During my college psychology classes, John Lock’s idea of Tabula rasa (Latin for “blank slate”) was drilled into me. This concept teaches that children are born a blank slate, and that their personality develops based on their experiences in life.
It’s no wonder that I was a terrified new mother. I feared that my little son’s acts of foolish rebellion were somehow all my fault. What was I doing wrong???
On the other hand, I could take lots of credit for every great thing about him. I congratulated myself that his gifts and personality were largely a factor of my nurturing influence.
Now, of course, I realize what a fallacy that way of thinking is! My children were not born blank slates, morally neutral. They were all born sinners. Their rebellion is not caused by my failures as a mother. It was caused, originally, by Adam’s sin. “Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me”, Psalm 51:5.
Neither can I be congratulated for molding my children into what they will become. Our children are fully created in God’s image right now, and they are born with gifts and personalities in their own right, imparted by Him.
Yes, as their mother, I have a powerful influence over them. But I cannot take credit for fashioning their hearts, for the Psalmist tells us, “You created my inmost being. You knit me together in my mother’s womb”, Psalm 139:13.
Speak Your Mind