Adult Baby

You might hate me for this, but here is a disturbing image that should be burned into your mind. Stanley Thorton is a thirty-year old man who was featured on National Geographic's program Taboo. Thorton lives his life as an adult baby. He is bottle-fed, sucks on a pacifier and uses baby talk. He also sleeps in a giant crib, plays with baby toys in a playpen and, yes, wears a diaper.

You can watch the video clip below to see more about this guy. Fair warning: it may be painful to your stomach to see this. Please believe me that I'm showing this to you for a purpose. I'm trying to make a point.

I want people to look at this because I want you to be disturbed. An adult living like this is simply not right. That's why I want this image to be forever burned into your memory.

Now, I want you to imagine that you are given special pair of glasses that allows you to look around and see what people look like spiritually. What would most people look like? What would most people in your church look like? What would you see in a mirror?

If we had these glasses, I'm afraid we would see that America is crawling with adult babies.

There is an appropriate time for someone to be baby Christians. We don't expect babies to be mature right when they are born. Babies need appropriate care. Babies need milk. And, babies make...messes. We shouldn't expect Christians to be spiritually mature the moment they are born again. Also, none of us will ever reach perfection in this life, but we should grow up. It's normal to be a baby for a while, but after a long time, it's disturbing. 

Getting older happens automatically. Becoming spiritually mature does not. 

Paul chided the Corinthians Christians for still being "mere infants" in Christ. He lamented that he still had to give them spiritual milk instead of solid food because they weren't ready for it (1 Cor. 3:1-3). The author to the Hebrews made a similar statement. He wrote: 

"We have much to say about this, but it is hard to explain because you are slow to learn. In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again. You need milk, not solid food! Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil." -Hebrews 5:11-14

In contrast, Paul wrote that the goal for Christians is to become "mature" and to "no longer be infants" (Eph 4;11-14). So, how are you growing? If you are a young person, what are you doing now so that you won't end up being an adult baby? If you're already a biological adult, what do you look like spiritually? Are you where you think you should be? If not, remember, it's better to have a late start than to stay in the playpen forever.

Let these images haunt you. Please be terrified of being a spiritual adult baby.

Related: 

All Ministry is Adult Ministry

A God-Centered Philosophy of Discipleship