Juvenile Delinquency
by Dr. Ai. R. DeHaan
of Father and Mother than anyone else, we can expect our children to be just what we are. If you are a real Christian you have a right to expect your child to be. If you go to church, you can expect your child to follow. If you pray, you will soon find that little one imitating your prayers. What a pity that some of you pro fessing Christians never pray in the presence of your children! God pity the child who seldom or never hears Mother’s prayers or Father’s inter cessions. . . . Discipline The third element in education is DISCIPLINE. That word has lost much of its meaning in these days of modem pedagogy when the in junction “Spare the rod and spoil the child” is no longer believed. Yet there can be no education without this element of discipline. Discipline may be defined as “that method of instruction in education whereby we seek to make the doing of right a pleasant task, and the doing of wrong an unpleasant one.” . . . Here then we have the three ele ments included in the term “TRAIN.” “Train up a child,” says Solomon under inspiration. This means to im part to that child the revelation of God by instruction, by example, and by discipline. . . . It is because Christian education has been estranged from the home and a thousand influences have con jured to break down the Christian home, that things in the land and the world are as they are today. “Train up a child in the WAY he should go and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”
First of all notice the element of EDUCATION. According to the ac cepted definition, “Education is trans mitting to the child the knowledge and experiénces of humanity.” It is imparting to the child the things which the race through long years of experience and development h a s learned. Christian education then be comes thé transmitting to the child the knowledge of CHRIST. It is teach ing the child the revelation of Chris tianity, the Bible, and the experi ences of the true Church of the Lord Jesus in every age. . . . God’s Word says that “Except a man be bom again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” God’s Word says that, “He that believeth not is con demned already because he hath not believed on the name of the only begotten Son of God.” True Christian education, then, is teaching the child what God says . . .“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” No education is worthy of the name, unless it includes the truth of the authority of the Bible, the deity of the Lord Jesus, the need of regen eration, and the cleansing by the blood of Christ. . . . The Force of Example The second element in training, we are told, is EXAMPLE. A child is a bom imitator. A great deal of its early training is by imitation. “Like father, like son” is an expression which is not only true of hereditary traits, but most of our acquired habits. We act, talk, and even think like those we see and hear. Since, there fore, the first few years of life are the most impressionable and plastic years, and our children hear and see more
“Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he w ill not depart from it.” (Prov. 22:6) M ar tin L u t h e r , the great reform er, once said, “You cannot teach an old dog new tricks.” What Luther said was but a repetition and a paraphrase of the words of Solomon, “Train up a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it.” In this text we have it stated positively; while Luther stated it negatively. . . . Luther realized one thing—that was the fact that if the Reformation fires were to be kept burning it must be done by transmitting the spirit of the Reformation to the children and the youth. Every movement which neg lects the instruction and indoctrina tion of its children, will fade, fail, and disappear. This statement of Solomon de mands careful examination as each word is freighted with inspired meaning. “Train up a CHILD.” The reference is to a person in the early formative and impressionable years of life; not to the one whose charac ter and habits have already been set and his eternal course determined. What1 Is Training The second word which demands our attention is the word “TRAIN.” Training is very closely allied to habit, for “training” is the fixing of habits, belief, and character. This training must be done in youth. . . . Three Elements of Training Educators tell us there are three elements applied in training. These are EDUCATION, EXAMPLE, and DISCIPLINE.
THE KING'S BUSINESS
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