Do We Ask Too Much, Or Too Little?

Sunday was an awesome celebration of seeing 4 children baptized and another come forward to profess faith in Christ. We know that these little ones cannot be expected to grasp the complete theology an adult should know, but "Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so" certainly should be within their grasp.



Every time we baptize children, I make a point of calling the church into a covenant along with their parents to bring the kids up to learn, grow, and know more of Jesus and His love.



Well today I'm rummaging around preparing for my small group discussion on Leviticus 19 tomorrow night, and I run across this in the Mishnah.

At five years old [one is fit] for the Scripture, at ten years
the Mishnah (oral Torah, interpretations) at thirteen for the fulfilling of the
commandments, at fifteen the Talmud (making Rabbinic interpretations), at
eighteen the bride-chamber, at twenty pursuing a vocation, at thirty for
authority (able to teach others)

I cannot help but feel, based on my experience within the churches I've been a part of over the years as a parent and as a pastor, that we aren't expecting enough. Granted, the person who fulfills all of this would be a rabbi. But the first three parts everyone should go through. Do our methods and our tools get us to this standard?



Now back to Leviticus...

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