“Why catechism?” Parents sometimes wonder why Providence uses catechisms, particularly for children so young. The basic reason: children soak up information and acquire things by osmosis, absorbing sight, sounds, and habits. Young children mimic, repeating parent speech, actions, even mannerisms. This form of catechism rightly shapes and molds our children’s hearts and minds. The word “catechesis” can be defined as basic Christian religious training or education, which we embrace as a functional part of Christian parenting.
Our culture also catechizes, often in opposition to the clear teaching in Scripture. Author Gene Edward Veith writes that the culture is offering answers to key questions about life every day “though we might not notice the extent to which we are being catechized.” Below is a summary of Veith’s contrast between God’s Word and the secularist culture using the Westminster Shorter Catechism (emphasis below added).
Who made you?
Catechism: God
Secularist culture: I made myself through my own choices.
What is the work of creation?
Catechism: The work of creation is God’s making all things of nothing, by the word of His power, in the space of six days, and all very good.
Secularist culture: The work of creation is the construction of my own mind as I deconstruct the oppressive “truths” imposed by those in power.
How did God create man?
Catechism: God created man male and female, after His own image, in knowledge, righteousness, and holiness, with dominion over creatures.
Secularist culture: God did not create “man”; rather, people created God in their own image. No one has an innate gender. “Knowledge, righteousness, and holiness” are all masks for “dominion” – that is to say, power – over other creatures.
What are God’s works of Providence?
Catechism: God’s works of providence are His most holy, wise, and powerful preserving, and governing all His creatures, ordering them, and all their actions, to His own glory.
Secularist culture: Though truth claims are merely human constructions, the physical world does exist. It seems to follow scientific laws, but physical reality is essentially random, undirected, and meaningless.
Where is the moral law summarily comprehended?
Catechism: The moral law is summarily comprehended in the Ten Commandments.
Secularist culture: The moral law is summarily comprehended in the slogan “pro-choice.” Whatever I choose is right for me.
Every institution catechizes. Whether Disney, the NBA, Amazon Prime, or the Republican party – all promote distinctive, dogmatic underlying ideologies. Some subtly ungirded, others blatantly obvious. Unguarded, we – and our children – succumb to the wrong catechesis and fail to submit to the eternal and infallible Word. All the more need for a discipleship-focused, classical and Christian education to catechize these young children in the way they should go, so when they are old they will not depart from it (Proverbs 22:6).
