In this excellent article, Clint Archer uses the helpful and true story of the young boy who was raised in a bubble but ultimately died.
Similarly, a wrong view of our children can lead to destruction. Here is his key paragraph:
That sad story has a parallel in the spiritual world. Many parents treat the souls of their children as if they possessed an incurable immune deficiency. Anxious about infecting their young ones with worldly philosophy, they keep them in a sterile environment. Some parents never allow their children to play with other kids, or venture outside the home. All their education and entertainment comes directly from their parents. This certainly does preserve the children from worldly, unbiblical influences, and is highly appropriate in the very young years [emphasis added after some commenters missed my support of protecting little kids.] But at some point, if the child has any hope of surviving independently outside the home, he or she will need to have been educated about what is out there. In other words, temptation is not only conquered by avoidance, but also by pre-emptive education of how to identify the lure and consequences of the temptation, as in what the father does for his son in Prov 7.
This is exactly the point I make in my booklet, The Power of Apologetics. In it, I argue that Satan tempts our children with asking whether Christianity is true and good. As parents we have a duty to gradually walk our children preemptively through what they will face in the world. If we don’t inoculate them, then any “germ” will destroy them.
Great post. Read the whole thing.
