Don’t Hide the Bible from Your Kids

“Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You” -Psalm 119:11

Recently on X, I ‘ve been a little alarmed by the number of parents, mostly moms, that are voicing concerns about how they should navigate the Bible with their children. Some have stated they skip over verses, while others admit they exclude entire passages or books of the Bible altogether. What I find even more disheartening is how many likes and comments encouraging this type of behavior I see in support of these parents, support even from Pastors. Now before I cause unnecessary confusion, let me qualify a couple of things: 1) these are Christian parents of Christian households, 2) I am immediately grateful that they are attempting to engage in Biblical parenting and exposing their children to Scripture at all, and 3) their worry for their children’s innocence and purity is commendable. 

Having now dispensed with the qualifications, let me proceed forward with my own concerns and some practical advice on how we, as parents of young children, may better engage our children with the texts of Holy Scripture.

I too am the parent of young children, my wife and I, at the time of this writing, have three small children, ages 9, 6, and 2; we completely understand the desire to safeguard them from inappropriate material and the need to catechize them in our Christian faith. Our children are in church and attend Christian school. We read the Bible to them and pray with them every night. We sing hymns and spiritual songs together as a family, and as Presbyterians, they are even going through the youth catechism for further theological training. We, like many of you, are taking the rearing of our children quite seriously, and we are trying to be as faithful as possible to the command to “raise them up in the fear and admonition of the Lord” (Eph 6:4). The question on every parent’s mind is: how do we best accomplish this? 

Is it enough to keep them from YouTube, Netflix, Disney+, TikTok, and all the other potential dangers in our increasingly, electronically intrusive world? Or must we equip them with the ability, from the youngest of ages, to evaluate things with a critical eye and spiritual discernment that will be with them long after they have moved on to college or career?  When we see verses in Scripture like Paul’s encouragement to “not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Rom 12:2), how do we renew our minds other than by the consistent application of God’s truth found in Scripture? This is of course where all the Christian parents are agreeing with a hearty, “Yes and Amen”. Unfortunately, while you may nod in agreement, your gatekeeping of God’s Word reveals that you don’t truly believe that. Children’s Bibles, children’s church, Veggie Tales, flannel graphs and Superbook all desire to help the Christian parent with the task of instilling a love of Scripture in your young ones, but my fear is that while we are animating their imaginations, we are whitewashing or fully omitting the parts of God and His Word that embarrass or even scandalize us.

The world will grant your children no such kindness. Not only will they expose them to the heights of sexual perversion and moral relativism, but they will also encourage them to participate in these activities and then intentionally hide it from you as their parents. On a recent trip to the new public library near our home, we excitedly entered the shiny, new, publicly funded building and immediately were given our newly issued library cards. One for me, one for my wife, and two for each of my children over the age of five. This effectively means that they can check out their own materials (up to 50 at a time) with the swipe of their own card. While our municipality has some admirable restrictions on what children can check out, this does not limit them from anything in the children’s section, and sadly, that includes plenty of books on sexuality, queer theory, transgender ideology and more. This doesn’t begin to cover the things found on the aforementioned streaming services or social media platforms, and God-forbid within the government school system. 

If you are embarrassed about sex or violence, then you won’t be getting very far before having to navigate such passages. Genesis 2 ends with shameless nudity and by chapter 4 we have sexual relations, murder and more marital sex. You won’t be able to make it out of the first book of the Bible without global ending punishment (Genesis 6-9), intense hatred of brothers for brothers (Genesis 37), homosexuality, attempted gang rape and incest (Genesis 19). This doesn’t begin to cover the difficulties you will encounter in Leviticus alone, or throughout the history of Israel found within Chronicles and Kings. 

I can hear the words of Andy Stanley ringing in the ears of some of you, deciding that perhaps the Old Testament is just too archaic and foreign, and you will simply teach your children the much softer and more loving New Testament scriptures. Well, I fear it won’t be long before you are introduced to the demon possessed Mary Magdalene (Luke 8), the Samaritan woman at the well (John 4), or the woman caught in the midst of adultery (John 8). You will see Herod order the mass genocide of all Israelite boys under a certain age (Matthew 2), homosexuality (Romans 1), and unbelievably, Paul will have to reprimand a man in Corinth of the sin of incest (1 Cor 5).

But these narratives, far from being something to avoid, are in many ways, part of the point of the story itself. We are supposed to be disgusted with the sinfulness of man, and our need for such rigorous and detailed laws. We should be appalled by the injustice of the wicked and the impossibility of keeping the moral requirements of the Holy God depicted within the pages of Holy Scripture. Paul tells us in Galatians 3 that the law of God is meant to be a schoolmaster, pointing us toward our own brokenness and shame. It is in these imperfections that we see the sin that separates us, and yes, our beloved children too, from God and ultimately from eternal life in heaven with Him. It is in these grotesque depictions that we have the strongest contrasts to the hero of the whole story, Christ Jesus the righteous. He is the shining beacon that we wrap every narrative and every bedtime story back to. He lingers on every page and in every detail. We even see him tell us this on the Emmaus Rd, after his resurrection, in Luke 24:27 “And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.” 

Moreover, the bloodiest story in all of Scripture is none other than the scourging and crucifixion of our Savior; his pierced, scared and bloodied body being the necessary propitiation for our sin. His gore was our salvation, and we are told in Isaiah 53:10a “Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him”. But this story we gladly share with children of any age. It’s a logical inconsistency for which I am grateful. 

So, parents, please read the Bible with your kids, of any age, and take the time and care needed to walk them through the things they may not understand. Begin familiarizing them with the language and the context of Scripture, ALL Scriptures. Do so plainly and unapologetically, do so slowly and thoughtfully, but for the love of God and the good of their souls, do so, knowing that the world is eagerly waiting to catechize them in their sinful ways. Engage your children with Christ, and cover nothing up so that He shines all the brighter.

Don’t worry. There are tools to help you through this. A good study Bible, like the Reformation Study Bible, can be incredibly useful to point out cultural context and historical data, also in explaining words or concepts that are less known in our time. Family Worship by Joel Beeke is a wonderful jumping off point if you are not sure how to begin and want some suggestions from someone that has been where you are. Also, my family enjoys family worship supplemented by the daily liturgies by Jonathan Gibson. He has one for the Advent Season, one for Easter, and one for all year round. These books can help create a worship service atmosphere, full of songs, Scripture readings, confessions of faith and other helpful resources that will make family worship feel more like a small church service than a reading routine that can become stale.

Finally, I encourage you to start tonight. Grab your Bible, your spouse and your children, open to Gensis chapter one and start, “in the beginning”. The creation narrative will instantly capture your children’s attention, and you will find that they are interested and full of questions. Lean into those, answer them as honestly and as age appropriately as possible. Say things like “Adam and Eve had babies, just like Mama and Papa have you”, or “Cain wanted to come to God his own way, and he was angry when God didn’t accept his worship. So angry that he wanted to hurt his brother or even kill him.” We do Scripture and our children a disservice when we hide what God calls “profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness” (2 Tim 3:16). These are the realities of life. We can gently and lovingly help them navigate these topics, or we can bypass them, mistakenly believing we are safeguarding them, and one day your children will shock you with knowledge you didn’t know they possessed: learned not from you, and not with the authority and protection of Scripture. So, love your children enough to do the hard and uncomfortable things and trust that God will honor your obedience. 

“Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.”  -Proverbs 22:6

Cory Wing serves at Shearer Presbyterian Church in Mooresville, North Carolina. He is married to Kristin and they have three children.