This post is a direct result of the amazing Mama Bears at Mama Bear Apologetics and their book by the same name. They are moms, apologists, and authors who dedicate their time and talents to defending Christianity. I read their book and blogs, listen to their podcasts, and follow them on social media to learn how to better equip my special needs son and the kids in my ESE ministry at church with the tools to defend their faith. I simply take the material already presented by the Mama Bears and put it in terms that hopefully anyone can understand, and then include activities and visuals to aid the average…and not-so-average student. All credit goes to the Mama Bears! A link to their book and other great apologetics resources for people of all ages and abilities can be found here.

Emotions are good and even healthy. God uses them to touch us and to teach us. They should not be ignored. They can help you empathize with others. That means that you can understand someone's feelings and even share those same feelings with them. For example, if your friend's grandma just died and they are sad, and your grandma died two years ago and you can remember how sad it made you feel, you can be a good friend and comfort your friend because you know just how they are feeling.
 
While emotions should not be ignored, they should not be worshiped either. They were never meant to lead us. Feeling sad or angry should not be all you think about or make you make unhealthy or unwise choices in things you say, your actions, or ways you treat others. 
 
"Emotions are like toddlers. They are fun, but you'd never put one in charge."
 
We need to train our emotions. Untrained emotions are like untrained dogs that run around and pee on everything or attack people who did nothing to them, unprovoked. Well-trained dogs can lead a visually-impaired person safely across a busy street, alert people to danger, and protect someone from an imminent threat. Likewise, untrained emotions can run rampant, destroying relationships, causing arguments, and hurting others emotionally and even physically. Trained emotions can diffuse stressful and even volatile situations, build on foundations for healthy relationships, and point others to their need for a Savior…instead of psychotherapy.
 
Emotions are a tool and can be used to discover the truth about something if they line up with Scripture, reason, and reality.
 
How we respond to our emotions are like the choices we have when responding to warning lights on a car. You can ignore the light and even put duct tape over it so you don't see it anymore. That is denying there is anything wrong with your car. You can become angry that a warning light came on and punch the light. That is lashing out at the reality that something is wrong with your car. Finally, you can take your car to a mechanic to find out the truth about why the light is on, what is wrong with your car. This takes time, you have to rely on an expert...the mechanic, and it will cost you money.
 
Now apply these three steps to how you respond to your emotions. You can ignore how you are feeling, which may also mean ignoring a reality associated with the feeling, a reality that really needs to be addressed. For example, if you smell smoke and it initially causes you fear, but then you ignore the feeling and the smoke, you may be putting yourself in danger of a fire burning close by. Secondly, you can overreact to your emotions and explode into tears or an angry tantrum every time you experience emotions. This will definitely hurt your relationships with other people who will not want to be around you anymore or talk to you because they will be afraid of your reaction. Thirdly, you can take your emotions to God and line them up with Scripture, reason, and reality. This will maker you wiser in your future reactions to situations and emotions and strengthen your relationships with other people.
 
There are two components to our emotions:
 

1. Passions - This is the chemical reactions to our emotions like anger and fear that we cannot control. Examples of chemicals released in response to our emotions are serotonin for happy and calm emotions, endorphins for when we are excited, oxytocin for when we feel love, adrenalin and epinephrine for when we feel scared, and dopamine for when we feel angry.
2. Non-Physical Components - These can change quickly and are controllable. 

 
Here is an example of how the physical and nonphysical components of our emotions work together: Your dad promised a fishing trip for the two of you on Saturday while mom is at a church retreat. Saturday morning you wake up early and ready to go. You get dressed, come downstairs for breakfast, and find that dad is nowhere to be found. You try calling him on his cell phone, but it goes straight to voice mail. You pack the fishing gear, eat a bowl of cereal, and sit down to wait. An hour goes by. You are feeling angry. This was supposed to be your day with dad. Where is he? Why would he go anywhere knowing you guys had plans? You think he is probably just running errands, which makes you even angrier that he picked today of all days to do that. Suddenly you hear a key in the door and in walk your grandparents. They tell you that dad went to the bait store before you woke up to get worms for your trip and, while he was there, he suffered a heart attack. He is at the hospital and your grandparents are there to pick you up to go and see him. Your anger disappears immediately. Why? That anger was based on the assumption that your dad was running errands on your big fishing trip day. Now this new information of his heart attack has changed your emotions. Now you are worried and scared and even sad. You were angry because of what you thought was true, but now your emotions have changed based on the facts, reality.
 
See how using our emotions to determine truth is dangerous and not good? Our emotions have to be conformed to the truth to tell us anything helpful.
 
Lies:
 

1. If I feel it, it's true. The stronger a person feels about something, the more truth they assign to that feeling. The stronger the feeling, the truer the truth. How do you get everyone else to accept your truth? You get others to feel as strongly as you do. It's why there are more testimonials on websites than fact-based research. A powerful personal story can convince people of truth more efficiently than pages of factual research. Similarly, the power of a story can convince people of truth much more effectively than pages of Scripture. Think about it, Biblical testimonies revolved around Christ, His life, death, and resurrection...what He did! In Acts 26:1-29, Paul shared his testimony with King Agrippa and a small audience. Note that Paul never once used the words "I feel" in his testimony. It was all about what God did for him, about Jesus and His life, teachings, and sacrifice for him, as well as everyone else. Modern-day testimonies are all about how our emotional lives have changed since our conversion. It's all about us! "I feel happy and at peace now that I have Jesus. I don't get angry as quickly as I used to. Since I became a believer, I have not felt as lonely or unloved."
2. I cannot choose or control my emotions. Even if I can control them, I shouldn't because then I am being fake, inauthentic. I am putting on an act instead of just allowing myself to feel the way I am feeling.
3. Negative emotions are harmful to our health.

 
If lies #2 and #3 are true (we cannot choose or control or emotions and negative emotions are harmful), then reality has to be changed to protect what we are feeling. For example, we don't want anyone in the science fair to feel sad or angry or like they are not smart enough because they didn't win the fair. That may make them feel so bad about themselves that they consider hurting themselves or they look at themselves like losers for the rest of their lives. Therefore, everyone in the science fair is a winner. Everyone gets a ribbon.
 
We need to teach our kids that there are winners and losers, but whether or not they win first place in a science fair, does not determine their worth in the God who created them in His image (Gen. 1:27). We need to encourage them to be good sports and how to congratulate others who win and to never give up doing their very best and work at whatever they are working at as though they are working for the Lord and not for men (Col. 3:23-24).
 
Another example is that, for whatever reason, someone feels worthless. They can't control the way they feel, that's true. So to help them not feel worthless, we change everything around them to make them feel valuable, to build up their self-esteem. We exaggerate their achievements, tell them how wonderful and important and awesome they are, maybe even put others around them down or compare them to others we know they are "better" than. Their self-esteem rises, but their self-control takes a nosedive. They grow to not able to handle rejection, loss, or negative emotions. In 2016, colleges across the country shut down, canceled exams, and passed out puppies and Play-Doh to help students deal with the presidential election results. These adults had clearly not been taught how to deal with negative emotions as children.
 
Instead, we need to point them to Genesis 1:27 as proof of their worth as a creation in God's own image.
 
The problem with trying to change reality to fit others' emotions is that we cannot possibly get rid of everything that causes negative emotions. It's impossible because different people are offended by different things. The number of offenses are limitless!
 
Emotions have to match reality, bottom line. Reality can't be made to match emotions. If someone feels scared, they assume they are in danger. Instead, they should perceive real danger and then, as a result, feel scared. DNA or body parts should determine our child's gender. What a child "feels like" should not determine their gender. See how dangerous trying to make reality match emotions can be? 
 
Dangers of Emotionalism:
 

• Roger Ebert said, "Your intellect may be confused, but your emotions will never lie to you." Wrong! Emotions lie!
  • A depressed person feels unloved.
  • An anorexic person feels fat.
  • A bully feels superior.
  • An anxious person feels scared.

None of these are truth!
 
