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FOCUS OF THE MONTH: RIGHT AND WRONG AND REDEMPTION

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The challenges facing young followers of Christ in today’s western society are serious ones, because they strike at the very root of the principles of our faith. The basic bedrock of all religious thought — the existence of an absolute right and wrong — is at stake. From this moral relativism, a complete misunderstanding of what constitutes human sinfulness follows; and if there is no sin that people recognize, why do they need redemption? The task of communicating the human need for Christ’s salvation has never been more important nor more challenging than now, and it is our children who will need to be equipped to undertake it.

For week one, ask the first question over an unhurried meal. Let the children think about it and then offer their own answers. The children should talk more than the parents. Throughout the week, offer the different reasons highlighted and let the children discuss them. (Parents, read through the relevant Bible passages in advance.) Challenge the children to look up other verses addressing the question. Do the same for the following questions each week for the month.


QUESTIONS TO HELP YOUR FAMILY GROW

Week One:

How do we know there is an absolute standard of right and wrong?

Read: Deuteronomy 6:18, Proverbs 20:11, Romans 1:18-22

  • God is good. What is in accordance with His Will is right, and thus what is not in accordance with His Will is wrong; so people who depart from His way demonstrate what is wrong behavior, just as those who follow Him demonstrate what is right behavior, and we can see the difference.
  • Seeing wrong things done bothers us, but we know it is not because we ourselves are always right, so there must be Someone Else Who is always right and is telling us what that standard of right is.
  • There is an astonishing amount of consensus among the widely differing cultures in the world, as to what right and wrong are. As C.S. Lewis observed: “Think of a country where men were admired for running away … where a man felt proud of double- crossing all the people who had been kindest to him.”1 It is deeply ingrained in our God-created nature to know the difference between right and wrong.
  • We cannot logically object to anything that happens to us as “unfair” unless there is a way to determine what is fair: if everything is only due to our own personal taste, then there is no reason for people not to do things that hurt us, since it’s only “their way”.

Week Two

How can we tell the difference between right and wrong?

Read: Proverbs 14:12, 1 John 4:1-4

  • God tells us in the Bible.
  • History shows patterns of the evil consequences that come of doing wrong, and the benefits that come from doing right. We should imitate those who have done good things, and avoid the bad example of those who have caused evil in the past.
  • God has given us each a conscience to signal to us what is right and wrong, and the more we listen to it and do what is right, the stronger our conscience will become and more able to clearly indicate the right way to behave even in very tricky circumstances.

Week Three:

Why does it matter what is right and wrong?

Read: Genesis 6:5-18, Isaiah 5:20, 1 Timothy 6:3-5 and 11-16

  • We can never achieve our fullest potential and happiness without being right before God.
  • Love of our neighbor requires us to do the right thing by them; doing wrong things always hurts someone
    else besides ourselves.
  • We can’t make proper decisions or set achievable goals without some criteria for measuring our success.
  • Unless there is such a thing as right and wrong, forgiveness and healing are impossible.

Week Four:

How do right and wrong relate to our redemption in Christ?

Read: Genesis 2:16-17, Romans 5:17-19 and 6:16-23, Ephesians 2:1-10

  • The Fall was caused by disobeying God and eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, releasing evil into the world to compete with God’s good creation.
  • Since the Fall has separated us from God, we can never achieve perfection on our own: we have to be put right with Him again somehow.
  • Jesus died to save us: but in order to accept that free gift, we must recognize that we need salvation!— there is no way to be put right unless we first know we are wrong.
  • Just as Jesus bore all our wrongdoing on the Cross, He can give. us His Own Righteousness if we ask Him! Then, through the Holy Spirit, we can discover how to always follow God’s goodness instead of this world’s evil.

C.S. Lewis Institute

C.S. Lewis Institute, In the legacy of C. S. Lewis, we develop wholehearted disciples of Jesus Christ who will articulate, defend, share, and live their faith in personal and public life.

 

COPYRIGHT: This publication is published by C.S. Lewis Institute; 8001 Braddock Road, Suite 301; Springfield, VA 22151. Portions of the publication may be reproduced for noncommercial, local church or ministry use without prior permission. Electronic copies of the PDF files may be duplicated and transmitted via e-mail for personal and church use. Articles may not be modified without prior written permission of the Institute. For questions, contact the Institute: 703.914.5602 or email us.

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