What is Parental Success?  As we experience the gradual release of our children to God, and the adventures that await each of them, we often meditate on God’s Word in Psalms 127:3-5:

"Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward. 4 As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth. 5 Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall speak with the enemies in the gate."

Parental failure is more easily defined than success.  It is always sad to see a family torn by divorce or see children rebel against the family. We feel compelled to share our experiences because we know that much of the boldness in sharing our faith has come from knowing that God has been faithful in our family. When it comes to witnessing to others, there is nothing so important as the state of your own family! Our testimony to family and friends has been deeply influenced by the fact that our children share our faith and are not ashamed to witness to their own friends and acquaintances.  We believe one of the key signs of successful parenting is the transmission of a vibrant faith in God, from parents to children. 

A second sign of success in parenting is the establishment of a warm fellowship between parents and children that continues after the children leave home to begin life as adults. Parents have a mentorship responsibility for their adult children even after they've left home.  Children raised under the influence of spiritual leadership and sound Biblical teachings willingly seek continued advice and influence from their parents.  It is a sign of wisdom and maturity for young adults to seek the advice and council of their parents when facing important decisions. Successful parenting leads to a family unit that spans multiple generations based on respect and admiration for God's work in each succeeding generation.

We challenge you to give some serious thought to defining what it means in your own life to being a successful parent. If you can't define a successful outcome, the chances of achieving a successful outcome are pretty remote.  We know many parents are hungry for some kind of encouragement on how to succeed in raising Godly children. We challenge you to carefully read through the materials we’ve collected at our web site. Some we’ve written ourselves, some we've gathered from resources we’ve found on the web. 

You will find some controversial issues. You might not agree with all of the materials we’ve collected. They may challenge you to reconsider some opinions about subjects that you prefer to leave unchanged, perhaps because you've been comfortable in taking the easy route when it comes to your family. Our desire is to equip you to make right decisions and obey God in both the small and big matters of life, so we hope you'll approach our materials with an open mind and an open Bible nearby.

Some of our readers are bound to take offense to materials that are critical of the teachings of popular Christian teachers and movements. We include these materials not because we are "against" anything, but because we are deeply committed to the idea that Biblical truth is more important than the thoughts and opinions of any man, including our own. We are "for" Biblical truth, and "against" anything that undermines the believers full trust and dependence on the sufficiency of God’s Word for every facet of life.

Your response to the teachings of scripture as they apply to popular ideas and movements will reveal much about your own spiritual character. Truth is not always comfortable. We do not have the option of picking and choosing to believe only those things in God’s Word that we like. When he reveals truth to us, we must obey and change our lives accordingly. Our prayer is that you will respond as the "noble" Bereans in the Book of Acts:

Acts 17:11 "Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true."

If your response to this  web site is to search the scriptures to determine if the things written there are true, then we will have succeeded in our goal:

Hebrews 10:24-25 "And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: 25 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching."

Our Challenge to You: Test All Things By Scripture

We are closely focused on family life issues but make no claim to be an authoritative source of everything needed for success in this field.  There is so much information available on parenting, and you won't find it all here!  We offer what we've learned in the belief it can help you succeed.  Our two children are now young adults walking on their own with Christ so we are not "Arm Chair" theoreticians. We still give them plenty of counsel and direction, but we are trusting in God's watchful care to finish the work we started!   

We don’t claim any infallibility, the simple fact is that every man is subject to error. We should never accept anything blindly. God has charged each Christian with the duty of evaluating everything they hear or read to see if it is in agreement with God’s Word. It is always profitable to search the Scriptures. We hope that as a  result of reading the materials we provide, you will each become good Bereans and prove everything by God’s Word, holding fast to only the good, which He approves.

Speaking from our own hard-won experiences, as well as from what we learned from others, we believe the advice we offer is sound and works well.  We labor to base our thoughts and opinions on scripture, but challenge you to look carefully and draw your own conclusions.

For our friends who would like to check up on our kids, (Never take advice about marriage or children from someone you wouldn't want to be married to, or whose children you wouldn't want living under your roof.) you can read Ruth's testimony here, titled "A Daughter's Testimony,"  written as part of her College English Composition course. You’ll find some pictures and information about us spread through the web site.

After you've had a chance to browse our site and before you leave, please sign our Public Guest Book so we know you’ve visited. The Christian Family Online site is a part time labor of love, I try to add something new when I can.

This is a busy time of life for Sallie and I.  We've been blessed with good jobs and ample financial means.  Time, however, is always in short supply.  In the past, when I've been tempted to conclude that the few visitors to our web sites weren't worth the effort,  I've been blessed by a short note from someone who wrote me an email or left a message reminding me they had been encouraged and blessed by something they read here.  So for you that care, we'll hang in with you until the Lord returns.  We appreciate your letters and notes!

Our Warmest Regards in Christ Jesus

The Benedicts

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