Recognizing the Emotionalism:
 

• "Follow your heart." Basically, follow your desires...what your heart wants to do or say.
• ALL CAPS IN A SOCIAL MEDIA POST!
• Protestors with an angry mob mentality or whose message is not clear by how they are protesting. It is all to invoke emotion.
  • In 2008, the cost of gas per liter in euros was roughly $9 (U.S.) per gallon. Protestors in Spain and France protested the inflated price by riding bicycles through the streets totally naked. Make sense? No!
• Political Correctness - We also see it in the recent trend to use politically correct vocabulary so as not to arouse negative feelings in others. Humanity is used instead of mankind to keep women from being offended. Poor people are economically marginalised. A housewife is a domestic engineer. An obese person is a metabolic overachiever. And the list goes on!
• "I'm offended!" No two people think or feel alike. Ideas will conflict and collide and cause bad feelings, even when things are said with the purest of motives and best of intentions. Reality is that your emotions are not someone else's responsibility. Our actions can and likely will at some point cause negative feelings in others, but you cannot make everyone happy all the time. If you have ever had to cook for a big family or pick the dates for a neighborhood block party, you know what I am talking about.

Now grab four index cards. Think of a scenario. For example, you were not invited to a friend's birthday party. You were in the same class together in third grade and now are in different classes and in the fifth grade. You used to ride bikes together and even spent the night at his/her house once or twice, but that was a long time ago and you don't really hang out anymore. Still, you know other people going to the birthday party and your feelings are hurt that you were not invited. You are feeling like no one likes you, worthless. Cue the music. "Nobody likes me. Everybody hates me. Guess I'll go eat worms." Now on three of the index cards, write feelings you might feel as a result of not being invited to the party and an action you could take because of those feelings. For example, one card could be the feeling sad and worthless and, as a result, you are going to sit in your room and cry all day the day of the birthday party. Another card could be angry and you are never going to talk to your friend whose birthday it is again. The third card might read indifferent (you don't care even though you really do) and you are going to tell your other friends going to the party that you have somewhere more fun to be than the stupid party so who cares anyway. Make sure somewhere on these three cards are the words south, east, or west (one direction per card).
 
Now grab the fourth index card and label it north. Find a Scripture that proves one of the other cards is not based on truth. For example, Luke 12:6-7 would be a good truth to cover the lie that no one likes you and you are worthless and should sit in your room and cry all day. Also write on the card the action befitting that Scripture. It could be that you are going to make a birthday card for your friend and mail it or give it to one of your other friends going to the birthday party to deliver for you. Lay the index cards around the bowl with your compass floating in it, making sure where they are corresponds to the directions written on them (north, south, east, and west).
 
Put your Bible at the north spot with the north index card. Read the scenario again to your kids. Have them spin their compass in the water and let it stop where it wants to. It may end pointing to the north card, but if you do this experiment several times, it will surely land pointing to the others a few times as well. Talk to your kids about how this is how we will be controlled by our emotions and act based on them (conforming to the world) if we have not done what Romans 12:2 tells us to do in transforming our minds to follow God's truths instead.
 
Now comes the fun part. Take your compass out of the water. Use a magnet to magnetize it by rubbing the magnet all over the needle for about thirty seconds. You can use a magnet wand like the kind B-I-N-G-O players use to remove their chips from their boards or a magnet from your fridge. Just make sure it is not one of those flimsy advertisement magnets as they will not magnetize your compass well. Place your compass back in the water and repeat the above activity, spinning the compass a few times to see which direction it points to. It should always be north now that it is magnetized! Brainstorm other scenarios and corresponding directional cards with your kids to walk them through a few different situations. Talk to your kids about how we have to make sure our emotional compasses are pointing in the right direction by magnetizing them first with God's truth. How? Knowing what His Word says, Scripture memory, being in the Word everyday.

• Host of the Truth for Life Christian radio ministry and senior pastor of Cleveland's Parkside Church, Alistair Begg said, "The great need is for us to be taught theologically, not just stirred emotionally." Look at Philippians 4:8 and discuss how it can be used as a checklist of attributes to what we should be thinking about, which always leads to what we will be feeling. Teach your kids to take a thought and see if it is noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, and praiseworthy. If it is not, it is not a thought they should be dwelling on. You may need to define these words for younger kids before doing this. For example, if your child tells you they don't like their freckles and they think that they are ugly, which in turn makes them feel worthless and sad, walk them through the attributes to show them that thought does not line up with God's Word.
  • Noble - worthy of honor or respect
  • Right - true
  • Pure - wholesome
  • Lovely - beautiful
  • Admirable - deserving of respect or approval
  • Excellent - extremely good
  • Praiseworthy - deserving approval or admiration
• Know the Facts - Start by defining fact and fiction. Fact is a thing that is known or proved to be true. Fiction is a belief or statement that is false, made up, not proven as true.
  • Here are a few activities that help kids discern fact from opinion (or fiction).
    • Fact or Fiction Activities from The Barefoot Teacher
    • Fact vs. Opinion
  • Make up a few of your own scenarios and corresponding facts and opinions. Better yet, use real-life circumstances as opportunities to weed out the fiction from the facts. For example, your daughter may see a picture of a skinny model on the cover of a magazine in the checkout line at the grocery store. She responds by saying that she (your daughter) is fat. In reality, according to the CDC body mass index guidelines, she is exactly the weight she should be for her age and height. Fact versus fiction. Obviously, you want to make sure you are using reputable forms of research, such as a medical site and not what the latest edition of Teen Magazine has to say about body image. Also, remind your daughter of the ultimate truth found in Genesis 1:27, that she is created in God's image.
• Play board or family sports games and teach good sportsmanship. Cheer each other on, consoling someone when they don't win while encouraging them that they played a great game, have another chance to win the next time, and that having fun and making memories together is more important than winning and losing. Use Scriptures to promote good sportsmanship (https://www.faithgateway.com/what-does-the-bible-say-about-sportsmanship/#.XuZaEWkpB-E):
  • Play by the rules, learn about your game/sport, do your best. Col. 3:23-24 - Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. (NIV)
  • Be a humble winner and do not gloat about your victory of another's loss. Phil. 2:3 - Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves. (NIV)
  • Be a team player. 1 Cor. 12:27 - Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. (NIV), Eccl. 4:9-10 - Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up. (NIV)
  • Encourage your teammates and even your opponents. Eph. 4:29 - Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. (NIV), 1 Thess. 5:11 - Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing. (NIV)
  • Listen to and follow the directions of your coach. Heb. 13:17 - Have confidence in your leaders and submit to their authority, because they keep watch over you as those who must give an account. Do this so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no benefit to you. (NIV)
  • Respect the officials. 1 Peter 5:5 - In the same way, you who are younger, submit yourselves to your elders. All of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.” (NIV)
  • Don't lose your cool, even if other players lose theirs. 2 Tim. 1:7 - For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline. (NIV)
• Play "Follow Your Heart." Look for opportunities to give examples of following your heart and encourage your kids to do the same. For example, you are at a red light and running late. Say, "If I followed my heart right now, I would run this light and cut off all of the other cars to go ahead of them. What would happen if I followed my heart?" Discuss the consequences to you and everyone else of following your heart in that situation. Be creative! "I want to follow my heart and not wear any clothes to the grocery store today!" Jonathan Martensson said, "Feelings are much like waves. We can't stop them from coming, but we can choose which one to surf." Talk about what this quote means. Acknowledge that getting emotions under control is different for everyone. While everyone can control their emotions, the way they do it and the time they need to do it is different for everyone. There is no right or wrong way, as long as they do get their emotions under control.
• Make emotions flashcards or an emotions matching game to play with younger kids to teach them the different emotions. Talk about how God created us perfectly to feel all of these emotions and how Jesus felt each of them when He was on earth too. Talk about how one emotion is not more important than another and how it's not just emotions that make us feel good like joy and excited and surprised that we should let ourselves feel and be OK with, but anger and sadness and fear have their place as well. Watch Disney's Pixar movie Inside Out and discuss how the movie's main character Joy learned the value of sadness. Here are some emotions Jesus expressed. Look for more!:
  • Joy at Pleasing His Father - Hebrews 12:2 - fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before Him He endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. (NIV)
  • Anger at the Pharisees for Being Hypocrites - Matthew 23:33 - “You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell? (NIV)
  • Anger/Disgust at Injustice - John 2:13-17 - When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem. In the temple courts He found people selling cattle, sheep and doves, and others sitting at tables exchanging money. So He made a whip out of cords, and drove all from the temple courts, both sheep and cattle; He scattered the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. To those who sold doves He said, “Get these out of here! Stop turning my Father’s house into a market!” His disciples remembered that it is written: “Zeal for your house will consume Me.” (NIV) 
  • Sadness - John 11:33-35 - When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, He was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. “Where have you laid him?” He asked. “Come and see, Lord,” they replied. Jesus wept. (NIV)
  • Frustration at the Disciples' Lack of Faith - Matthew 17:14-20 - When they came to the crowd, a man approached Jesus and knelt before him. “Lord, have mercy on my son,” he said. “He has seizures and is suffering greatly. He often falls into the fire or into the water. I brought him to your disciples, but they could not heal him.” "You unbelieving and perverse generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me.” Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of the boy, and he was healed at that moment. Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?” He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” (NIV)
• Teach your kids about the tools in their emotional toolbox and how, if they align with Scripture, reason, and reality, they can be used to discover truth and are powerful reinforcers. Emotions can be trained. For example, you hear a sermon that convicts you about a sin you know you have not stoped doing. That conviction leads to repentance and a change in your heart and behavior. For another example, your kids hear about an earthquake in a third world country where hundreds of thousands of survivors are now homeless, hurt, and have no access to fresh water and food. They have seen images of the disaster on the news. They are sad and wish there was something they could do to help the survivors. It is reasonable that they are sad for those people. Who wouldn't be? The reality is that many of these people will die from starvation and exposure if they do not receive help. Scripture tells us in Hebrews 13:16 that we should not neglect to do good and to share what we have because that pleases God. As a result, your kids discover the truth that they can use the sadness they are feeling to make a difference, to be used by God to do good. They brainstorm fundraisers and other creative ways they can earn money to give to a relief organization to help the survivors. Some kids may be worried and scared after seeing the images that an earthquake will happen in their neighborhood and harm them or their loved ones. The reality is that there has never been and earthquake in your state's history and statistically speaking, one is very unlikely. Therefore, it is unreasonable to think there will be an earthquake where they live. Scripture tells us in Isaiah 41:10 that we need not be scared because God is with us. He will give us strength, help us, and hold us up. Psalm 46:1 tells us that God is our refuge and strength and always there to help us in times of trouble. There are so many Scriptures that could apply! As a result, your kids can discover that they have no reason to be scared or worried because God is always with them and will give them strength when trouble comes.
• Teach your kids about the different ways they can respond to their emotions and the consequences of each (warning lights on a car visual). Use something they may relate to easier than the car example, like a video game console not working properly or cell phone glitching. For example, your iPhone is not sending your text messages and every time you try to play your favorite game on your phone, the game closes after a few minutes and you have to restart your phone to get back into the game. You have three choices:
  • You can ignore the problem, stop texting people, and just keep restarting your phone to get back into your game. The consequences are clear. People will never get your text messages and may wonder if you are mad at or upset with them because they don't hear back from you or you may miss an important message. It will also take you a long time to get to the next level of your favorite game.
  • You can be angry that your phone is glitching and throw it against a wall and smash it until it doesn't work at all anymore. Now you can't play your game anymore at all, you will have to buy a new phone, and until you do, you won't be able to call of text your friends. A new iPhone will be costly too.
  • You can take your phone to the Genius Bar at the Apple store and let them figure out what is wrong with it and fix it. It may cost you money to get it fixed and take you some time, but the expert at the Genius Bar will know what is wrong with it and have a solution to fix it.

