http://merecomments.typepad.com/merecommen...bservation.htmlAn Observation
The number of generations required for a family to rise from ignorance to learning, or to fall from learning to ignorance, is precisely one. The number of generations required for a family to rise from infidelity to faith, or to fall from faith to infidelity, the same. The children of learned Christians can easily become ignorant worldlings, the children of ignorant worldlings learned Christians. I have seen it happen.
To children raised in homes where Christ is honored and the mind cultivated I would say, You who know and would reject your parents’ imperfections had better do it by advancing farther on the same path rather than taking another, if you value your soul. You begin by forgiving them their trespasses as God has forgiven yours—this is the first step to being greater than they are. If you leave their path, you cannot imagine the depths to which you can fall.
To children raised in homes where Christ is ignored and minds lie fallow: God is with you, if you will have him. You cannot imagine how far you will rise if you listen for his voice and obey it.
I put the rise and the fall of the mind and the spirit together, for with St. Anselm, I do not think they can grow apart. The nature of faith is that it seeks knowledge of God first, and in God, all that pertains to him.