Nothing jump-starts some people's religious faith like the birth of a child. Even for those who don't embrace formal religion, childbirth can be the catalyst for a spiritual awakening.
John B. Phillips, a retired Chattanooga attorney, was so moved by the births of his first two grandchildren last year that he decided to write a Bible-based parenting book.
"I personally think that childbirth is a miracle - maybe the only miracle one experiences in life," says Phillips, 68, who has two 1-year-old grandsons. "Birth is a very mysterious, powerful thing."
Phillips' book, "A Time to be Born: Meditations on the Birth of a Child," (available at www.john-b-phillips.com) was published in October and includes 12 chapters - he calls them "meditations" - based on parenting stories from the Bible.
Phillips said the book began as a journal, a way of gathering Bible lessons to share with his own adult children. He soon realized the Bible had relatively little to say about child-rearing; the books of the New Testament, for example, are bereft of stories about the early childhood of Jesus. Slowly, though, Phillips began to construct a mosaic of Bible stories that could be a source of insight for new parents.
Some of the Bible's teachings may seem counterintuitive to 21st century parents, Phillips says. For example, he says the Old Testament's Jeremiah was prone to arguing with God, which ultimately led to a strengthening of the prophet's faith. The Biblical lesson for believers, Phillips says, is to allow children leeway to question parents as a pathway to building their own, durable religious beliefs.
"Parents, rather than muzzling children, you should encourage argument,
encourage children to discuss things very seriously with you," Phillips said in an interview.
Phillips draws another story from Zechariah, a Jewish priest and father of the New Testament's John the Baptist. The Bible says that Zechariah made the mistake of being skeptical of an angel delivering news of his future son's birth. He believed he and his wife Elizabeth were too old to have children, the Bible says, and so he asked for a sign from God.
"Whammo, he was mute for nine months," Phillips notes.
This was not altogether a bad thing, Phillips says, suggesting modern dads-to-be do more thinking and less talking during their wives' pregnancies.
Most comforting to believers, Phillips says, is the notion that every child born on Earth represents a visit from the supreme being.
"Every child is God's child, and it is through birth that God stays in touch with humanity," Phillips says. "So, as I view it, God is creating a new being during pregnancy, and then he comes to Earth when the child is born. It is one significant way he brings light into a world that can seem full of darkness at times."
The final chapter in Phillips' book is an ode to an unborn child, written to be read to the child during pregnancy.
Phillips writes, "Once you are born, you will have a life ahead of you that will be amazing. It will be unpredictable, happy, sad, crazy, rewarding and a bunch of other stuff your parents will tell you about."
To that, any parent - regardless of faith - is likely to add: "amen."
Contact Mark Kennedy at mkennedy@timesfree press.com or 423-757-6645. Follow him on Twitter @TFPCOLUMNIST. Subscribe to his Facebook updates at www.facebook.com/mkennedycolumnist.