Conducting your study

While how you take this journey is completely up to you, here are some things I recommend.

1. Do not use any catechism currently available. The interpretation of answers is different when you have an already biased view of what the answers "should be". This journey is about you and your family's personal discover, not about parroting what someone else has said.
2. Use as accurate a translation of the bible as you can find. As a hint - that will NOT be the King James Version. The KJV is a political translation based on the Latin Vulgate translation from the Greek Septuagint translation. While there are no completely accurate English translations, I like The Scriptures from Institute of Scripture Research, the Complete Jewish Bible, and the Amplified Bible. Each of these has their own problems, but if used in conjunction with one another you can get as close to truth as you can find in English translations of scripture.
3. Concentrate on Scripture as much as possible - meaning the Torah, the Prophets, and the Psalms. These are the foundation of relationship with YHWH and without them there is no covenant.
4. Be open to additional sources. I highly recommend the Yada Yahweh site as it is filled with amazing resources including translations of Scripture from the original Hebrew using the Dead Sea Scrolls. Is can be found here: http://yadayahweh.com/. The site Bless Yahowah is also amazing, having the great document foundational document "An Introduction to God" which is really life changing: http://www.blessyahowah.com/
5. Don't be afraid of non-religious historical sources. While they may not understand the truth of Yahowah, they can be good sources of historical information.
6. Test everything, look things up for yourself.
7. Have fun learning and growing as a family in the knowledge of YHWH - unencumbered by religious dogma or doctrine.

Introductions

There were a couple of things that encouraged me to do this project. The first was having a desire to properly teach my children about the “narrow way” that leads to life with Yahoshua spoke of. Most religions have plenty of materials for children to be fully grounded in those religious beliefs by the time they are adults. Those materials are very effective, even if those religious beliefs are wrong.

My first question to myself was: How did the children of Israel during the time of Moseh teach their children about YHWH? The Scriptures call for a reading of the Torah every seven years during the Feast of Tabernacles – so by the time a child is 21 they would have heard the Torah read in its entirety at least 3 times.

The next question was, is that enough for my children? The answer was “no” and for several reasons. The first is that the Scriptures were originally written in Hebrew and the people who heard them would have spoken Hebrew. They would have understood the words without question. We do not speak Hebrew and are for not, completely reliant on English translations. However, English translations are filled with translation errors (some so error filled we can’t use them at all – like the KJV), others while better (like ISR Scriptures) but still far from perfect. The second issue is that English is not Hebrew. While Hebrew was the perfect language for telling YHWH’s words – English is not designed to be the language of YHWH. Simply hearing the Torah read in English could still leave gaps in understanding, it must be thoroughly studied and researched. We have to not only know the English words, but the full and complete meanings of the Hebrew words they were translated from. A third issue is that a child during the time of Moseh would not only have heard the Torah read, they would have seen it walked out before them. Everyone in society was keeping (or should have been) Torah. To go against Torah would have been to go against the norms of society. Not so for my children in our Western world that looks much more like Babylon than Jerusalem of old. My children are surrounded by a pagan culture and pagan religion. Like YHWH constantly warned the children of Israel not to learn or do the pagan ways, I must constantly be on guard for myself and my family as well. Everything around us is pagan. The words we use from the days of the week to the months of the year are pagan. Almost every “major” holiday practiced in our country is pagan – from Christmas, to Easter, to Halloween. The religions are pagan and they are the worst kind of pagan – using similar scriptures to our own beliefs, but twisting them to disobey YHWH. However, they tell the word they “are” the true religion. My children are surrounded on every side by pagan culture and the only area of refuge is our home – that is it. My children have nothing more than 1.6 acres of refuge from everything against YHWH and His Word.

So, if simply hearing the Torah read is not enough, what else does my family need to truly learn the Scriptures? Hosea 4:6 says that YHWH’s people have perished for lack of knowledge, that they have rejected knowledge thus they will be rejected from being priest for YHWH. And most importantly, because they have forgotten Torah, YHWH will forget their children. That is NOT going to be what YHWH says about my family and I will NOT have my children forgotten. So, I need to do everything in my power to ensure my family has 1)knowledge of the Torah and 2) do not forget Torah. So, I must teach in a way that they will learn and remember. I believe that knowledge comes from understanding. Psalm 119:2 says “Blessed are those who observe His witnesses, Who seek Him with all the heart!” We need to as a family seek YHWH and His Torah. There are three ways we plan of seeking YHWH in our home. The first way is through study. A guide to our study will be foundational questions that I have come up with for us to answer as a family. These questions start with who is God and lead on from there. There are hundreds of questions we will study so that every member of the family has a good understanding of who God is, what He did, what He asks us to do, how to know Him, etc. The second thing we will do to seek Him is to read His Torah and pray. The third thing we will do is to be ready and waiting for Him at each of the Appointed Times He set aside as specific dates to meet exclusively with His people – perpetually.

As a mom, my heart is so for my children and my family. As a member of the family of YHWH, my heart is also for others who would seek Him and also long for ways in which they might seek and study with their own family as well. As a result, I decided to put the questions we will be looking at as a family online for free so that others can use them. I will share with others any activities we create and any things we find that might be a great way of teaching truth to your children.

As a seeker of truth, I am always open to feedback. The only thing I ask is that you provide sources for the things you contribute.