John the Baptist Turning Hearts

Luke and Responses 1 Language dancing and heart turning, like that described in Luke 1:17, are related in a way. Language dancing is the process of using many words with young children at an early age in order to help them develop their cognitive abilities (Arsaga, 2012). Turning the mind and developing it to the insights of language is like turning the heart and developing it to the insights of God, as John was meant to do to prepare the people of Israel for the coming of the Lord.

Parents are like John the Baptist for their children: they prepare them for the world by teaching them language, which helps to form their brains. John the Baptist preached to the people of Israel to help train their hearts. Their hearts had to be prepared to receive God when He came. This took effort on John’s part: he had to speak to the people and lead them by example so that they would recognize Christ when He came.

Parents do the same when they speak to their children and use a variety of words in their homes. The more words children are exposed to the more their brains develop (Gagnon, 2017). Parents can increase the learning capacity for preschoolers through the dual engagement of language dancing and heart turning by not only using a variety of words but also a variety of concepts and demonstrations.

That is to say, by speaking with many different words and speaking about Christ and imitating Christ in their own lives, parents help to develop their children’s cognitive ability and spiritual ability. The more children see and hear examples of Christian living the more disposed to being after God’s own heart they will be.

And their minds will be better prepared as well thanks to the cognitive preparation they receive from their parent’s application of language dancing in their children’s most formative years. Young families have to be very careful and very mindful of the realities of this world: to grow and develop in the most optimal ways they have to spend time talking to one another and practicing the faith they profess.

2 Janet rightly points out that in Deuteronomy 11:19, it states that parents have to teach their children by “talking of them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road and when you lie down and when you get up.” The Bible itself therefore seems to promote the idea of language dancing, doesn’t it? I think that this is a very good Scriptural piece of evidence to show the value and importance of parental interaction with children.

But an even better one, I feel, is also pointed out by Janet: Colossians 3:21: “Fathers, do not embitter your children, or they will become discouraged.”  What an important piece of Scriptural advice to keep in mind! I am always worrying that children may be turned off from the light of learning and from.