Read the Bible to your children, not other people’s interpretations of the Bible

Between my undergrad degree in Literature, homeschooling my kids, and my masters, I know how to cite sources!

One mistake of not properly citing sources could automatically fail a paper. I mean, I get it… people work hard to get their work published so they should be credited! But still! It was so nerve wracking, I would practically cite every sentence just to be sure!

This type of plagiarism paranoia should be present when it comes to our own reading of the Bible and it is paramount that we teach this to our children.

When I was a children’s pastor, I would stress to the kids over and over again the importance of reading the Bible for themselves.

If you do not read it for yourself, what exactly are you basing your faith on? Someone else’s understanding of it? How do you know what they say is true? What is the context?

For our children and even for ourselves, if we do not read the Bible for ourselves, “we [will] be tossed and blown about by every wind of new teaching. We [will be] influenced when people try to trick us with lies so clever they sound like the truth” (Eph. 4:14).

In Ephesians 6:13-17, when Paul describes the armor of God, the belt of truth and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, cannot be worn if one does not know their Bible.

To know God is to read His Word and see for yourself what He says.