Unless You Become like Children

I recall a conversation between my father and I some years ago now. We were reminiscing about my late grandfather. He had recently passed from this life and his funeral was still fresh in our memory. It’s always a bittersweet topic to think on given that his absence is felt so deeply. We shared memories of moments we cherished with my grandfather. Some sad, some humorous, and some of them, moments of learning from the wisdom that years of life on this earth had granted him. One quality, in particular, I remember reminiscing about was his passion for answering questions and telling stories. Mostly stories from his childhood that would teach a great lesson to those who would listen. Dad joyfully recalled in particular, the excitement expressed by my grandfather at the prospect of having grandchildren. Because (in his words) “then finally someone would wanna hear what he had to say.” We both laughed at the sentiment of his frustration and sarcasm, but in the end, he was absolutely correct. I remember him always patiently taking joy in my numerous and seemingly endless questions about any and every subject you could imagine from history to agriculture. It seemed that every question he would answer was followed by another question but he loved it all the same. Absolutely nothing could exhaust the patience he had in taking the time to answer my many queries.

Many of you know that we, here at AltarnateMedia, are dedicated to learning by daring to question and re-examine many of the longstanding traditional Christian theological positions in light of the Jewish nature of the book they allegedly are derived from. As a primary function in this endeavor, many of you know we encourage questions. Questions are important. asking questions may lead to more questions and the more we learn the more we may realize we never knew to begin with. I have realized through asking questions that lead to more questions, that everything I thought I knew was barely a speck of dust at the tip of the peak of the mountain of what was to be learned. It’s fascinating writing and editing this now because that very last line I wrote as part of a book idea I had over 5 years ago and now 5 years later it’s more true than it was back then. The more I’ve learned the more I’ve been forced to come to grips with how much I simply don’t know. Just like questioning my grandfather as a child. The more I asked and the more answers I got the bigger I realized the world was compared to the small glimpse of it that I had personally experienced in my short life.

What a beautiful dynamic relationship to have with our heavenly father. To ask and learn only to realize there is so much more to learn which means there is so much more to ask. If asking questions and learning more makes you feel humbled or perhaps even downright ignorant of everything you thought was so certain, don't worry. I promise you are in good company. This inspires us to search more and seek guidance from G-d more. Just as my grandparents and many other grandparents enjoy the constant seeking of wisdom and an endless line of questioning, so does G-d. He enjoys teaching us. One of the hardest lessons to learn is how to ask the right question. We have been taught for so long that the text plainly expresses a foundation for certain doctrines and in turn, we read those very doctrines into the text without considering if the words on the page actually do say these things or if it is something we, ourselves, have been conditioned to subconsciously inject into the text. It’s a difficult habit to break and we are all guilty of it.

The truth is what we are talking about here is the worldview. All of us who grew up in the Christian church were raised and immersed in whatever worldview our respective churches espoused. Many of us were discouraged from asking questions, especially ones that came from a position of doubting whether or not our church's worldview was in harmony with G-d’s worldview as presented in His word. While many churches and denominations have some differences from each other, the underlying worldview is the reason each denomination can say they are simply different branches of the same tree. This portrayal of the denominations being branches of the same tree is one some may be familiar with and have grown to appreciate and respect. That even though every church believes and teaches some minor differences, every church can still be right. On the surface, this seems to promote unity within the body of the church despite differences that could cause heated debate. “We are all branches of the same tree” seems like a grand philosophy at first but remember that the right question might not always be obvious.

When we have been conditioned to interpret a passage a certain way, any questioning might seem unthinkable or even blasphemous. However, when asked, the right question may seem so obvious we can hardly believe it never occurred to us. I have often felt like an imbecile when presented with questions that seemed as though they should have been blatantly obvious. So obvious a child would have asked them. This is one understanding of the reason Jesus says we are to come as children(Matthew 18:3). This brings me around to the main point of this article. No matter what our question is or what passage it happens to be about. The Torah has an answer. Oftentimes an obvious one we just hadn’t considered. This is the importance of re-examining our worldview and having the boldness to question the longstanding doctrines of the Patristic fathers and the church they birthed. Matthew 18:3 gives us a beautiful example of not only the importance of asking questions despite the status quo but also the importance of seeking out our answers in the Torah.

Bear with me here and let's look at the verse:

“and said ‘Amen, I tell you, unless you turn and become like children, you shall never enter the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 18:3 TLV

Does this pose an obvious question? What does he mean by “become like children”? Another question it brings to mind might not be as obvious. “What is the nature of a child?” John Darby in his commentary on this passage explains that a child’s meekness is what Jesus is demanding of his followers. In a certain light, this is very true. As His followers, we should be easily imposed on by His will and quick to obey without question. So that's one view from a pretty popular Commentator of Christianity.

Adam Clarke in his commentary seems to derive from the passage, that being “as a child” is a reference to being without worldly ambition or a desire for power and wealth. Citing the Poet Saady who explains that children see no difference in a hand of riches or a hand of dust. That children view all as equal. In short, this view presumes that the reference to being like children is indicative of an innocent mind. Absent the learned behaviors of humanity's wickedness which all of us exhibit more and more as we age. These are both more or less collectively the understanding the majority of Christianity has concerning this passage and in their own right they are correct and there is a nugget of truth to be found in them. But is it really what Yeshua was talking about? Is this what the words on the page say? It’s hard to tell because all we have to go on is the generality of “be like children ''. There is hardly any context in that to derive how we are to be like children. Only that we are supposed to.

However, is there possibly any place in scripture that might lend some context as to what the nature of a child is? there absolutely is. Five passages come to mind in particular and three of them are in the Torah!

Now when it happens that your children ask you,’ What does this ceremony mean to you?’ Exodus 12:26 TLV

“So when your son asks you in the times to come, ‘What is this?’ say to him, ‘By a strong hand Adonai brought us out from Egypt, the house of bondage. Exodus-13:14 TLV

“When your son asks in the time to come, saying ‘What are the testimonies and the statutes and the ordinances that Adonai our G-d Commanded you?’ Deuteronomy 6:20TLV

”Let this be a sign among you. When your children ask later saying, ‘What do these stones mean to you?’ Joshua 4:6

“Then he said to Bnei-Yisrael saying, ‘When you children ask their fathers in time to come saying:’What are these stones?’” Joshua 4:21

I’m sure all of our pastors at one point or another have explained that “everything in the Bible is important but if it's mentioned more than once it's VERY important.” This is very true and even the Jewish leaders of Yeshua's day would have agreed with this statement at least as far as the Tanakh is concerned. That being the case, What do each of these verses teach us about what G-d understands the nature of a child to be? If you guessed “their proclivity to ask questions!” you are correct. This isn’t even guesswork. G-d set holidays and rituals and practices in place specifically for this fact. He doesn’t leave us to ponder whether or not children will ask questions. He straight up told us they would and had a contingency set in place specifically for those questions. In fact, you may even recognize the questions in the three verses above from Torah if you have ever been to a Passover Seder. They are the three questions asked by the wise son, the wicked son, and the simple son. Is it possible that what Yeshua meant by “becoming as a child” is their nature to ask questions? Being rooted and derived from the Torah certainly gives the notion a great amount of credibility.

In laying the foundation for why we shouldn’t be afraid or find it blasphemous to question long-accepted points of doctrine within Christianity, we have also established a great example of why any teaching should be questioned and weighed against the Torah. We examined the common teachings regarding Yeshua's mandate to be as children, we questioned them, and sought an answer from the Torah. With that in mind, I encourage you to look forward to asking more questions and learning more each day.