Title: Succession of Faith (2 Timothy 1:1-5)
Succession of faith (2 Tim 1:1-5)
There is a saying, "A child who is rejected in love at a young age betrays his country." These words are the title of the 『Bazilet Report』 published by the American psychologist 『Bazilet』. The contents of this report are as follows.
During the Korean War, many foreign troops participated in the war and helped us. Among them, American help was decisive. Many foreigners shed their blood for us. After the war, there was a prisoner of war exchange. However, among the Americans captured by the CCP, 21 said they would not return to the US and live in the CCP. So they were eventually excluded from the prisoner of war exchange. They certainly had parents and siblings in America. Those 21 Americans also learned and knew that communism was bad. Their IQ was also above average. But it didn't come back.
When this fact became known, the United States was astonished. So psychologists, educators, and psychiatrists gathered to study it. What on earth made them betray their country? It was a study on This research report was called the “Bazilet Report”.
But when I studied their backgrounds, I was surprised to find out that all of these 21 Americans had suffered great misfortunes in their infancy. 19 out of 21 people grew up in homes where they were abused by their fathers or stepfathers, and 16 of them in particular grew up in an unhappy family life in a broken family.
So, after researching and writing a report, they came to the conclusion that "a child betrayed by love as a child also betrays his country."
Yes. From the moment a baby is conceived, he grows up only accepting what is happening around him. No choice. I don't like it, I can't express it, I just accept it. This is how we live our lives expressing what we have accepted, regardless of whether we cover it or not.
So, in an article written by a Soviet educator named Makarenko, "The fundamentals of education are completed from birth to the age of 5. What a child does until age 5 determines 90% of a child's future." did. A French physiologist named "Toris" said, "It can be said that the task of education until the age of seven is actually over. Education after the age of seven is built on the foundation of up to the age of seven." Freud also said, "The formation of a human personality ends around the age of five."
Even considering the above, there is no doubt that childhood environment and education play a decisive role in a person's life. In this way, children before the age of 7 can be said to have an open mind in education. It's such a simple time to accept anything. How important is it for parents and other people to pass on a beautiful and good faith to their children at such a good time when their hearts are wide open in education?
In today's text, we can see a good example as long as the faith of a mother is beautifully passed on to her children. A man named Timothy comes out. His father was Greek and his maternal grandmother and mother were Jewish. I am an overseas Jew. However, my maternal grandmother Lois and my mother Eunice were believers in God devoutly. Paul says that their beautiful, godly, and unfeigned faith was also in Timothy. Therefore, the beautiful faith of maternal grandmother Lois and mother Eunice has been passed down to Timothy. After all, Timothy's family has already maintained good faith for three generations. How precious is this?
Urban churches these days are in a state of emergency. When I am in the city, I see that there is one big problem when I visit. If you go to a certain family, the first generation keeps the faith, but the 2nd and 3rd generations all leave the church and the family is cut off. It is a fact that there are surprisingly many families in which that belief is not passed down to three generations, that is, to their grandchildren.
In particular, in many cases, parents are coming to the main church, but it is a fact that most of the young children are sent to a church near their home. It is because it is uncomfortable to accompany. It is a fact that has already been proven that, if you are separated from each other in this way, you are more likely to depart from your faith. There is an element of disconnection here. Therefore, even if it is a little difficult, the whole family should hold hands and gather in one church to breathe and breastfeed together on Sundays. Only then can the roots deepen and that belief can be passed down to the 4th and 5th generations.
Now, since I have mentioned that it is so important to pass on faith in childhood, now I will talk about religious education in childhood.
1. First of all, we Christians must never become people who ignore the prenatal religious education.
Verse 5 of today's text says, "Because you are thinking of the faith that is not false in you, this faith was first in your maternal grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am convinced that it is also in you."
It is important to say that 'this faith was first in your maternal grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice'. This obviously presupposes that Timothy's mother Eunice had faith before she conceived Timothy. right? So, in fact, it can be said that Timothy was a person who received proper education in the fetus from a godly mother.
Let me tell you about the mystery of prenatal education. Research by scholars has shown that a fetus at 4 months of pregnancy already has a well-developed sense of touch and taste, which responds to stimuli. It is said that if a strong light shines on the mother's belly, she will even cover her eyes with her hands. Tickling the soles of the fetus's feet with any tool will cause the baby's feet to move.
If you are 5 months pregnant, you may be in a position to listen to loud sounds. The baby's favorite sounds are the mother's and soft, quiet music. If you play rock music loudly to the fetus, the child will struggle with dislike.
