One of the findings in the American Bible Society’s 2023 State of the Bible report is that Christian mothers have a profound impact on the faith of their children, Christian Headlines reports

The report found that for protestant moms, 75% of their children continued in the protestant faith or ‘other Christian’ as adults. For the remaining 25%, 19% became atheists or agnostics and 4% became Catholics.

The numbers were not as high for Catholic mothers, where only 57% of their adult children continued in the Catholic faith. For the remainder 21% identified as atheists or agnostics, 14% classified themselves as ‘other Christian’ and 6% stated they were protestant.

Meanwhile, for those adult children raised in atheistic or agnostic homes, 32% now described themselves as Christian.

Mothers can have a profound impact on the faith of their children. This was acknowledged by the Apostle Paul in his second letter to Timothy, where the apostle discussed the impact that Timothy’s grandmother Lois and his mother Eunice had in the development of Timothy’s faith:

“For I am mindful of the sincere faith within you, which first dwelled in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am sure that it is in you as well.” (2 Timothy 1:5 NASV).

We even have a few details about Timothy’s mother Eunice. She was a Jewish believer who had married a Greek man and since it was the responsibility of the Jewish husband to ensure their sons are circumcised in the Jewish faith, Timothy was never circumcised.

The Apostle Paul arranged to have Timothy circumcised, so they could continue to minister to Jewish congregations on their missionary journey (Acts 16:1-3).

Some have even suggested that Timothy’s dad may have died when he was young, as the Apostle Paul seems to have taken on the role of father in Timothy’s life (1 Corinthians 4:17; 1 Timothy 1:2).

The important role that fathers and mothers would have in the development of the faith of their children is hinted at in the first few pages of the Book of Genesis.

We are told at creation that men and women were created in the image and likeness of God (Genesis 1:26). The Hebrew word for likeness implies that we are similar to God, emotionally and mentally, and because of this can have a relationship with God.

But the word ‘tslem’, translated image, has a slightly different meaning. It means representation and the same word is often used throughout the Old Testament to describe idols or as the King James quaintly called them ‘graven images.’

Humans were to be the idols to represent God, not something made of stone or wood.

But what would be the purpose of this? Who were we to represent God to?

If we are all created in the image of God, it would be rather meaningless to represent God to each other.

I believe it was intended that parents would represent God to their children. Through this interaction with their parents, children would come to understand who God was and this would easily transition them into a personal relationship with their heavenly Father as they became adults.

So the family unit was created as the means to transfer faith to children. Because of this, one of Satan’s primary goals is to destroy the family unit.

READ: Most Americans Raised by Christian Moms Are Still Christians Today: Poll