Now talk to your kids about applying these three steps to how they respond to their emotions. You can ignore how you are feeling, which may also mean ignoring a reality associated with the feeling, a reality that really needs to be addressed. For example, if you smell smoke and it initially causes you fear, but then you ignore the feeling and the smoke, you may be putting yourself in danger of a fire burning close by. Secondly, you can overreact to your emotions and explode into tears or an angry tantrum every time you experience emotions. This will definitely hurt your relationships with other people who will not want to be around you anymore or talk to you because they will be afraid of your reaction. Thirdly, you can take your emotions to God and line them up with Scripture, reason, and reality. This will maker you wiser in your future reactions to situations and emotions and strengthen your relationships with other people.

• Teach your kids that their emotions and thoughts interact. Our emotions flow from our thoughts and beliefs. They have to examine their thoughts and their emotions, like looking at a specimen under a microscope. Teach them to ask themselves these questions:
  • What kind of a thought or feeling is it?
  • Does the thought or feeling line up with what God teaches in His Word?
  • Does the thought or feeling line up with reality or my own perception (the way I see things, not the way God sees things)?
• Teach your kids what to means to transform their minds, as Romans 12:1-2 says we are to do. Have them close their eyes and tell them to think about something, say a fresh bowl of popped popcorn. Tell them to picture it, hot with butter flavoring sprinkled on top and piled high in the bowl. They can probably almost smell it! Now tell them to think about something else, like a hot fudge sundae. It is three scoops of vanilla ice cream in a big glass dish. It has mounds of hot fudge over the top and running down the sides, forming little pools of chocolate around the scoops of ice cream. There is a fluffy white pyramid of whipped cream on top and a bright red juicy cherry. Ask your kids if they were able to switch the image in their minds from the popcorn to the hot fudge sundae. That is being transformed by the renewing of our minds! When we experience a passion we can't control (fear or anger), we can still choose to control our actions.
• Ask your kids often, "How did that make you feel?"
• Teach your kids how to use the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator Z Model for Decision-Making
  1. Look at the facts.
  2. Use the facts to form a big picture of the issue.
  3. Identify possible courses of action and their outcomes.
  4. Evaluate how each outcome will affect everyone else, not just yourself.

From there, choose the best course of action and then re-evaluate the emotion. After having gone through each of the above steps, a new perspective has likely formed. Think back to the compass example and not being invited to the birthday party. Come up with more examples of possible scenarios or, better yet, apply real life ones as they come up to this decision-making model. The more decisions you make this way, the easier it will become and the less likely you will be to make rash decisions based purely on your emotions, which results in hurt relationships and other negative consequences for everyone involved. 

This post is a direct result of the amazing Natasha Crain and her blog posts at Christianmomthoughts.com. She is an apologist and author who dedicates her time and talents to defending Christianity. I merely read her posts and put them in terms that hopefully anyone could understand and then included activities and visuals to aid the average student in their study of the existence of God. This is the third post of 3 on the proof of God's existence. It is the design argument.

Think of the last time you went to an art museum. All of those paintings and sculptures didn't just show up there one day. They had designers, artists who made them. They used clay and paints or pencils and canvases. 
 
Well just like those pieces of art in the museum, all of the things we see in nature didn't just show up one day on earth either. Think of the whales and giraffes, the clouds and bugs, the trees and flowers, grass and mountains, desserts and oceans, the sun and the stars. All of those things are too wonderful to not have a Master Creator, an Artist so talented with all of the colors and textures and sounds. He had to be a smart designer too when you think about how He made the trees to hold bird nests and the tadpoles that start out able to breathe underwater, but then grow lungs so they can breathe air when they turn into frogs. The only One smart enough and great enough to make all of those things just the way they are is God!
 
Let's look at a butterfly. Could it just be a cool bug that hides for a few weeks before turning into an insect that flies? Think about it. 
 
A caterpillar hatches from an egg that a butterfly laid, usually on the leaf of a plant. That caterpillar spends the next few weeks eating as many leaves as it can, getting fatter and fatter, shedding its skin as it grows. Some day, the caterpillar stops eating and hangs itself upside down from something and spins itself a cocoon or molts (sheds its old body) and turns into a shiny chrysalis. 
 
Inside the cocoon or chrysalis, the caterpillar digests or eats itself, turning into a kind of caterpillar soup! Groups of cells inside the "soup" split up into thousands of more cells that then come together to form the butterfly eyes, antennae, wings, legs, and other body parts. 
 
After all of the butterfly parts are formed, the cocoon or chrysalis hatches and out comes a butterfly, a completely different critter than what went into the cocoon! The butterfly flies from flower to flower looking for nectar to drink and picking up pollen on its wings and legs to take to other flowers to help them grow more flowers.
 
Do you really think all of that just happened without a Maker to make it happen? Impossible! 
 
If you think a butterfly is magnificent, just think of you. Where did you come from? Your parents, yes. But where did they come from? Your grandparents, yes. But now keep going back to the very first person ever. Where did he come a from? Did he just appear one day or hatch out of an egg or grow on a tree? Someone very creative had to design him. Think about it.
 
Our bodies are made up of cells that have DNA in them. DNA is like books of information inside of you that tell what color your hair and eyes will be, how big your feet will grow, how tall you will get, what color your skin will be, and more.
 
