Let the little children come to Jesus!

I was talking to a friend of mine, a Christian, who was recently blessed with a boy. We were discussing about the age to start teaching a child the precepts of God. Many of us think that we should wait till the child starts developing sense organs to teach Scriptures and other abstract things pertaining to mind. Aristotle says human mind is 'Tabula rasa' i.e. our mind is empty when we are born. We tend to observe things through our sense organs and learn from them. This view is the most common theory of mind in our secular science.

Humans are different from animals because we are the only creatures in this universe with rationality. Rationality presupposes prior knowledge based on propositions. Without propositions, our mind cannot use logic to analyse. Our process of thinking involves such analysis of propositions using logic. So if our mind is empty, we wont be able to think. If we cannot think, then we end up being an animal. So this Aristotelian theory of empty mind is false and illogical.

I have already explained in my previous post about the fallacies of senses. You can find it here.

So if our mind is not empty at birth, then what propositions do we have when we are born?

According to Scripture, man is dichotomous in nature, ie material and immaterial component.

Gen 2:7
7 then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.
(ESV)

Ecc 12:7
7 and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.
(ESV)

Mat 10:28
28 And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.
(ESV)

We also know from scripture that human beings are created at the time of conception (Psa 139:13). And all men are sinful from the womb (Psa 51:5). Reformed theology calls it as 'total depravity'. As Ecc 12:7 says, when we die, our body will be left behind in the earth whereas our spirit will be taken to heaven. Rev 6:9-10 and the parable of Lazarus and rich man also implies that though our body would be in the earth after death till glorification, our spirit will be in heaven worshiping the Lord without any usage of our sense organs.

Worshiping God involves thinking. In order to think, we need to logically analyse propositions. If we would be able to worship God without sense organs (since our physical body will be left behind in earth till glorification), then it means that we can worship God even without any requirement of senses.

So coming back to the discussion. When can we teach Scripture to our children? I believe we can start teaching them from the time of conception because as discussed earlier, sense organs are not required for thinking. And bible also says that men are totally depraved from birth. There are biblical examples like John who were filled by the Holy Spirit even at the time of conception (Luke 1:15). Other examples are Jeremiah and Samuel, who were serving the Lord at a very early age. So if God can anoint a person and make him born again even when he is at womb, it is our responsibility to teach Scripture and the gospel even when they are at womb. Jesus himself says that the work of Spirit in regeneration is like wind blowing (John 3:8). We won't see the wind, but we know when it blows. So why wait? Parents better start preaching to your children asap.