Back to School...for Christians

 

“Parenting – not politics, not the classroom, not the laboratory, not even the pulpit – is the place of greatest influence. To suppose otherwise is to be captive to the shriveled secular delusion. We must understand that it is through the godly family that God’s grace, a vision of God, a burden for the world, and a Christian character are most powerfully communicated. …Parents, don’t abandon your place of influence. It is still true that ‘the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world.’ Believe it.” Kent & Barbara Hughes

 
  One of the great failures of the contemporary American family is that even Christian families have surrendered spiritual education to the public school. Education is not the solution to a successful life. Much of what is purported to be education today is indoctrination.
  That’s evidenced on college campuses when someone is invited in to speak who doesn’t buy into the cultural values being taught. There will be violent riots with law enforcement called in to protect the guest speaker with a disparate viewpoint. Rather than an intellectual discussion of ideologies, there is bullying to shut down a contrarian yet thought-out worldview. It’s a page right of out of China’s Cultural Revolution.
  Education apart from moral absolutes is dangerous. For example, Germany of the early 1930s was a world leader in most fields of art, science, and intellect. Berlin was a center for the arts. German poets and writers included renowned ones like Herman Hesse, Franz Kafka and Thomas Mann. In science Germans were preeminent. In 1933, when the National Socialist Party came to power, its biomedical field included some of the greatest physicians and scientists in the world. To fully grasp the horror of the Holocaust, imagine that the commandant of Auschwitz when he'd finished his day’s work retired to his home to a fine meal and to listen to music by composers like Franz Schubert.
  Knowledge is one thing; moral absolutes are another. Good sense is not conscience. Education is not a guarantee for morality or even for conscientiousness. Even the most educated can be heartless profligates.  
  Children do not belong to the State nor are they its responsibility to raise. God gave them parents. Those parents are responsible before God for the training of their children. It is not the schools or even the church’s responsibility to teach your children a biblical worldview. A child’s spiritual upbringing is the responsibility of his or her parents.
  Speaking of God’s truth Deuteronomy 11:19 commands parents, “You shall teach them to your children, talking of them when you are sitting in your house, and when you are walking by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.”
  Parents of faith should not expect public-school teachers to provide religious instruction. Teachers are to focus on academics, the arts, and physical education. Public schools are designed to serve children of all faiths or even of no faith. Classrooms are to remain free of bias concerning matters of religion. Yet the worldview of the public school is often antibiblical and sometimes hostile to the morals, beliefs, and doctrines expressed in Scripture. So, what are parents to do?
  First, act like a Christ-follower. The only Christ-follower many public school teachers “know” is the one caricatured by the media. Christians are to be the model of kindness, love and graciousness. We can disagree without being angry. Personally, I’m embarrassed by supposedly Christian parents being nearly riotous at school board meetings because of the moral literature in school libraries. That’s not the way Christ-followers are to conduct themselves. For as long as I can remember public schools have taught evolution. Where were these parents then? Teaching formative minds that they are the “human animal” or homo sapiens not Imago Dei has as dangerous of outcomes as today’s sexuality without morality.
  Most teachers chose the teaching profession because they want to make a difference. Yes, they often have entrenched beliefs but you won’t convince them that they’re misled by getting in their face. You’ll only feed their preconceptions that Christians are kooks.
  We win the world by being Jesus. Our Lord was the “friend of sinners.” So be one of the most supportive parents your child’s teacher has. Feel free to kindly share where you disagree with what is being taught and ask for your child to miss an area that you’re concerned about yet have a creative alternative. Daniel 1 is an example of having convictions with grace.
  Have a continual dialogue with your child. Know not only what is being taught but the influence their peers are having on them. If you have more than one child have conversations individually with them so that they feel safe to share what’s going on in their lives. Ask questions and have a dialogue instead of a pontificating monologue. Respect their opinions yet when their worldview veers from God’s truth, seek to direct them to Scripture, which means that you must first know Scripture. Don’t cave to fear by isolating your child from friends you consider a bad influence. Our best tool in cultivating godly children is prayer not fearful conspiring.
  Remember God is sovereign. The heroes of the faith that we most revere grew up in godless environments with secular, idolatrous education. Joseph, Esther and Daniel all learned to stand alone. Ultimately, you want your child to have their own convictions not yours. They will one day give an account for their choices to a holy God. The same God who gave you those children can protect them.
  Every Christian parent should rightly desire to train up their children in the way they should go, but there’s no foolproof method. To overestimate our best efforts is to underestimate the power of sin in our own hearts, and in our children’s. Their only hope is not us but God’s radical grace. 

Can we help you spiritually? Please check out more resources on our church's web page, Gracechurchwi.org. Or call us at 262.763.3021. If you'd like to know more about how Jesus can change your life, I'd love to mail you a copy of how Jesus changed my life in "My Story." E-mail me at Carson@gracechurchwi.org to request a free copy. Please include your mailing address.