A single cell's DNA has about 4,000 books of information about a person. Each of those books has about 500 pages in it. That's 2,000,000 pages of information about you in just one cell! Amazing! Now do you really think all of that could just appear, hatch from an egg, or grow on a tree? No way! Our bodies are too complicated to come from anything so simple or just appear out of nowhere. They had to have a really smart and powerful Master Designer behind them! That Master Designer is God!

• Using the Scripture memory activities here, begin committing Psalm 66:5 to memory. Remember, God's Word is the sword of the Spirit (Eph. 6:17), God-breathed, and useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16).
• ​Grab some modeling clay or paint and a canvas, whatever your child's favorite medium is for art and encourage them to get creative. Talk about how they are the artists and designers of their creations, just like God is the Master Artist and Designer of His creation. Brainstorm all of the things God created. Make a list and see how high of a number you can get to. Now is a good time to point out things made by God versus things made by man, such as houses and cars and jewelry. But there is always a way to take them back to God as the Originator! God made the precious metals and gemstones that jewelry is made from and He made the person and gifted them with the ability to take those metals and stones and turn them into jewelry. Everything points to God as Designer! Even their art projects they just made are made from created hands and minds! Put on an art show for the rest of the family showcasing your child's artwork and let them share their inspiration for each piece.
• Go to a nearby pond or lake and scoop up some tadpoles near the edge to watch grow into frogs. Keep them in a shallow dish of water that the kids can see through (like a glass 9"x13" baking dish). Be sure to put a rock or two that protrudes out of the water into the dish so that, as the tadpoles grow their lungs, they will have a place to go to breathe and not drown. Boil a piece of lettuce each day, let it cool, and put it in the dish for the tadpoles to eat as they grow. Add water to the dish as it evaporates. You may want to do this experiment on a porch because, when the tadpoles turn into frogs, they will be able to jump out of the dish! Once they are baby frogs, take them and release them back near the pond or lake you first got them from. Encourage your kids to take pictures of each stage of their frogs' lives to make their own flip book or scrapbook later.
• Here are some frog life cycle crafts and activities to consider:
  • Frog Spinner
  • Fold Book
  • Frog Unit
  • Paper Plate Craft
  • Life Cycle Snack
  • 3-D Model
  • Preschool Activities
  • Play-Doh Activity
  • Memory Cards
  • Miscellaneous Activities
  • Frog Life Cycle Video
• ​​For a visual of what 2,000,000 pages of information in one cell of our DNA looks like, try these million activities. Remember, times them by two!
  • Picture of Million Dots on One Page
  • How Much Is a Million? Book
  • How Much Is a Million? YouTube 
  • A Million Dots Book
  • Painting Made Up of 1.2 Million Dots
  • 2,000,000-Dot Incredible Hulk Drawing Video
• ​Similar to the frogs, you can watch a caterpillar transform into a beautiful butterfly. For instructions and a kit, visit Insect Lore.
• Here are some other butterfly crafts and activities for you to try at home:
  • 3-D Model
  • Miscellaneous Activities
  • Balloon Science Activity
  • Butterfly Templates to Print
  • Human Chrysalis
  • Butterfly Symmetry
  • Tactile Life Cycle
  • Life Cycle Game
  • Life Cycle Sensory Bin
  • Life Cycle Videos
  • Twigs Craft
  • Butterfly Books
  • Life Cycle Sensory Bottles
  • Life Cycle Snack
  • Craft Tree
  • Paper Plate Life Cycle
  • Poem Craft & Reader

As I have stated in previous posts, this list is not exhaustive. One visit to Pinterest will tell you that! I simply picked a variety of activities that appealed to each type of learner...auditory, visual, and kinesthetic. Feel free to find others or even adapt these to best meet the learning styles and needs of your kids. The point is to teach them that God exists as proven by His awesome design in creation!

This post is a direct result of the amazing Natasha Crain and her blog posts at Christianmomthoughts.com. She is an apologist and author who dedicates her time and talents to defending Christianity. I merely read her posts and put them in terms that hopefully anyone could understand and then included activities and visuals to aid the average student in their study of the existence of God. This is the second post of 3 on the proof of God's existence. It is the moral argument.

I think it would be wrong to take your sister's bike and ride it with your friends all day without asking your sister first.  Someone else may think it is ok, as long as you return it when you are done using it and do not break or damage it. Whether I am right and you should always ask permission first before using something that doesn't belong to you, or the other person is right and it doesn't matter as long as you return it...the fact is, we all believe certain things are right and certain things are wrong.
 
All of us believe certain things are wrong no matter what. For example, we all believe it is wrong to hurt someone just for fun. We all believe it is wrong to start a building on fire. We all believe it is wrong to break into someone's house and steal from them. Those things are not ok no matter who we are and we all believe that they are wrong. That doesn't mean that there are not people who do those things because we know there are. We hear about them on the news all the time. But even the people who hurt others for fun, start fires, and steal from people know that what they are doing is wrong.
 
Likewise, all of us believe that there are certain things that are right no matter what. We all believe that people should help other people when they see they need help and can help them...like holding a door open for someone carrying bags of groceries or checking to see that a little child is ok after they fell off of their bike. We all believe that, if we are in a building that is on fire, we should do everything the fireman who is there to rescue us tells us to do. He or she is in charge and they know best.
 
If someone believed there was no right or wrong, they would have to believe that there is no difference between pushing someone down while they are carrying a small baby and shouting for someone to watch out because a car is coming and they are standing in the middle of the road.  They would have to say there is no difference between someone who uses a gun to shoot other people and a doctor who saves someone's life after they have been in a car crash. No one would over say there is no difference between those things!
 
When there are things that everyone believes are right and other things that everyone believes are wrong, we call those morals. Morals are laws people believe they should obey and live by. Everyone has laws that we all believe in, like not starting fires or hurting people or stealing or helping people who need it. So where did those laws come from? It seems like we have always known those laws and that no one had to teach them to us. They are not like the laws of the road such as stopping at stop signs and red lights. Those laws were made after cars were invented. They are not like the laws in our classrooms to raise our hands to speak or stay in our seats. Those laws are made by the teachers. Still, someone had to make the laws we all know are right and wrong. They had to come from somewhere. Just like a teacher made our classroom laws, a Lawmaker had to give us those laws we all know are right and wrong. Otherwise, why would we think hurting someone was a bad thing or helping someone was a good thing?
 
That Lawmaker is God!

• There are many great Scriptures on the importance of friendships that encourage Biblical morals. Allow older kids to research and find a few of their favorites. Here are a few of mine.
  • 1 Corinthians 15:33 - Do not be fooled: "Bad friends will ruin good habits." (ICB)
  • Proverbs 13:20 - Whoever spends time with wise people will become wise. But whoever makes friends with fools will suffer. (ICB)
  • Psalm 1:1 - Happy is the person who doesn't listen to the wicked. he doesn't go where sinners go. He doesn't do what bad people do. (ICB)
  • Proverbs 1:10 - My child, sinners will try to lead you into sin. But do not follow them. (ICB)
  • Proverbs 4:14-15 - Don't follow the ways of the wicked. Don't do what evil people do. Avoid their ways. Don't go near what they do. Stay away from them and keep on going. (ICB)
• Here are some Scriptures on morals the Bible teaches we should all live by.
  • Luke 6:31 - Do for other people what you want them to do for you. (ICB)
  • Galatians 5:22-23 - But the Spirit gives love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. There is no law that says these things are wrong. (ICB)
  • Work hard. - Colossians 3:23 - In all the work you are doing, work the best you can. Work as if you were working for the Lord, not for men. (ICB)
  • Tell the truth. Keep your promises. - Proverbs 12:22 - The Lord hates those who tell lies. But He is pleased with those who do what they promise. (ICB)
  • Worship God alone. - Exodus 20:3 (1st Commandment) - "You must not have any other gods except me."
  • Don't have idols. - Exodus 20:4-5 (2nd Commandment) - “You must not make for yourselves any idols. Don’t make something that looks like anything in the sky above or on the earth below or in the water below the land. You must not worship or serve any idol."
  • Using the Lord's Name - Exodus 20:7 (3rd Commandment) - “You must not use the name of the Lord your God thoughtlessly. The Lord will punish anyone who is guilty and misuses his name." (ICB)
  • Keep the Sabbath - Exodus 20:8-10 (4th Commandment) - “Remember to keep the Sabbath as a holy day. You may work and get everything done during six days each week. But the seventh day is a day of rest to honor the Lord your God. On that day no one may do any work: not you, your son or daughter, or your men or women slaves. Neither your animals nor the foreigners living in your cities may work."
  • Respecting Your Parents - Exodus 20:12 (5th Commandment) - “Honor your father and your mother. Then you will live a long time in the land. The Lord your God is going to give you this land." (ICB)
  • Killing Others - Exodus 20:13 (6th Commandment) - “You must not murder anyone." (ICB)
  • Adultery - Exodus 20:14 (7th Commandment) - “You must not be guilty of adultery." (ICB)
  • Stealing - Exodus 20:15 (8th Commandment) - “You must not steal." (ICB)
  • Lying - Exodus 20:16 (9th Commandment) - “You must not tell lies about your neighbor in court." (ICB)
  • Being Jealous - Exodus 20:17 (10th Commandment) - “You must not want to take your neighbor’s house. You must not want his wife or his men or women slaves. You must not want his ox or his donkey. You must not want to take anything that belongs to your neighbor.” (ICB)
  • Micah 6:8 - The Lord has told you what is good. He has told you what He wants from you: Do what is right to other people. Love being kind to others. And live humbly, trusting your God. (ICB)
  • Philippians 4:8 - Brothers, continue to think about the things that are good and worthy of praise. Think about the things that are true and honorable and right and pure and beautiful and respected. (ICB)

