Cosleeping?!*

I think cosleeping is a lovely idea. But. I don't feel guilty about not cosleeping with my Baby. Nope. Not at all. I'm writing this for anyone who does feel guilty because they don't or (perhaps more often) didn't cosleep.

Last night Baby slept in my bed. No. She didn't sleep in my bed. She played with my hair. She kicked me. She talked to herself. She certainly did not sleep. I thought it would be a good idea to have her in bed with me because she kept waking up and I thought she wasn't quite well. It wasn't.

Some might argue that it didn't work because she isn't used to sleeping with me. To which I say "pfffft, whatEVer." When she was (really) a baby I used to try to comfort her to sleep when she started to show tired signs. It actually didn't work. She would not go to sleep with me holding or patting her. She needed to be left alone. I speak the truth! (All our children, by the way, have slept with us for the first few days or weeks after birth.)

There are many lovely ideas out there. They don't all work. For me. What will always work for me (and for everyone) are the principles of Right and Wrong. Cosleeping isn't Right or Wrong. It's nice. If you get to sleep.

*This post is not meant to "knock" cosleeping. It's just a light-hearted reflection on a sleepless night. :)

Why Are They Leaving (and does it matter)?

I recently watched an online "movie" called Divided about youth ministry in christian churches. It has ignited some passionate debate - to the point that I would like to respond both to the claims made in Divided (you can find it here) and to the resulting discussion about what makes people of all ages leave their former faith.

One of the statements throughout the movie was that youth group/sunday school is not supported in scriptures. Ephesians 6 is quoted where it says fathers should "bring up their children in the fear and admonition of the Lord". Christ explicitly told His disciples not to add to or take away from the scriptures. To use Ephesians 6 as an argument against youth groups is adding to what the scripture says (something Jesus warned against). It doesn't say "fathers teach your children and whatever you do, make sure no one else teaches them without you present at all times."

Proverbs 11:14 says that "in a multitude of counselors there is safety". Shouldn't we encourage our young people to be willing to listen to a multitude of counselors then? In Acts 17 verses 10-12 the Bereans were noted as searching the scriptures daily to "find out whether these things were so". Is it not a valuable (Biblical) principle to encourage our young people to search the scriptures to find out whether what we (their parents) teach them is true? Youth ministries may be one avenue to do this. What's more, in Titus 2 verses 3-5 the older women were instructed to teach the younger women. In verse 6 of the same chapter, Titus was told to "exhort the young men". Here is possibly a biblical model for separate groups. In Galatians it also instructs those who are spiritual to point straying brothers and sisters back to the right path... without saying "but, by the way, don't do it if they are under 18 and their parents are in the church, because then it's their parents' job".

So no, the bible does not give a command against teaching separate groups, and you might even argue that it advocates it. As someone already commented, this is a case of Christian liberty.

As for young people leaving the church, my experience was growing up in a church with a large group of first generation Christians my parents' age. When I was young and the church was immature, there was a widespread culture (unspoken) that parents were perfect. They did not admit to mistakes and there was sadly too much value placed on image. The long-term result is that (after a major split) there are many of my parents' generation left, but very few of my generation. You see, we grew up and discovered that being an adult didn't make us perfect. In time, disillusionment and disenchantment set in for many.

While our actions will never earn us salvation, they are an expression of our salvation - if (as someone on the Divided movie said in other words) we truly appreciate Christ's sacrifice and what it means for us, our lives will be ones of change (as "faith without works is dead" - James 2:14-26). When addressing the seven churches in Revelation 2 and 3, John kept saying "to him who overcomes". The book of James tells us to "lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness". Jesus told us that if we love Him we are to keep His commandments and since Jesus was that same I AM as spoke to the Israelites in the wilderness (He told the Pharisees, "before Abraham, I AM"), that means the commandments of the Old Testament as well as the New. This is the narrow and difficult path that leads to Eternal life that Jesus was speaking about.

If we teach our kids that Christianity is about being instead of becoming - that it is a place, not a pathway - then we are selling them short. The proof of a changed heart is a changed life - whether they stay in "the church" or leave, if their lives don't become a living sacrifice, then they are Christians in word only. Having a bunch of warm seats at the end of a church service is not a demonstration of "success" in preaching the gospel. In fact, Jesus predicted that the world for the most part would reject the truth... but that is not the end of God's plan as so many believe!

There is another major problem with mainstream Christianity, that is nothing to do with numbers of people entering or leaving. (If you do not want to be challenged, if you don't want to reconsider what the Bible actually says, please don't read on, because you will only be angered by what I have to say.)

The doctrines of heaven and hell are unbiblical. The Bible says that Jesus was "firstborn from the dead" (obviously others had been resurrected to physical life before, but He was the first resurrected to a Spirit body). That means no one before Jesus "went to heaven" - not Moses, not Abraham, not King David. Moreover, it is "at the last trumpet in the twinkling of an eye" that the dead in Christ will rise. As for hell, the "wages of sin is death" (not burning in eternal torment, or any other form of living unhappily for eternity). "Hell" usually means the grave. "The gift of God is Eternal life" ... not something we already have, and certainly not His gift to the incorrigible wicked.

On top of that, the book of Revelation speaks of a time when "the rest of the dead" will rise - those who have not had an opportunity to truly know God in this life. Ezekiel prophesied about a physical resurrection of the people of Israel (Ezekiel 37). Isaiah is full of prophecies of a time when all nations will learn about God, but first our great Adversary will be imprisoned, no longer able to influence mankind, as explained in Revelation 12.

If you take the Bible as a whole and read it carefully, you will find that God's plan is far more comprehensive than the popular doctrines of mainstream Christianity. God has not neglected or forgotten the many - living and dead - who never had the opportunity to truly understand (or in many cases, even hear) the gospel. God has not left the salvation of billions of disadvantaged men, women and children in the hands of His followers. While He has given us a commission to preach that gospel throughout the world, He hasn't so thoroughly failed humanity that the majority still miss out on hearing and believing the truth.

I have merely skimmed the surface of this topic, but if you would like to read more about it, there are a number of free booklets that cover heaven, hell, life after death and God's plan in much more depth.