Just because both parents are saved, doesnt mean the children are/were raised in a Christian home.
I have been thinking about this one long and hard. If the children are/were raised in a Christian home, born and bred, what kind of home was it? Until recently Baptists all over the US bought long and hard into legalism, fear based Christianity. Like the Amish, a set of unwritten or exaggerated rules a child must live by in order to not make God angry and from God to your parents who always punished "The Bible way" you know, spare the rod spoil the child. Or, your parents would guilt you and pressure you into obedience.
I have found from observation, research, many conversations that a staggering amount of Millennials, later Gen Xers and even early Gen Z'rs have left the church entirely because they learned, on their own, that kind of Christianity is false doctrine so they throw the baby out with the bathwater and give up on God entirely.
Yes, there are things that as Christians, we shouldn't do, however doing those things isn't going to send you to hell and shouldn't send you to the eternal wrath of the church. If you do something stupid as a teenager it should not affect how people treat you in your 20s-30s-40s, if the Police has a statute of limitations you would think the church could too and it shouldn't be 7yrs.
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Back to the OG thought. Since I don't know anyone else's mental health because Baptists just don't go there or they are all flawless, one or the other. I will use my family as an example. I am not angry at anyone but fighting legalism in Baptist churches is a hill I will die on and if you know what I have endured these last 17 years, you will completely understand.
Zach and I grew up in an IFB church, we are not angry over this, there is no animosity, no hatred, nothing of the sort. In fact, being raised in that strict environment did save us from some things, it did have its good side. My parents are not bad people, they did the best they could with who they had for a daughter. They were promised, spoken or understood I don't know, that if they abide by certain "scriptural rules" that not only would I be saved and baptized but I would go on to marry well and live happily ever after. No trials, no tribulations, smooth sailing. There are even songs that promote that ideal. Again, I am not angry at my parents, the pastor, anyone, it was a common belief in the 80s-early 00s preached by men like Jack Hyles and Peter Ruckman, Johnny Pope etc.. of "famous preachers"
The older we got we started to question whether or not these things were scripture and whether or not they were in context. Were we just buying into what our elders told us was true? I had results from doing things the IFB way, I was incredibly well versed in Scripture, entire chapters of the Bible, trivia, sword drills, theology, apologetics, by the time I was 11 I could talk a Mormon missionary out of his religion and I did, more than once. They stopped knocking on our door after a while. Same with JWs. I was ruthless and I love it. I loved a good theological debate. My parents did not watch "bad movies" or read "bad books" or listen to particularly bad music. Far as they knew I was a semi well behaved little Christian homeschooler. I hated being homeschooled, hated it with a passion. My world was so small and I wanted to be around other kids my age. I had a few friends, older and younger but not anyone who could match me in conversation. Some talked down to me, some talked up to me, most just thought I was a stupid girl and girls cant preach or girls cant know anything about Bible, at least, not as much as a boy can or does. Girls are just supposed to stay quiet, cook and clean and take care of kids and animals, that's what girls did. Finding someone in my circle who could debate me was impossible. Then, all I knew was the Baptists way. I didn't learn much about any other religion until I moved to Alabama in my 20s. Zach's first real experience with another religion was in Alabama, he met a family who took him to a Pentecostal church. He was culture shocked to say the least.
Kids raised in a "Christian home" tend to have blind faith, not the kind in Christ but the kind that, they don't know any different. They aren't choosing Salvation, they are raised to Salvation and when they get out on their own and have experiences, they tend to fall away into another gospel whether the worlds or religions. How is this any different than what we accuse the LBGT-XYZ people of doing? Its not, you are forcing someone, by proximity to agree with you. Only with Baptists, if they don't agree with you, you shut them out, label them as "toxic" or "contradictory" or you "mark them" according to Scripture and avoid them (this passage was often taken out of context and used as "church discipline" in the IFB era).
I understand that I just backed myself into a corner because I think its good to be raised in a truly Christian home. However, a truly Christian home is a strict place, no TV, no music other than certain kinds, no going to certain places, no this, no that, do this, do that, don't read this, only read that etc....Zach and I tried this method, we wanted our kids to be safe, to find the worlds ways weird but then, that ideal came crashing down in 2 days with 2 events that nearly destroyed us and indeed broke us. We decided then and there that for our kids, its better for them to know their enemy. We have taught our kids the worlds ways, how they think, what they do. We didn't know that Zach would get sick, that Gideon would develop AuDHD, that Eddie would struggle with ADHD. We thought, because we were promised that if we did everything right, our kids would turn out well but instead the house of cards we built is still falling after 16 years.
Get this straight, you can raise your kids in a Christian home and still not see them saved as kids. When my kids do get saved, people are going to know it, there will be a visible change, it will be a night and day experience. Gods word doesn't return void, as long as the Word is in the home, the kids will come back to God.
Unless you are following all of those out of context over exaggerated rules can you really say you are raising your kids in a Christian Home? Also consider that a Christian home has a father (or father figure) and a mother (or mother figure) and everyone is present, no one is distracted by devices or the cares of the world. The focus is on the family.
I actually envy people who have that. People who have never experienced a "big 'T'" trauma. Families who have a dad who is right with God all the time, who loves his kids, spends time with them after work, does activities with them, teaches them, does devotions with them. I envy that, I wish my kids kids had that, especially my older boys. Instead they got PTSD and a lot of misery that went with it and absolutely no support except for a mother who fought for them and continues to do so every day. I am not mad at my husband, not at all. He taught me how to get through what I can't get over. I am strong because of him, I am wise because of him, he taught me what battles are worth fighting and what battles to leave to God. I have fought long and hard these 16 years, I am battle scarred, exhausted, done with this life, if God wanted to take me today, I wouldn't fight, I would go willingly and eagerly. I have taught my boys everything I want them to know, I have shown them with my life how to give God honor and glory in the trials, what the Christian life is without all the rules and with liberty. Now, I am waiting on God to get a hold of them, waiting for them to let go and let God. Every parent gets to that place. Parents of young people, you will get to that place. Your kids may make a profession young but they won't truly understand till they are old.. Don't rely on a profession to equal salvation.
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