|
I
Wasn’t Born Yesterday..."These commandments that
I give you today...Impress them on your children. Talk
about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the
road, when you lie down and when you get up." (Deut.
6:7) We sing, "Faith of our fathers living still..."
But is it? Unless we (who were not born yesterday),
introduce those who were born yesterday (our children)
to those who were born many yesterdays ago, there will arise
a generation after us who will "know not the Lord"
(Judges 2:10), or those who knew the Lord! Unless somebody
tells them, there will arise a generation who "knows
not" Hudson Taylor and others like him. And sadly, there
are many who would think that Hudson Taylor was one of Elisabeth
Taylor's husbands. Of course, confusion is sometimes funny.
My niece heard her mother talking so much about "Elisabeth"
that when she was listening to the story of the birth of John
the Baptist, exclaimed wide eyed---"Elisabeth Elliot
was John the Baptist's mother?? Tradition means giving votes
to the most obscure of all classes, our ancestors. It is the
democracy of the dead. Tradition refuses to submit to the
small and arrogant oligarchy of those who happen to be walking
about. (G.K. Chesterton) The Westminster Confession of Faith
and the Shorter Catechism are unrivaled as faithful and concise
expressions of God’s revelation in Scripture. But it can hardly
be denied that they no longer hold the same place in the mind
of the church as in the past. The chief cause of this lamentable
situation is simply ignorance. Although ostensibly intended
only for those ‘who are of weaker capacity’, The Shorter
Catechism has always been found in practice to be a hard
book to beginners. Hence the necessity for helps and explanations.
Training Hearts Teaching Minds: Family devotions
based on the Shorter Catechism written by Starr Meade. Each
question and answer of the catechism has six days’ worth of
devotional readings written with elementary and junior-high
children in mind. ISBN: 0-87552-392-7
The
Westminster Confession of Faith for Study Classes.
Written in 1964 for the purpose of recovering with certainty
and fulness the rich heritage of the Reformation Faith, this
comprehensive study manual explains clearly and fully the
meaning of the Confession. G. I. Williamson shows the biblical
support for what the Confession teaches and is careful to
distinguish the truth from conflicting opinions. Each section
is followed by study questions. ISBN: 0-87552-538-5
The
Shorter Catechism for Study Classes. This catechism
study was written in 1970 while G.I. Williamson was pastor
of one of the Reformed Churches of New Zealand. The goal was
to lead the class through discussion to a sharp discrimination
between true and untrue, adequate and inadequate answers.
Vol. 1: Questions 1-38 tell us what to believe. ISBN: 0-87552-539-3
Vol. 2: Questions
39-107 tell us what we are to do. ISBN: 0-87552-540-7
The
Shorter Catechism Explained from Scripture written
by Thomas Vincent in 1694 and prefaced by the Westminster
divines, " Ignorance is the mother of devotion. The world
doth now see that without knowledge the mind is not good.
And, look, as no knowledge is so necessary as that of the
grounds and principles of the Christian religion, so no way
is so apt to convey it to the minds of men as that which is
called catechistical. Thus not only ignorance is cured, but
error also is prevented; too many being misguided, because
they were not at first well-grounded in the principles of
the doctrine of Christ. And having to our great satisfaction,
perused this Explanation ourselves, do readily recommend it
to others; for though he composed it for his own particular
congregation, yet we judge it may be greatly useful to all
Christians in general." ISBN: 0-85151-314-x
The
Shorter Catechism. In this booklet edition, the meaning
of each answer is given in a short commentary. Scripture proofs
are given in full. ISBN:1-85792-288-3. Order
from Book Briefs
First
Catechism originally published in 1840 by Joseph P.
Engels is an effort to introduce and simplify the concepts
of the Shorter Catechism for young children. ISBN: 0-934688-68-0
Honey
for a Teen’s Heart written by Gladys Hunt spells out
how good books can help you and your teenager communicate
heart-to-heart about ideas, values, and the various issues
of a Christian worldview. An annotated list of over four hundred
books is included. ISBN: 0-310-24260-6
Honey
for a Child’s Heart The Imaginative Use of Books in
Family Life by Gladys Hunt. ISBN: 0-310-24246-0
The
Read Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease offers a simple
step-by-step plan by which parents can fend off the TV attack
on their child’s life and provide the positive role models
that will help to turn their children into life-long readers.
ISBN: 0-14-046971-0
Treasures
of the Snow by Patricia
St.John ISBN: 0-8024-6575-7
A Brief Suggestion: Bribery???
Charles Spurgeon
writes---My dear grandfather was very fond of Dr. Watt’s hymns,
and my grandmother, wishing to get me to learn them, promised
me a penny for each one that I should say to her perfectly.
I found it an easy and pleasant method of earning money, and
learned them so fast that grandmother said she must reduce
the price to a half-penny each, afterwards to a farthing,
if she did not mean to be quite ruined by here extravagance.
There is no telling how low the amount per hymn might have
sunk, but grandfather said that he was getting overrun with
rats, and offered me a shilling a dozen for all I could kill.
I found, at the time, that the occupation of rat catching
paid me better than learning hymns, but I know which employment
has been more permanently profitable to me. No matter what
topic I am preaching, I can, even now, in the middle of my
sermon, quote some verse of a hymn in harmony with the subject;
the hymns have remained with me, while those old rats for
years have passed away; and the shillings I earned by killing
them have been spent long ago.
These
books come highly recommended by the teens who were "paid"
to read them!
Lord Foulgrin’s
Letters by Randy Alcorn ISBN: 1-57673-679-2 (and his other
books too!)
Stepping
Heavenward by Elisabeth Prentiss ISBN: 1-57748-342-1
The Case
for Christ (student edition) by Lee Strobel with Jane
Vogel ISBN:0-310-23484-0
|