Using the Scripture memory activities here, commit some of these to memory. Talk about them, give examples of people living or not living by these morals when you watch television or movies. Ask your kids which fruit of the Spirit the character in the story or show displayed and how...or did not display and how. Ask you kids which of the Ten Commandments listed above were broken in what they read or saw. Everyday life gives us plenty of opportunities to have meaningful discussions with our children. Do not waste one of them. Sitting at a red light in traffic or standing in a long line at the grocery store with someone impatient behind you can give you real-life opportunities that are priceless!

• Here are some great Ten Commandments crafts and activities:
  • ​​Folding Craft Sticks
  • Spinning Wheel
  • Colorful Chart
  • Lapbook
  • Under 5 Bible Lesson
  • 10 Commandments
  • Handprints
  • Paper Foldable Craft
  • Lift the Flap 
  • Matching Game
• Look at Biblical examples who compromised their morals and the consequences they suffered:
  • David committed adultery and murdered Bathsheba's husband to try and cover up his sin with her. As a result, their baby died and there was unrest in David's household.
  • Aaron succumbed to peer pressure and made a golden calf for the Israelites when they got impatient waiting for Moses to come down from the mountain when God was giving him the Ten Commandments. As a result, about 3,000 people died.
  • Achan jealously wanted things that didn't belong to him and stole them even though God said not to. 36 men were killed in a battle the Israelites lost. Achan and his entire family were put to death as well.

These are just a few Biblical examples of people who compromised their morals and suffered consequences as a result. There are so many more! Search them out, talk about them and how, why, and the result of each compromise. Talk about why God gave us these examples (for us to learn from) and how their actions always led to others being hurt. Talk about the ways we can be good examples to those around us and not succumb to peer pressure or compromise the Truth and why it is so important.

• Lastly, here is a Fruits of the Spirit unit study I wrote for Jeremiah to do when we homeschooled. It is free to download and print.

 

And here are some other fruits of the Spirit crafts and activities:

• ​Fruit Salad Object Lesson
• Hanging Craft
• Activity Pack
• Devotional and Activities
• Fruit Tree Craft
• Fruit Kabobs
• Unit Study
• 10 Days in the Fruits of the Spirit
• Lesson Kit
• Miscellaneous Games/Crafts/Activities

And there you have it. Again, I am sure this list of activities you can do to prove through the moral argument that God exists is not exhaustive. I enourage you to add to it, use it as a diving board into deeper waters with your kids, adapt the ideas here to suit the developmental needs and learning styles of your kids. Do what you have to do to teach them to defend their faith, know what they believe, and why they believe it!

This post is a direct result of the amazing Natasha Crain and her blog posts at Christianmomthoughts.com. She is an apologist and author who dedicates her time and talents to defending Christianity. I merely read her posts and put them in terms that hopefully anyone could understand and then included activities and visuals to aid the average student in their study of the existence of God. This is the first post of 3 on the proof of God's existence. It is the creation argument.

The universe had a beginning.
 
The universe is everything we can see and everything we cannot see. It is our world and all of outer space...other planets, the stars and sun and moon. We live in a galaxy inside the universe. Our galaxy is called the Milky Way.
 
We can look around where we live here on earth and see things with our eyes. We can see the sky and clouds, the ocean and mountains, the grass with flowers and trees and bushes, animals, the sun,..all of it.
 
To see things in outer space like the stars and other planets and galaxies, we have to use a special eyeglass called a telescope. 
 
A long time ago a man named Edwin Hubble invented a telescope. It was named the Hubble telescope because he made it! 
 
When Edwin looked through his telescope he saw something amazing. He saw that the universe is always expanding, or growing, getting bigger! Other galaxies are always moving away from us too. If the universe is moving and growing and getting bigger, that means that it had to start out small. Think about an adult you know. Were they born as big as they are now or did they have a beginning? They had a beginning! They started out as a tiny baby. They grew into a toddler, then a small child, then a teenager, and then an adult. Even though they eventually stopped growing bigger, they will never stop growing older until the day they die.

Just like that adult had to start out as a tiny baby, the universe had to have a beginning too. The universe didn't just show up one day like magic. It started out small and then grew bigger, and it is still growing today!
 
If the universe had a beginning, then Somebody had to begin it. Someone had to start the universe. We call that Someone God! 
 

• Using the Scripture memory activities here, begin committing Genesis 1:1 to memory. Remember, God's Word is the sword of the Spirit (Eph. 6:17), God-breathed, and useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16).
• Unwrap a bar of Ivory soap and let your kids touch it and hold it, turning it over in their hands. Encourage them to talk about what it feels like and its shape. Put the unwrapped bar of Ivory soap on a microwave safe plate and in the microwave for approximately 1 minute and thirty seconds. Let the kids watch as it expands, which begins happening at about 15 seconds. Once the time is over, let the soap cool and then the kids can touch it or handle it. It is great sensory fun! If the kids are interested, here is the science behind the expanding soap: Air is whipped into the soap during the process of making it, leaving tiny air bubbles inside the bar. The air bubbles have water molecules in them and so when the soap is heated in the microwave, the water vaporizes and the heat causes the trapped air to expand. Don't waste the soap! Give it to the kids to play with during their next bath time.
• Blow up a balloon so it is roughly the size of your fist. Pinching the neck closed with one hand, use your other to draw dots on the balloon with a black Sharpie. These dots represent our galaxy, the Milky Way. Now continue blowing up the balloon. Look what happens to the dots! The expanding balloon is like our universe, which is constantly growing. 
• Make elephant toothpaste! Set a 16 oz. water bottle in the middle of a cookie sheet that has sides to it to catch the toothpaste. In a small mixing bowl swirl together 2 tablespoons of warm water and 1 teaspoon of yeast. In your water bottle, mix 1/2 cup of 6% (or higher) hydrogen peroxide, five drops of food coloring, and a squirt of dish soap. Pour the yeast mixture into the water bottle and watch the elephant toothpaste expand. Want to watch a fun video on elephant toothpaste on a gigantic scale? Watch this video!
• Get a pack of green bean seeds from your local gardening department. Fold a paper towel in half and then fold it in half again to create a square. Spray it with water until it is wet, but not dripping. Place the paper towel into a sandwich-sized Ziploc bag. Place two or three bean seeds between the baggie and the wet paper towel. Make sure there is no air in the baggie and seal it tight. Use painter's tape to stick the baggie to a sunny window so the seeds will get the sunight. Watch for 7-10 days for the bean seeds to begin to sprout. Feel free to plant them once they do so as to watch them grow even more.

 
In each of the above experiments, there was a beginning. The mountain of fluffy soap started as a rectangular bar. The balloon started as a simple pocket of latex or rubber. The elephant toothpaste started as the individual elements of hydrogen peroxide, yeast, dish soap, and water. The bean sprouts started out as seeds. They each had a beginning and then, as a result of chemical or physical reactions, they expanded into something bigger. They grew! What a perfect representation of our universe, which also had a beginning and has since expanded!

