The manner in which we treat our young children like imbeciles when instructing them about God and his Word is not done in recognition of the intelligence that God created them with, not guiding them to make informed choices to follow God and know Him.
Teaching about God ought to be a facilitative process – one in which people are led to God to find out and learn for themselves. This is because the Christian faith is not simply about facts about God but about knowing God. The teacher ought to facilitate this process and not simply drive into people’s heads what God is about. This would amount to brainwashing. This cannot come by driving into minds what God is supposed to be about. If one is to know God then they have to go to Him and not simply know what He is about. Therefore, the ideal way to teach God is to present the case, informing people with reason, the Word and the hope of the conviction of the Spirit. Based on this, they should make an informed choice to find out and know God, should they choose to, and start walking with Him. We have, unfortunately, adopted the former method with children. Not in all cases is this intended. In some cases, it is passed down and simply followed. In some, it is done in hope that it leads to them to starting to know God sometime down the line or at least keeps them on to the right path. This manner of teaching is abusive and does not do justice to the intelligence that God made Man in and also propagates a belief that is not based on knowing God primarily.
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