Proverbs 30:5-6 — Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him. Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar.
1 Corinthians 2:12-13 — Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.

I read a news story today that’s bothering me.
I know that most people reading this piece will share my love of the Bible, and believe in it’s perfection. So how do you feel about the idea that teaching children about God’s Word might damage their ability to tell fact from fiction?
I didn’t make it up. I came across a study called “Judgments About Fact and Fiction by Children From Religious and Nonreligious Backgrounds” published in a journal called “Cognitive Science” that says exactly that. (The academically minded can read the paper at http://www.bu.edu/learninglab/files/2012/05/Corriveau-Chen-Harris-in-press.pdf)
Here’s the bottom line conclusion of the study: “The results suggest that exposure to religious ideas has a powerful impact on children’s differentiation between reality and fiction, not just for religious stories but also for fantastical stories.” So what are we to do with that?
One stance, of course, would be to pooh-pooh the whole thing. We could accuse the authors of the study of some kind of bias and reject the whole thing.
I’d like to suggest we do the exact opposite. Let’s assume the results of the study are well-founded. What would that mean to the way we taught children about Jesus? Would that mean that Sunday School was broken? I don’t think so …
I think we have to look before and after Sunday School. Sunday School is what it says. It’s one hour on Sunday (or Saturday for some kids!) What happens for the other one hundred and sixty seven hours? Parents have to own this issue — and it might be the most important issue our society is facing.
I know that if you’re a parent (or maybe a grandparent) right now you might be sighing. Isn’t it hard enough? But I think there are several things you have to do for your children:
— Make sure they know the Bible.
— Make sure they know the Bible is true!
— Make sure they know what fiction is.
— Make sure they know fiction is not true.
— Make sure they get schooling that helps!
The last one might be a challenge. Public schools are not going to be interested in dealing with it. Christian schools are expensive, but might help.
You might wonder why I’m so bothered about this. I’m bothered because children that grow up with a problem distinguishing fact from fiction will grow up with a problem credibly defending their faith. We can’t afford to raise a generation that doesn’t have all the tools to combat a rising tide of liberal secularism.