"...I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me..." [Deuteronomy 5:8-10]

Tuesday, July 06, 2004

Sunday School - Hard Boiled Brains
Surfing for Christian thinking on "hardened hearts" lead me to the terror of Children's Sunday School Object Talks and Object Lessons - Hardened Heart:

What you will do during class:
Before class, hard-boil one egg and let cool. Mark one egg with an 'A' and the other with a 'B', or whatever marks you like so you can tell them apart. You will show the class that the hard-boiled egg can be spun around like a top, but the uncooked egg will not spin as often as you try. You will compare the hard-boiled egg to someone with a hardened heart. Like you can spin the hard-boiled egg, the devil can make someone with a hardened heart do things they know is wrong...

The Bible says, 'Blessed is the man who always fears the Lord, but he who hardens his heart falls into trouble' (Proverbs 28:14). This hard-boiled egg is like someone with a hardened heart and who does not fear the Lord. The devil can make this person do things they know are wrong. In a sense, the devil has some control over their life, and that is very scary isn't it? But someone who is obedient to the Lord, and does not let his or her heart become hardened can resist the power of the devil. Like this egg with the soft center that can not be spun around, a Christian who is obedient to the Word of God, and who fears the Lord can not be controlled by the devil. We must make sure our hearts do not become hardened, like a hard-boiled egg.
As if the horrors of teaching kids to reply on argument by analogy are not enough, the lesson objectives which KidsSundaySchool seek to instill are pretty terrifying:
Acceptance
Fearing God
Obedience
Remember kids, God loves you unconditionally, and he wants you to choose freely to love him... or you'll burn in hell...

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