Right Beliefs
So far, we’ve talked about the idea of Hebraic ways of knowing, or “yāḏa,” Israel's intimate, personal, and profoundly connected understanding of/relationship with God. Jesus reintroduced the Jews to this intimacy with God through his intimate knowledge of Scripture, his prayer life, and living with his disciples. Then we talked about how, through Jesus’ example, we can gain insight into how we disciple our kids by using the Shema as a framework.
Part 1: Love God with everything in you
Part 2: Prioritize your relationship with him first
Part 3: Teach His Word to your children
Again, knowing God is not simply, “Hey, I know you;” instead, it’s an intimate knowledge based on a deep love, intimate/quality time with him, and learning about him (Parts 1, 2, and 3).
We’ll start with “learning” or our right beliefs about God.
“Right beliefs” seem like such a nebulous idea, leaving the door open wide for interpretation based on your religious tradition, but it's not really complicated. What do we believe about God? Have we ever actually explored it? Or even given it a second thought? If not, then how are we passing this along to our kids?
My seminary professor once taught the concept of doctrine from this image (or a likeness of it):
Beliefs are the generally held practices and traditions of the local church.
Doctrines usually distinguish denominational differences, but agree on foundational issues.
Dogma are the foundational issues of the faith: Jesus’ divinity, the inerrancy of Scripture, and salvation through faith alone.
These words are used interchangeably and frequently, making it very easy to become confused. For the sake of our discussion, “right beliefs” encompass mainly the bottom two portions of the pyramid. These are the core beliefs of the faith we pass down to our children. How can they have saving faith in Jesus Christ? How do we know God and know his Word is true? Why do we get baptized? And so on.
When God teaches us in the Shema to love him first, this means, at our core, our love for God is apparent in every aspect of our lives. Are we perfect? Nope! Do we mess up? Yep! Daily! But we love God by submitting to him daily, learning his truth, and living out that truth, rather than ascribing to the subjective “your truth” ideal that infects our culture.
Psalms and Proverbs are an excellent starting point for learning how we love God. In fact, the writer of Proverbs introduces us to the idea of wisdom and knowledge at the outset:
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge,
but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
Pr. 1:7
English words do not always sufficiently express the meaning of the original Greek and Hebrew in Scripture. This passage is no exception. Focusing on the first half of the verse, let’s look at the keywords:
A humble paraphrase is, “The reverence of God is the beginning of a deeper relationship with him.” Our knowledge of God, apart from our relationship with him, is likened to the Pharisees. They had a lot of head knowledge of God and knew the Torah and the Talmud inside and out. Pharisees were not generally perceived as examples of intimate relationship with God; instead, they were “noted for strict observance of rites and ceremonies of the written law and insistence on the validity of their oral traditions concerning the law.”[3] As much as we don’t want to be like the Pharisees, the American church has become virtually illiterate with the bible and general understanding of our beliefs.[4]
We can no longer afford not to consider what we teach our kids about doctrine. The church cannot achieve this goal of teaching without us doing our part in the home. Consider how much time we spend under the church’s teaching each week:
~ 45 minutes listening to the pastor during Sunday morning services
~ 35-45 minutes in bible study or teaching in a small group setting once or twice a week
If that 1.5 – 3 hours is the only time our kids learn about our beliefs, it is not enough to effect long-lasting learning.[5] It also doesn’t follow the guidelines laid out in the Shema (Dt. 6: 4-9).
Remember, God gave us an outline for passing along our beliefs to our kids through our family culture:
vs. 7b - Talk about God as a way of life and as part of your family culture and rhythms
at home as you live together
in public as you go about your business
at bedtime as the last thing you encounter before sleep
in the morning as the first thing you experience when you wake
vs. 8: Have God’s Word in front of you all the time and memorize it
vs. 9: Have God’s Word displayed around your home in all the places you spend your time
But what does this look like in our everyday lives? Well, thousands of books teach about God’s word, but I suggest we go back to the basics and just read the bible. God’s word is sufficient for everything we need as his followers.[6]
The law of the Lord is perfect,
refreshing the soul.
The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy,
making wise the simple
The precepts of the Lord are right,
giving joy to the heart.
The commands of the Lord are radiant,
giving light to the eyes.
The fear of the Lord is pure,
enduring forever.
The decrees of the Lord are firm,
and all of them are righteous.
They are more precious than gold,
than much pure gold;
they are sweeter than honey,
than honey from the honeycomb.
By them your servant is warned;
in keeping them there is great reward.
But who can discern their own errors?
Forgive my hidden faults.
Keep your servant also from willful sins;
may they not rule over me.
Then I will be blameless,
innocent of great transgression.
May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart
be pleasing in your sight,
Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer.
Ps 19:7–14.
God’s word is living and active (Heb. 4:12). It is an immediate encounter with the living God (Ps. 1:1-3). Read it with your spouse. Read it alone. Read it with your kids. Listen to an audio bible. Draw pictures of the stories with your kids. Try journaling either on your own or as a family. Ask questions and be willing to admit you don’t know the answer every time.
Here are some questions to get started on your journey of discovering what you believe:
- Who is God?
- What is man?
- What is the bible, and how did we get it?
- What is the church and its purpose?
- Why does God want a relationship with me?
- What is a saving faith in Jesus Christ?
- Why do we get baptized?
Finally, we follow God’s command to impress our beliefs on our kids (Dt. 6:7) if we want them to know God and have a relationship with him. How can we know someone and yet not know anything about them?
[1] Douglas, J. D. “Fear.” Edited by D. R. W. Wood, I. H. Marshall, A. R. Millard, J. I. Packer, and D. J. Wiseman. New Bible Dictionary. Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1996. [2] M. H. Cressey, “Knowledge,” ed. D. R. W. Wood et al., New Bible Dictionary (Leicester, England; Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1996), 657. [3] Inc Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary. (Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster, Inc., 2003). [4] If you want to dig a little deeper into this, check out this study on biblical illiteracy: https://sotb.research.bible/. [5] If you want to dig into learning theories, here’s a great summary! https://www.wgu.edu/blog/five-educational-learning-theories2005.html#close [6] To dig into this a little more, check out this site: https://www.gotquestions.org/sufficiency-of-Scripture.html.
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