If the defining markers of what constitutes a healthy manhood, womanhood and marriage have changed drastically over the past 50 years, they certainly have done the same with regard to the nurture of children.  What was once seen as normal and healthy in child-rearing is now often popularly seen as restrictive or even punitive - corporal punishment, discipline in general, boundaries, or the impact of postmodern thought on children.  Postmodernism teaches that there is no such thing as objective Truth.  All truth is subjective or relative, a matter of one’s perspective.  Again, we are some years away from solid data that will tell us what the impact of postmodern thought is on children.
The phrase biblical nurture of children changes and addresses these issues in a pronounced way.  What follows is a partial list of what may come to mind when considering the biblical nurture of children:

• one’s views on premarital sex
• one’s views on abortion
• children born to unwed parents
• the use of corporal discipline (spanking)
• “time out” and other forms of discipline
• the power of unconditional love toward a child
• the power of regularly saying “I love you” to a child
• the difference in parenting roles - fatherhood and motherhood
• the long term impact of a child raised in a healthy marriage
• the long term impact of a child raised in an unhealthy marriage
• the role of literacy and education in the nurture of a child
• the role of a healthy church in the nurture of a child
• the role of spiritually healthy grandparents in the nurture of a child

These, along with other issues, come to mind when one considers biblical nurturing of children.

• Do a broad, scriptural search for what is involved with nurturing of children.

• Reflect on how biblical child-raising relates to the descriptive words above.

• Reflect on how secular culture might disagree with some of these descriptive words, or a biblical understanding of child-raising in general.

• Prepare to discuss what you believe to be a practical description of the components of biblical nurturance of children as it applies to today’s culture.

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