We added the microwave to expand our soap and our breath to expand our balloons. We added water and sunlight to the bean seeds to help them begin their expansion. Similarly, our universe had a beginning, and the Someone that spoke life into it to cause it to grow and expand was God. 
 

• Visit a planetarium to get a 180-degree view of how vast the universe is! Just be careful to discuss beforehand and after any presentation that accompanied the show as it will likely include the big bang theory as its explanation for how the universe began. But don't skip this experience because of that! This is a great opportunity to teach your kids the importance of fine-tuning their listening skills to recognize the cultural lies out there.
• While at the planetarium, find out about times they host viewing stars/planets with their telescopes. Most planetariums or museums of science and industry have high-powered telescopes that can be used during weekly or monthly appointed times and from the roof of the museum.
• Make a flashlight star gazer. Grab a flashlight with batteries and some dark-colored contact paper - not transparent. Unscrew the top of your flashlight and gently push out the clear circle lens the light shines through. Lay it on top of the contact paper and use it as a guide to cut a circle of the same size from the contact paper. Use a star paper punch to punch star shapes out of the contact paper. Peel the backing off the contact paper and fit it over the flashlight lens. (You don't have to adhere the contact paper to the lens if you don't want to. Just hold it in place over the lens while you re-assemble the flashlight so it can be removed later.) Re-assemble the flashlight. Now turn it on and create your own star show! Notice how the stars change size - smaller the closer you hold the flashlight to the wall, floor, or ceiling - and larger the further away from those you hold it. Have your kids practice holding the flashlight closer and moving it further away to simulate the universe expanding.
• To learn more about the Hubble telescope, watch this video.

 ​

Self-helpism is exactly what it sounds like. It is believing that you can help yourself to do things that only God can do. Some of the things people who practice self-helpism say do not sound all that bad when we first hear them and may even make us feel really good inside. Our goal should not be to feel good. Our goal should be to become more like Jesus everyday. It is not bad to feel good about yourself and to even love yourself. You should love yourself. You are created in the image of a God who loves you so much that He sent His only Son Jesus to die for you. Psalm 139:14 says that you are fearfully and wonderfully made and that is true. But it is also true that no one is good (Romans 3:10-12) and that all of us have sinned or made bad choices (Romans 3:23). So how do we love ourselves as God's very good creation (Genesis 1:31) and still remember that without God we are not good people and we cannot do good things?

First, we need to be good at spotting self-helpism. It can be very tricky to spot, but if you really listen to what is being said, you will hear the lies that do not match up with God's Word. Remember, these are tricky lies because of how good we feel when we hear them. But just because they make us feel good about ourselves when we hear them, does not mean that they are good and true. Listen to some of the lies. Next to each one is a Scripture that tells the truth instead (ICB version). 

• Have faith in yourself. (Acts 4:12 - "Jesus is the only One who can save people. No one else in the world is able to save us.")
• Believe in yourself and you will be able to do anything. (Mark 10:27 - Jesus looked straight at them and said, "For people this is impossible. But for God all things are possible.")
• Trust yourself. (Jeremiah 17:7 - "But the person who trusts in the Lord will be blessed. The Lord will show him that He can be trusted.")
• You are good enough, strong enough, and smart enough to do anything you want to do. (John 15:4 - "Remain in Me and I will remain in you. No branch can produce fruit alone. It must remain in the vine. It is the same with you. You cannot produce fruit alone. You must remain in Me.")
• Believe in yourself and you will be successful, never fail. (Proverbs 16:3 - Depend on the Lord in whatever you do. Then your plans will succeed.)
• Love yourself above all. (Mark 12:30 - Love the Lord your God. Love Him with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.)
• You have the power to change your life. (Ephesians 3:20-21 - With God's power working in us, God can do much, much more than anything we can ask or think of. To Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus for all time, forever and ever. Amen.)
• You can do anything you set your mind to. (1 John 5:5 - So the one who conquers the world is the person who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.)
• Follow your heart. It's never wrong. (Jeremiah 17:9 - "More than anything else, a person's mind is evil. It cannot be healed. Who can understand it?")
• Trust your gut, your feelings. They will tell you the right thing to do. (Proverbs 28:26 - The person who trusts in himself is foolish. But the person who lives wisely will be kept safe.)
• You have the power to become whoever you want to. (2 Corinthians 5:17 - If anyone belongs to Christ, then he is made new. the old things have gone; everything is made new!) 
• You are the master of your own destiny. (Prov. 16:9 - A person may think up plans. But the Lord decides what he will do.)
• You choose who you want to be. (Ephesians 2:10 - God has made us what we are. In Christ Jesus, God made us new people so that we would do good works. God had planned in advance those good works for us. He had planned for us to live our lives doing them.)

Picture this. You are walking along and do not notice a deep hole in the ground ahead of you. You fall in. The hole is so deep that, even if you jump up and down, you still can only see the sky above you. You try to climb out of the hole, but the sides are wet and muddy and you keep slipping. You have nothing on you or in your pockets that could help you get out of the hole. You are smart and strong and you just know that, if you think about it long and hard enough, you will figure out a way to get out of the hole. You decide not to yell for help because you believe you can do anything you set your mind to if you just try hard enough. A while later, someone walks by and hears you in the hole. They call down to you. You are starting to get hungry. You are tired and you are cold. You are getting a little scared too because now it is getting dark out. The person tells you they will be right back because they have a rope ladder at home that will reach you and you can use it to climb out of the hole. What will you do?

1. Will you be thankful that someone is coming to rescue you and let them help you out of the hole?
2. Will you say, "No thank you. I got this. I believe in myself and am following my heart. I feel like I am strong enough and smart enough to get out of this hole by myself. I just need to put my mind to it without your help. Thanks anyway."

Who would really refuse the help to get out of that hole if it was offered? People who believe that they can do anything for themselves and don't ever need God or anyone else to help them, that's who!

Should we never try to do things on our own? Of course not! But self-helpsim has limits. Look at the Fruits of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23). We can and should always try to SHOW kindness and joy, SHOW more love to others, PRACTICE keeping the peace, SHOW patience, DO good things, SHOW our faith in God, SHOW gentleness and self-control (Galatians 5:22-23). To learn how to do those things better, we read God's Word and follow the example of Jesus and other people He put in the Bible to help teach us. While we can SHOW, PRACTICE, and DO, we can never BECOME without God. Only God can change us and make us more loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle, and full of self-control. We cannot change our hearts apart from God. We can only change our behavior...and even that is hard to do without asking God to help us! We control what we do. God changes who we are.

God gives us examples in the Bible of people who thought they could help themselves and didn't need to rely on God. Here are a few:

• Rebekah wanted Jacob to have the best blessing without waiting for God to give it to him. God had promised this blessing to Jacob, but Rebekah was not patient and decided to trick her husband Isaac to get it for him. She fooled Isaac who couldn't see by putting sheep's hair on Jacob's arms and neck so Isaac would think Jacob was Esau, the oldest brother. Isaac gave Esau's blessing to Jacob and this led to the family being split up and a great fight between the two brothers. Esau was so mad at Jacob for tricking their dad that he wanted to try and kill him!
• Peter tried to stop the Roman guards from arresting and taking Jesus away while they were in the garden. He pulled out his sword and cut the guard's ear off! Peter did not understand that Jesus could defend himself if He wanted to and that He was actually being obedient to God in letting the guards arrest Him.
• Sarah was not patient to wait for the baby God had promised her and Abraham. She gave her slave-girl Hagar to Abraham to marry so she could have a baby for Sarah. This caused a lot of jealousy between Sarah and Hagar, marriage problems for Sarah and Abraham, and it split a whole family apart!

These people had faith in themselves. They believed they could solve their own problems without asking God for help. Our faith and belief need to be in God alone. When we try to solve our own problems, we mess things up! We are not powerful enough, strong enough, or smart enough. Only God is. If we could solve our own problems, we would not need God. We would be our own superhero!

Scripture memory. It is one of the most vital disciplines of our Christian lives. So why does it not come as naturally as memorizing the lyrics to our favorite 80's pop songs? LOL! Repetition, repetition, repetition! But sometimes it takes more than that. Sometimes it takes thinking outside the box, getting creative, and stepping outside the traditional "just repeat it until you can say it in your sleep method". 

