Discussion Questions and Answer
1. Where are the obligations of parents to children rooted – in love or biology?
Obligations of parents are rooted in love, not biology because ultimately, children should be seen first as God’s children before they become parents’ children. Thus, it does not matter whether children are biologically yours or not, they are all God’s children entrusted to your care so you should love them as they are and not because they are your own or not.
2. Evaluate Rodney Clapp’s claim that children are strangers and should be treated as such.
When parents see their children only as their ‘flesh and blood,’ they risk ‘forming’ their child into what they think the child should be precisely because they think they can do that since the child is theirs. However, once they see the children as ‘strangers’ they appreciate fully that they are gifts from God and although they should guide them because they are ‘alien’ to our world, we should let them grow into the person their true creator, God Himself, designed them to be.
3. Should Christians look to children as models of discipleship? Does this claim assume a simplistic notion of faith?
Yes, in a way Christians should see children as models of discipleship. Just like Jesus said, children hold the key to heaven. This is not a simplistic notion but a dynamic one. Faith is dynamic in that while we should reclaim the wonder and the strong trust we had as a child, we should also retain the more complex concepts of faith and Christianity that we learned in Church or in the community as we grew up.
4. What key insights do victims of abuse offer to Christian parents?
The insights victims of abuse offer to Christian parents are that first, children are not their parent’s own but God’s children. Second, the vulnerability of a child reveals God.
5. What evidence does Rubio provide for the claim that the Christian tradition allows other-parents to care for children? Do you find this evidence convincing?
The evidence that Rubio provided was the fact that even through many centuries, Christian tradition still recognizes the role of Godparents. I find this evidence convincing because it is true that Godparents play an important role in child rearing of their Godchildren from the beginning of the child’s Christian life and throughout the rest of his life.
6. Does the pitch-in family model ask too much of children?
No, the pitch-in family does not ask too much of children because in principle, the model aims to share the household work and not burden all of it to the children. In fact, it also teaches the children to do the chores out of love for their family and not just out of obligation.
