11 April, 2007

Parents Seek Therapy for "Brainwashed" Child

RUTHVILLE, MAINE

Charles and Linda Harris are feeling "duped" these days. Last summer they innocently let their eleven-year-old son Mark attend a vacation Bible school at a nearby church, Ruthville Christian Reformed Church. Though devout members of another congregation in town, they decided to let Mark attend for the week because some of his friends had invited him.

"Everything was going great at first." Said Charles. "The first day Mark brought home some drawings and other art projects he had done with the group. They were also memorizing the first few verses of Ephesians 1 for the week. I personally thought it was great. I'm always supportive of him learning more about spiritual matters."

But what began as a simple and innocent week at vacation Bible school soon turned into what the Harrises now call their "nightmare."

"We were having dinner Friday night after the week had ended." Said Linda. "It seemed like Mark had had a good time and made some new friends. So I asked Mark, 'Tell me what you learned this week, sweetie?' and he started telling me a bunch of different things they had learned, all of which seemed good. But then he said 'We also learned that God chose his elect from all eternity and predestined them to salvation.' Charles and I just stopped and looked at each other, and I said 'What did you say, love?' and he said 'We learned that God chooses us first, we don't choose him first.' I mean our jaws just hit the floor. We were speechless!"

As the meal progressed the Harrises soon discovered that during the week Mark had been taught about the doctrines of election and predestination, common to reformed theology.

"We called the church the first thing on Monday morning and really let them have it." Said Charles. "How dare they brainwash my child with all of that mess!"

The family is now faced with an even bigger problem regarding their son. Not only was Mark taught the doctrines, but he himself came to understand and believe them.

"I really don't see why my parents are so upset." Said Mark. "I mean, the Bible just says it right there on the page that God chose and elected and predestined. How could I not believe it?"

The Harrises tried for months to persuade their son to change his new views, but to no avail. The situation has recently become so frustrating for the family that they are now seeking therapy for Mark in order to "help" him with his "problem."

"Mark is now meeting weekly with a counselor on staff at our church." Said Charles. "They've only met twice, and so far Mark hasn't changed his mind, but we're going to give it some time and see what happens. We're just praying that soon we'll have our boy back the way he was before and that he'll soon give up this nonsense."

16 comments:

Eric said...

It is so frustrating when the Bible gets in the way of parents wanting what is "best" for their children!

Anonymous said...

We would probably be surprised as to just how real these circumstances could be.

Andrew Lindsey said...

Ephesians'll do that to people. That's why pastors need to always preach topically and be very selective about which Bible passages they use.

Anonymous said...

Since the Lord taught me the Doctrines of Grace from Scripture, I've shared them with my Armininian family members. They now believe that my "crazy" ideas are God's judgment on me for "harboring bitterness" (because I showed them what the Scriptures say about their sinful lifestyles). I think they may also be blaming it on my diabetes & menopause. HA! I'm sure my need for counseling has been brought up, as well.

irRational said...

Thank you so much for the warning, I'm going to cut Ephesians 1 out of my childrens' Bibles RIGHT NOW! I have also heard that Romans 9 and John 6 may also lead to this sort of rebellion in children. I hope my exacto knife is sharp enough to take care of all their Bibles!

Fred said...

Overnight CALVINIX to the parents before it's to late!!! Save the parents and the rest of the family!!! Fred

Anonymous said...

Or even better, you can ask the kid to explain how God can be limited (Psalm 78:41), how Jerusalem resisted Christ (Matthew 23:37), How Israel resisted God (Romans 10:21 and Isaiah 65:2), how the Jews were able to resist the Holy Spirit (Acts 7:51), why Jesus would rebuke cites for not repenting (Matthew 11:20-24), why God would invite all the ends of the earth to be saved (Isaiah 45:22), why God wants none to perish (2 Peter 3:9), why He wants all to be saved (I Timothy 2:3-4), why God claims to have mercy on all (Romans 11:32), why Christ was a ransom for all (I Timothy 2:6), or that salvation itself can be neglected (Hebrews 2:3)?


Seems to me that you would need to cut more out of your own Bible than you would need to cut out of the kids...

:-)

Shep Shepherd said...

Anonymous (the first one) - that's what makes it funny.



A parent's worst fear come true.





In Christ,
Albert Shepherd
The Aspiring Theologian.

Anonymous said...

As the story continues...

The Haris's church is now concerned about the counselor and the Harises are in a real fix. The staff counselor is not prohibited form seeing Mark and is now undergoing "deprogramming."

Unknown said...

Hey Anon,

Well, you see, part of the Harris' problem is that the church taught Mark how to properly exegete Scripture and understand it in light of the whole of special revelation. So those verses actually support Marks' understanding of Scripture too.

-Tom

Stefan Ewing said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Stefan Ewing said...

Calvinists, Arminians...can't we all just get along?

...Wait a minute! It's been tried. Methodists and most Presbyterians in Canada merged decades ago to form the United Church of Canada, which surely has the most watered-down approach to the gospel—and zero evangelical zeal—of any mainline denomination on earth. I guess it started out that way, in order to get both the Calvinists and Arminians on board. (Although many Presbyterian congregations held out and never joined the UCC.)

As for me, the Holy Spirit hasn't guided me to know where I stand on this one yet. The further my rebirth recedes into the past, however—and the more clearly I discern the hand of God at work in my life long before he saved me—the more five-point TULIP makes sense...but it's hard to completely give up on the idea of universal election and resistible grace.

Rev. said...

I suppose they'll be memorizing Romans 9 next year. What's a parent to do?!? ;)

pilgrim said...

As I tell my Arminian friends--they were rpesdetined to be Arminian.

Andrew Lindsey said...

FlameGurl:

You could just start taking your children to one of those churches where no-one brings their Bible, and they all read the verses off the Powerpoint, then you could start having them do personal Bible study using Powerpoints you've made, so you could carefully select the verses they view.

Anonymous said...

Make the family read John Owen's Death of Death in the Death of Christ. That'll learn 'em!

(It taught me the truth, anyway.)