I am not that creative. I also firmly believe that you should never re-invent the wheel. If it already exists because someone with the genious to come up with it has already done the work, then support them, share their ideas, and cheer their efforts on.

That being said, below is a list of sites that offer super creative outside-the-box ways to memorize God's Word to ensure that it is hidden deep within the confines of kids' hearts (and adults too). Please feel free to comment if you have any to add to this list as I am sure it is not exhaustive. 

• Bible Verse Wrap-Ups (This one didn't have a website associated with it so I have no idea who to credit. There was just a picture on Pinterest.)
• Activities with Books of the Bible (These are meant to help memorize the books of the Bible, but I believe every activity listed could be done with Scriptures and each word in them.)
• Easter Bible Memory Review Games
• Bible Memory Verse Craft
• 50 Free Bible Verse Songs for Kids
• Balloon Juggle Game
• "5...4...3...2...1..."
• Jumping for Victory
• Clothespin Verse Activity
• Bible Verse Coloring Sheets
• The Ultimate List of Bible Memory Tools
• Preschool Memory Verse Activities
• 12 Fun Memory Verse Bible Games
• 7 Bible Verse Games for Any Verse
• Ultimate List of Bible Memory Songs
• Put a Lid On It!
• Scripture Memory
• Memory Verse Mania
• Bag It!
• Paper Plates Bible Puzzle
• Pool Noodle Bible Memory
• Fun Ways to Review Bible Verses
• Blow the Words into Place
• Bible Verse Burst
• 3 in a Row Memory Verse Game
• Bible Verse Review Games for Sunday School
• Bible Verse Game Cube
• Bible Verse Hopscotch
• Tower Stack Bible Verse Review Game
• Post-It in Your Heart Memory Tool
• Lego Memory Verses

There you have it! You could use a different memory verse tool every day for a month to keep it fresh and challenging for the kids! Every child learns differently and I love that there are so many ways to teach them God's Word in the way that they learn best.

There are a great many resources out there to teach kids about God's attributes and help answer some of the tougher questions about the Christian faith that they can come up with. Here are some of the ones that have made my wishlist and I will be referencing as I work on apologetics geared towards my kids with different learning abilities. This list is in no way exhaustive...praise God!

Everything a Child Should Know About God
I Am: 40 Reasons to Trust God
Answers for Kids (Box Set)
The Radical Book for Kids: Exploring the Roots and Shoots of Faith
Forensic Faith for Kids: Learn to Share the Truth from a Real Detective
The Awesome Book of Bible Answers for Kids
Case for a Creator for Kids
Case for Grace for Kids
Case for Faith for Kids
Case for Miracles for Kids
The Case for Christ for Kids
The Garden, the Curtain and the Cross (Tales That Tell the Truth)
God Is Self-Sufficient
The Greatness of God
God Is Everywhere
God Is Spirit
God Is Forever
God Is All-Powerful
God Is All-Good
​God Is All-Loving
God is All-Knowing
God Is Three Persons
How Do We Know God Created Life?
How Do We Know God Is Really There?
How Do We Know Right from Wrong?
How Do We Know Jesus Is Alive?
God's Crime Scene for Kids: Investigate Creation with a Real Detective
Cold Case Christianity for Kids
How Great Is Our God: 100 Indescribably Devotions About God and Science
Indescribable: 100 Devotions for Kids About God and Science
If I Could Ask God Anything
The Manger, The Cross, & The Empty Tomb
Pitfalls: A Quick Guide to Identifying Logical Fallacies for Families
Chameleon's Can of Worms
'Possums and the Empty Tomb
Fox and the Hard Day
Pooch and the Pearly Gates
Pig and the Accidental Oink!
Who Made Truth? Kids Can Prove God Exists
A Light for My Path - an ABC Book Based on Psalm 119
Psalms to Know Early
​Truths to Know Early
​Apologia What We Believe Series
Jonathan Park
Teen Apologetics
Answers in Genesis
Dinosaurs: God's Mysterious Creatures: Science for Kids
​Animals by Design: Exploring Unique Creature Features
​Space: God's Majestic Handiwork
Creation Q&A
Dinosaurs Unleashed: The True Story About Dinosaurs and Humans
Truth Be Told: Exposing the Myth of Evolution
Out With Doubt
A Matter of...Fact
Unlocking the Mysteries of Creation
The Bible Explorer's Guide
The World Jesus Knew
Bible Infographics for Kids
The Ology: Ancient Truths, Ever New
The Biggest Story: How the Snake Crusher Brings Us Back to the Garden
God's Very Good Idea: A True Story of God's Delightfully Different
What Every Child Should Know About Prayer
Thoughts to Make Your Heart Sing
801 Questions Kids Ask About God with Answers from the Bible
The One O'Clock Miracle
The Storm that Stopped
Standing for Truth: An Introduction to Apologetics
The Friend Who Forgives
Why God?: Big Answers About God and Why We Believe in Him

Here are some great apologetics resources for parents:

Mama Bear Apologetics: Empowering Your Kids to Challenge Cultural Lies
Keeping Your Kids on God's Side: 40 Conversations to Help Them Build a Lasting Faith
Talking with Your Kids about God
Talking with Your Kids about Jesus: 30 Conversations Every Christian Parent Must Have
Grassroots Apologetics for Parents
Finding Truth

There you have it! Feel free to email me with more if you find them so I can add to this list!

 I am a homeschooler at heart, a teacher. And even though my kids are all adults now, I still love to teach. I love to see the looks on kids' faces when you took something they didn't understand and broke it down for them into smaller bite-sized pieces and they finally "got" it. That "aha" moment, the "now I get it" expression...it's priceless. It's like fuel on a fire for me.

I taught my kids every subject growing up. We all piled around the dining room table with notebooks and pencils and lesson plans I had crafefully crafted for each of them. Back-to-school supplies sales were comparable to a kid in a candy store for me.! Ahhh, there is nothing like a stack of brand new notebooks, freshly sharpened pencils, and the smell of rubber cement to get the blood pumping. LOL!

I belonged to a tight-knit community of friends and other homeschool families and we encouraged and leaned on each other, and brainstormed through each phase, lesson needing to be taught, and grade level. One of my favorite memories was attending annual homeschooling conferences together. We would enjoy listening to and gleaning from motivational and educational speakers who had been there and done that, shopping the football-field-sized vendor hall of potential curriculums for the next school year, and just getting away for some much-needed mom-to-mom time.

It was at one such conference when the way I taught my kids was forever changed. We went to a seminar given by R.C. Sproul Jr. and he spoke about our focus in homeschooling and what truly matters when it comes to what we teach our kids. He said that instead of our focus being on the three R's... reading, writing, and arithmetic...our focus needed to be on the 3 G's...who God is, what God has done, and what God requires. In a nutshell, while it may be temporally important for kids to learn how to write an essay paper or figure out the circumference of any given circle, it is of eternal significance that they know who God is, what He has done for them, and what He requires of them. In fact, I think it's safe to say it is a matter of life and death. Think about it. Our kids are not going to stand before the judgment seat of Christ someday and have to give an account of the questions missed on their history mid-term or be required to pass an SAT-type admissions test for entry into eternity with their Savior. 

Like I said, this seminar completely changed the way I chose to homeschool my kids. While I still wanted them to learn and held them accountable for the lessons I had prepared in advance for them to do, the focus of those lessons shifted significantly. Not only did I switch to an entirely Bible-based curriculum that taught science, history, grammar, reading, and writing using the Bible as its main textbook, but I began to pay more attention to the lessons the Bible taught that the state of Florida did not require be met for promotion to the next grade level.

Fast forward to present day. As I said before, all of my children are now adults. My youngest son, Jeremiah has special needs. He is diagnosed with autism, frontal lobe dysfunction, dyspraxia, and most recently, schizophrenia. He still attends a private school for individuals with special needs where he will remain until he is 22. He was homeschooled until he was 11, at which time it was in everyone's best interest that he be schooled by someone else and outside of our home. 

God fulfilled my desire to continue teaching after my babies were all grown up and graduated by the provision of a position at our church as the Exceptional Needs Children's Ministry Coordinator. Using the Gospel Project curriculum the rest of our children's ministry uses, I adapt the weekly lessons to best reach the exceptional needs students with the truths found in Scripture. I incorporate crafts, science experiments, sensory activities, skits, and whatever else I can come up with so that everyone in my class "gets it", regardless of their ability. And if you thought those "aha" expressions on their little faces were fuel for me when I was teaching multiplication facts and critical thinking skills to my kids at home, well, seeing kids "get" a biblical truth for the first time? Seriously, forget the Zippo-sized canister of propane to fule that fire. Now we are talking atomic bomb excitement.

