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Christian Education
better way of training their children than that which God has given in
his word. They foster wrong tendencies in them, urging as an excuse,
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“They are too young to be punished. Wait till they become older, and
can be reasoned with.” Thus wrong habits are left to strengthen until
they become second nature. The children grow up without restraint,
with traits of character that are a life-long curse to them, and are liable
to be reproduced in others.
There is no greater curse upon households than to allow the youth
to have their own way. When parents regard every wish of their
children, and indulge them in what they know is not for their good,
the children soon lose all respect for their parents, all regard for the
authority of God or man, and are led captive at the will of Satan. The
influence of an ill-regulated family is wide-spread, and disastrous
to all society. It accumulates in a tide of evil that affects families,
communities, and governments.
Because of Eli’s position, his influence was more extended than if
he had been an ordinary man. His family life was imitated throughout
Israel. The baleful results of his negligent, ease-loving ways were seen
in thousands of homes that were moulded by his example. If children
are indulged in evil practices, while the parents make a profession
of religion, the truth of God is brought into reproach. The best test
of the Christianity of a home is the type of character begotten by its
influence. Actions speak louder than the most positive profession of
godliness. If professors of religion, instead of putting forth earnest,
persistent, and painstaking effort to bring up a well-ordered household
as a witness to the benefits of faith in God, are lax in their government,
and indulgent to the evil desires of their children, they are doing as did
Eli, and are bringing disgrace on the cause of Christ, and ruin upon
themselves and their households. But great as are the evils of parental
unfaithfulness under any circumstances, they are ten-fold greater when
they exist in the families of those appointed as teachers of the people.
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When these fail to control their households, they are, by their wrong
example, misleading many. Their guilt is as much greater than that of
others as their position is more responsible.—
Patriarchs and Prophets,
578, 579
.
Religion in the Home.—The light esteem in which the law of
God is held, even by religious leaders, has been productive of great
evil. The teaching which has become so wide-spread that the divine