail how David's men had protected them the whole time they were in that valley. Nabal had turned away some very good protectors without payment.

Abigail understood how awful Nabal had been to David and his men. And she knew that David was on his way to kill Nabal and all his maleservants. So, Abigail quickly grabbed bread, wine, corn, raisins, figs, and sheep, and she put them in baskets on donkeys to take to David.

As David and his men were on their way to Nabal, David was remembering how he and his men had labored so hard in vain for Nabal. Right then, Abigail met them in the road. She immediately got down on her hands and knees and begged David to accept the food that she was bringing as payment and to spare Nabal and his men.

David agreed to spare Nabal and his men. David took the gift from Abigail, and he complimented her on her wisdom. She had solved two wrongs: Nabal's folly and David's folly.

Abigail went back home and the next morning told Nabal what a great danger he had been in. God punished Nabal ten days later by killing him. When David heard that Abigail was a widow, he asked her to marry him, and a little while later they were married.

"Johnny Did It Too" Example

Let's say that Johnny and Tyler are told by their teacher to sit down in the circle. Their teacher allows Johnny and Tyler to pick one toy to play with. The only thing their teacher tells them to do is to stay sitting down on the ground. After much deciding, Johnny and Tyler pick out the box of Legos and begin to build a tower. After a little while the tower gets to be very big, so Johnny stands up. Then Tyler sees that Johnny is standing up, and the teacher hasn't seen him yet. Tyler knows that he is not supposed to stand up, but Johnny hasn't gotten in trouble yet. What should Tyler do?

The First Commandment

The first commandment states: "Thou shalt have no other gods before Me." God speaks this commandment to His people. The main meaning of this verse is that God's people are not to obey anyone else before obeying God. God comes first in life. He is the first one we obey.

When teaching children about the first commandment, we need to make it very clear that they are not to obey anyone else before God. They are supposed to obey their parents and their teachers because of the fifth commandment, but they are not supposed to obey their friends.

When children get into trouble, the first thing they try to do is switch the blame away from themselves. If someone else was doing the same thing, the first thing they will say is: "But Johnny was doing it too!" At this point what they are saying is that they are not putting God first. Instead, they were being bad because Johnny was being bad; they were putting Johnny ahead of God. When they sinned, God wasn't first, Johnny was.

This is a good example to tell the children when they are trying to learn to put God first. We must not let ourselves be led astray by the sinners around us. We must not try to please other people; we must try to please God. God comes first. We should listen to others, but only when they are pointing to the Scriptures and saying, "God hath said."

Losing the Truth

Children do not understand much about stories. Most people realize this fact, so they simplify stories -- especially Bible stories -- when they tell them to children. Simplifying stories can be good so that children stay entertained, but we must be careful not to simplify the truth out of a story.

There are some Bible stories which we are very used to dumbing down and dumbing out the truth of the story just because we do not accept the Bible's interpretation for things.

For example, the story of Abraham is a story that we like to dumb out the truth. When he lies about his wife and says she is his sister, we inevitably assume that this comes from his lack of faith. We would never guess that it comes from his wisdom. But, what does the Bible say that he feared? He feared the lust of the kings of the lands he was visiting. And, in both cases, Sara was taken from him because of the lust of those kings. Perhaps Abraham was not such a fool as we think he was. Just in case you think that most of us are getting the story right according to the Scriptures when we say that Abraham lacked faith, think about this: when was the last time you heard a pastor preach this passage and mention that God punishes men who lust? Isn't that closer to the meaning of the passage? Doesn't the Bible show Abraham and Sara protected by God, and the wicked kings punished for their uncontrollable lust?

But, too often, we dumb down passages and lose the truth. That is one thing we must never do when teaching children the Bible.

Teaching Little Children the Bible

Teaching little children about the Bible and God's commandments is one of the most important things that anyone can do. Children do not come into the world understanding what is right and wrong. They must be taught what God has said, and they must be taught how Christ has redeemed His people. There is no greater story in the world to tell children than the story of what God has done in the history of the world. Too few people -- even in America -- actually know what God has done in the world. They might know a little about Jesus Christ, but most of what they know would not come from the Scriptures; it would come from movies like The Passion of the Christ.

Teaching children these things from a young age is one of the best ways to insure that the next generation does not learn about God through movies. Some adults do not think that children can learn about what God has done in the world because they cannot comprehend it yet. To a certain extent they are right, but it is also astounding what children can understand. You must certainly make things simpler for the children, and you must give them examples that they understand. But if you do both of those things, you can actually teach them quite a lot about the Scriptures.

This blog is devoted to helping parents, teachers, and pastors as they seek to teach children about God and the Bible. I will slowly, but surely, make my way through different sections of the Bible, and I will give a children's commentary of what happens in the Bible. I hope that this blog will help you as you pray for your children and teach them about God.