Then about a month ago, our children's pastor approached me with a book that our church is going to be studying lifegroup-style over a five-week semester during the summer. It's called Mama Bear Apologetics: Empowering Your Kids to Challenge Cultural Lies by Hillary Morgan Ferrer. Apologetics is the ability to defend the Christian faith against those who oppose it or do not believe in its most fundamental truths. I won't go into all of the types opposition. You can read Hillary's book for yourself. It's worth the read to be educated on how all of the "ism's" in our culture today have covertly and not-so covertly infiltrated the media, our education systems, our political arenas, and more to "steal, kill, and destroy" (John 10:10) the hearts of our children from their Savior.

And it's not just our children the enemy is after! Any and every Christian has a target on their back. I have been reminded of this recently with a girlfriend of mine. We have children similar in age, homeschooled together, attended the same church, and have seen each other through many difficult life circumatances over the 20+ years we have known each other. I love her like a sister because she is one...in my heart and in the faith. I know that I know that I know that she belongs to Jesus.

A single mom, a little over a year ago, she started a new job outside her home to help make ends meet. Her new progressive-thinking and politically correct co-workers swarmed like dung beetles at a poop party. Initially, the red flags were so glaring, she clung to the Truth and we spoke frequently about the enemies tactics and the target on her back as a believer. But then, little by little, in ways so subtle even the trained heart might not have even recognized them, she began to make compromises...infinitesimal at first...just a nanosecond of a blip on the spiritual warfare radar.

Fast forward to today and she has relinquished custody of her children to their father, is living with a married man, and is practicing enlightened consciousness, "the process of the removal of the thinking mind". You could knock me over with a feather. In a million years, I would have never thought she could be where she is now. It has been devastating to witness, like observing someone being blindsided by a car as they cross the street in rush hour. Needless to say, she no longer speaks to me, likely because she knows what I will say to her...in love of course. So I fight for her on my knees instead.   

That is the reality for my once Bible-reading, lifegroup-attending, sold-out-for-Jesus, praying accountability partner. How much easier could it be then for the enemy of our souls to pick off children who can be so easily deceived by all the culture bombards them with on a daily basis and everywhere they turn? "Gggrrrrrr," growled the mama bear in defense of her cubs!

I think we can all agree that, regardless of the age of our children, once a mama bear, always a mama bear. My adult kids are subjected just as much now to untruths and cultural cuckoos as they ever were under my protective wing, probably more so now that they have to navigate this world and make decisions for themselves. And we don't have to be biological or adopted mothers of children to be mama bears. I am a mama bear to each and every child I teach in my ESE class at church. I take very seriously their heart conditions and feel the gravity associated with coming alongside their parents to teach them life-saving Scriptural truths. 

I have one little girl in my class who is the queen of "why's". Even when it comes to concrete and basic truths that are easily provable, she wants to know why. And the good-old, "because I said so" or "because that's just the way it is" does not satisfy her curiosity and is an inadequate response as far as she is concerned. "Lily, did you know that the sky is blue today?" "Why?" "Because it is springtime and there are no storm clouds in the sky today." "Why?" "Because there is no rain in the forecast." "Why?" "Because God does not have rain planned for today." "Why?" And it goes on and on and on! But it's not just questions like this. Here is one conversation we had recently after a lesson on the stoning of Stephen. "Why would people throw rocks at someone?" "They did not like what Stephen was saying to them about Jesus." "Why? I thought Jesus was good news." "He is. But some people do not believe He is good news. He makes them feel bad about their choices to sin or do wrong things. They don't like to feel bad about themselves and so they choose to close their ears and not listen when people talk about Jesus. Then they don't have to feel bad." "But why did the people throw rocks at Stephen? They could have just walked away from him. That's what my mom says to do when someone makes me mad." "I don't know why they didn't just walk away. Maybe because everywhere they went, Stephen was there talking about Jesus because that's what God wanted him to do and they could not get away from him." "But killing somene is wrong so why did they do that?" "They were angry and they wanted to shut Stephen up." "Why did God let them throw rocks at Stephen?" "God let them throw rocks at Stephen for many reasons. He wanted the people watching to see how brave Stephen was and how much He trusted God even though he was being hurt. God wants us to be brave for Him too. He wanted people to see that Stephen was obeying God to tell others about Jesus even though he was getting hurt for it. Obedience to God is important. It was time for Stephen to die. God knows how many days we will be alive and when it is time for us to die, we will die. There are probably other reasons why God let the people throw rocks at Stephen too, but God has not told us." "Why doesn't God tell us everything?" Oh you can only imagine the questions spurred on by every answer I gave her! I could literally see the wheels turning and formulating them even as I was still answering her previous questions. I do love her. She challanges me to dig deeper for truths I need just as much convincing of as she apparently does.

Lily's questions and others like it...How do we know God really exists? Why does God allow bad things to happen? Why do people suffer? How do we know Jesus is the only way to God? Did God really create everything? Did Jesus have to die on the cross for us to be forgiven?...they are valid questions that anyone can have, regardless of age, race, financial or political status, or cultural.

We each have an obligation as Christians to research and help answer these questions for ourselves and for others inquiring. Yes, some things just need to be accepted on the basis of faith alone, but squelching embers of doubt before they can ignite and consume hearts is necessary as defenders of our faith in a battle against a very real enemy.

That's where I feel convicted after having read mama Bear Apologetics. Have I just been content to teach my kids the cute  and heart-warming Bible stories that are depicted on nursery walls like Daniel in the lions' den, Noah's ark (which is anything but heart-warming by the way), Jonah and the whale, the birth of baby Jesus, and so on? Sure, each of those stories have biblical truths tied to them and valuable life lessons can be learned from them. But they are not going to be referenced to answer how we can know that the Bible is the inspired Word of God and where it came from or how a loving God can send people to hell.

I do not feel qualified to answer any of these questions either and there are some great  resources by some truly God-inspired and gifted individuals who have done the deep-digging research. In my next post I will give you a list of excellent resources for apologetics for kids. There are many out there and I am setting a goal for myself to make my way through all of them so that I can be better equipped to teach the kids God has entrusted to me. 

In future posts, it is also my goal to take some of these resources and adapt them much the way I do our weekly curriculum so that they can be easily accessible and understood by kids of all abilities. Kids with exceptional needs are very concrete thinkers. They do not think in the abstract. They see things as black and white. They need to be taught differently, utilizing sight, sound, and hands-on application to grasp tuths many other kids can simply read about to accept and understand. Not just special needs kids need to be taught this way to comprehend information either. There are lots of kids, not diagnosed with any developmental or learning challenge who learn best when presented with different teaching styles. That's what I hope to do...break down some apologetics questions into easily teachable and understandable lessons for anyone to learn.

I listened to a podcast with singer/songwriter Tauren Wells recently. In it, he stated that each of us as Christians has an identity, a calling, and an assignment. Our identity does not change. It is concrete. For example, I am a woman created in the likeness of God...a daughter, friend, mother, wife.

Our calling is what God has called us to do. We can have more than one calling. For example, all of us are called to be disciplers who make disciples. But we have individual callings God has on our lives as well, callings that may or may not change over time. I believe one of my callings, and probably the most significant for me, is the calling to teach.

Next we each have assignments. Assignments, unlike callings, can change based on the seasons of life we find ourselves in. For example, before I had any children, my calling was teaching and my assignment was going to college for elementary special needs education to learn how to teach. After college, my assignment was teaching in a classroom. Once my kids were born and my season of motherhood began, my assignment became homeschooling my children. An assignment for me during my kids' teen years was middle school youth leader. It was another opporunity to use my calling to teach. Now, my assignment within my calling is teaching the special needs kids at our church.  

I am very excited about this assigment and, with the introduction to apologetics, feel that a sub-assignment if you will, is teaching kids who learn differently how to defend their faith. I am beyond humbled that God might choose me for this assignment and look forward to all He will do to strengthen His children everywhere in their faith and make them great defenders of His truths. Join me as I attempt to break down the three G's...who God is, what He has done for His children, and what He requires of them.