Equipping Our Children With Combat Skills Part 2: Critical Thinking and Discernment

Last week we looked at what God's Word describes as a good soldier of Christ (in Part 1 of equipping our children with combat skills) and how we can train our children in these areas. Today, we will focus on another component of combat skills: critical thinking and discernment.

To equip our children with critical thinking skills, we can start by encouraging them to ask good questions. Greg Koukl in his book Tactics, suggests we request clarification such as, "What do you mean by that?" followed by, "How did you come to that conclusion?"¹ when someone makes a claim against Christianity. He says, "If someone makes a claim against Christianity...it is their job to defend their claim before it is my job to refute it."²

Teaching our children to ask good questions will help them develop discernment rather than blind acceptance. When our children learn to ask good questions, they are better equipped to seek truth, recognize the fake, and avoid being led astray by harmful or deceptive beliefs. In a world full of persuasive voices and conflicting messages, the habit of careful questioning can help protect our children from falling victim to bad ideas. Of course, the best way to avoid falling victim to bad ideas is to know the truth by encouraging our children to be in the Word daily!

Don’t let anyone capture you with empty philosophies and high-sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from the spiritual powers of this world, rather than from Christ. -Colossians 2:8 (NLT)

We can also encourage critical thinking through fun activities like solving mysteries (think wholesome mystery books) and logic puzzles. I have been designing and selling logic puzzles for years (which you can find here) as I believe they can vastly increase critical thinking skills. Children need to be taught how to solve them first using deductive reasoning, process of elimination, making inferences, and other critical thinking skills.

The naive believes everything, But the sensible person considers his steps. -Proverbs 14:15 (NASB)

Another idea I talk about in my book is setting up discernment scenarios for our children to consider. For example, we might ask our children what they would do if they found themselves in a certain situation such as the following.

You meet some new friends who agree to play your favorite game with you if you will play their favorite game with them after. You agree. After playing your favorite game, it's time to play theirs. To teach you their favorite game they will have you "play" it with them. "Okay everyone put your hand on this piece." So you do. "Now we are going to call up a spirit from the dead and ask it questions."

What do you do?

This scenario is based on a real situation I found myself in at age twelve. I share the story on p. 80-81of my book, Training Godly Warriors.

Tune your ears to wisdom, and concentrate on understanding. Cry out for insight, and ask for understanding. Search for them as you would for silver; seek them like hidden treasures. Then you will understand what it means to fear the Lord and you will gain knowledge of God. -Proverbs 2:2-5 (NLT)

Another way to enhance discernment is to give our children truth claims such as "all truth is relative" and see if they can explain why the statement is biblical or unbiblical. I go into much more detail on how to do this in my book in chapter nine entitled "Simulations".

Of course the best way to have discernment is to be filled with the Holy Spirit and allow him to direct our steps. Don't have a relationship with the Lord or want to learn more about who God is? Visit NeedGod.com now to learn more!

Next week we will look at a third and final component of combat skills: teaching our children apologetics. If you have more ideas for how to help our children develop critical thinking skills and discernment, share them in the comments below.

Read more about these ideas in my book, "Training Godly Warriors"

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Read Part 3 Here

Onward Christian Soldiers!

References:

1. Greg Koukl, Tactics: 10th Anniversary Edition, (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Reflective, 2019), 65, 80. Used by permission of Harper Collins Christian Publishing. www.harpercollinschristian.com.

2. Kirk Cameron, Greg Koukl: This Tactic DESTROYS Every Argument AGAINST Christianity, Kirk Cameron on TBN, Aug. 18, 2023, interview video, 13:12 to 13:26, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVcm44RO5DU.