And after 7 months of pregnancy, the fetal cerebral tissue is structurally developed enough for thinking, so it has a memory and recognizes human voices, so it is said to distinguish the mother's voice. It even distinguishes between the sound of her mother speaking when she is angry and the sound of her speaking with joy.
If you think about this scientific analysis of the 10 months before a child is born into this world, you can feel the importance of religious education at this time. Now, everyone, do we want to pass on and pass on the good faith to our children? We need to remember how important prenatal education is.
Of course, our Christian education does not begin with fetal education. Some people start praying for their children from the time they get married. Those who realize earlier are already in their teens praying for their future children.
Anyway, until our children are born into this world, Christian parents should not spare much prayer and labor for their children. When you do this, you can pass on good faith to your children.
2. Faith education in early childhood needs to be considered more seriously.
I had them draw pictures for kindergarten children and 2nd graders in elementary school. He said, “Imagine that God is in front of you now and draw the face of God.” What kind of face do you think you drew? It is said that most children drew the image of God in the image of their father. Isn't that something we should seriously consider?
That's why Freud said, "Mother and father are the first things a child sees of God." Therefore, it can only be said that children aged 1, 2, and 3 thoroughly follow their parents' beliefs. It is no exaggeration to say that it is truly a copy of the parents. They do what their parents do.
When I was at Umgung Church, I was the first to teach kindergarten. But while teaching preschool children, I discovered one very important thing. As these children go, they open their eyes during prayer time during worship and keep looking at me. When I see it, I close my eyes, and when I close my eyes, I open my eyes. No matter how many times I scold him, he doesn't listen. Oh, these children should close their eyes and pray during prayer time. What if they only look at me?
So I thought about it, but later found out that the children did not imitate other people, but imitated me. Which child wakes up when I pray? I just watched a little bit. So, they opened their eyes and watched each other play with each other. So, I first closed my eyes and prayed properly before God no matter what kind of sound I heard during prayer time.
When you are a child, you don't need words. Good or bad, the child doesn't know that. It's just something an adult does. So, how important is it to pass on the beautiful faith that parents have to their children at this time?
3. Furthermore, religious education during the Sunday school days is very important.
Although there are no accurate statistics in our country, according to statistics from foreign countries, it seems that when you see Sunday school children going to church, they are playing around and sometimes they just do not listen to a word, but if you look at the statistics of children who attended church school like this, Of course, there are those who go out into the world again, but 85% of them say they become sure Christians. So, I don't know how important it is to pass on a good faith in the days of Sunday School. The funny thing is that adults listen intently but never really hear anything, while children play around and listen to everything.
4. One more thing, it's a different story, but when it comes to passing on faith to children, the role of a mother is even more important.
The Jews take this matter a little differently. Our country is still completely paternalistic. The saints follow their father's surname and yes, but there is something special about the Israelites. Originally, the people of Israel had no surnames. Because they are all brothers, there is no last name. So there is only a name. That seems really good. In a sense.
But the important thing is that an Israeli man and an Israeli woman got married and had a child. Then the child is a child of Israel. Arguably legally recognized as a child of Israel. However, if, for example, an Israeli man and a foreign woman marry and have a child, the child is legally a foreigner. The people of Israel are not On the other hand, if an Israeli woman and a foreign man marry and have a child, they are legally Israeli. Why? The Jewish belief was that beliefs were thoroughly passed down through matrilineal lines.
Even from a modern religious point of view, it is concluded that this problem of sensibility, or the problem of worldview, comes from the mother. Moreover, character is inherited from mother. The attitude of life is inherited from the mother. Therefore, the fact that you inherit your faith from your mother is a very important story.
So, in today's text, Timothy is such a person who came to believe in Jesus Christ through evangelism from Paul in addition to the Jewish faith he had inherited from his mother and grandmother. That is why many people say that a child's faith is inherited and passed on from the mother.
Now, Timothy in today's text is a person of faith who has inherited the faith well from such a young age. So here I see, "My dear son Timothy," and others, "The God whom I have served since my ancestors," and "Your faith in you was the faith that was in your grandmother and your mother." Reformed and pioneering by myself, rather than such a belief, the belief handed down from our ancestors is very important.
So, when we say "mother", we say, 'Ah, my mother is the mother of prayer.' 'My mother is a mother who serves.' 'My mother is a person who likes to give and just loves to give.' Also, 'I am a mother and father who was loyal to the church.' It should be remembered like this.
Now, let's adults first become people of good faith. So, I hope that your good faith, the tradition of good faith of the Three-way Church, will be passed on to your children, so that it will become a church that nurtures workers of good faith like Timothy.