Restoring Christian Education


by Daniel Boyce
Developing a Christian/Biblical World View
“Restoring Christian Education”
Introduction
-As we come to this concluding message in our series let me remind you of what is at stake if we fail to develop, live and defend a Christian/Biblical world view.
-The collapse of western civilization, the destruction of America, the loss of our freedom and liberty, and the eternity of our children (you may say this is a bit extreme, well I don’t).
-The federal government is pushing their policies and agendas on the most impressionable minds, the minds of our children in the public school system.
-This was so vividly illustrated just this past week when our elected congressmen staged a “sit in” in the House of Representatives, where laws are supposed to be made and upheld, but they were doing what they learned in school in the 1960’s, they were having a sit in (and our NH governor ask our state reps to also sit in solidarity with their fellow federal representatives).
-This can also be seen in the latest public restroom policy in some school districts, with the issue over one’s gender.
-It doesn’t matter to them how you were created, a male or a female (see Genesis 1:27, So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them), but what matters is what gender do you identify as (this is also the definition of transgender).
-Remember how I stated that the battle is over truth? The post and meta modernists do not believe in absolute truth, they believe experience trumps truth.
- What is education?
- God has established the educational process as the human mechanism for perpetuating and advancing life on planet earth.
- Consider with me for a moment. Would it be possible for civilization to advance without the mechanism of education?
- Education of one’s self and of others is an ability that God has given uniquely to humans.
- Proverbs 1:8, My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother
- A brief history of education:
- The philosophical conception of a “liberal education” began more than 2,500 years ago with the thinking of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle.
- The work of these philosophers was expanded and formalized by the scholars in the Greek city of Alexandria.
- Over time the Greeks added physical training and arts to the curriculum.
- The core of the liberal arts curriculum became formalized to include study in seven areas:
- Arithmetic
- Geometry
- Astronomy
- Music
- Grammar
- Rhetoric
- Logic
- The University of Bologna (1158) is recognized as the birth place of modern university level education:
- From the 12th to the 19th centuries all universities were founded as Christian institutions, regardless of whether they taught medicine, law or theology.
- These scholars recognized revealed truth (the Bible and natural laws) as authoritative
- This gave way to rationalism, a belief or theory that opinions and actions should be based on reason and knowledge rather than on religious belief or emotional response (modernism), which gave birth to the evolutionary theory.
- Which led to the addition of experimentally derived principles of psychology (the study of the human mind and behavior) and sociology (the study of social problems) to the educational setting.
- The effect of the post-modern world-view on education:
- Tolerance which is no longer defined as “an individual’s gracious response to a person holding erroneous views,” but is now defined as “the expectation that every person must abandon the belief that their understanding of truth has any more validity than any other person’s viewpoint.”
- If the price of respecting your faith is to deny mine, then the price is too high.
- The addition of postmodern philosophy to the intellectual landscape has resulted in changes to educational philosophy and practice:
- A societal consequence of postmodernism is the rise or tribalism and the deconstruction of the family:
- Modern tribalismis a sociological concept which postulates that human beings have evolved to live in tribal society, as opposed to mass society ( the greatest generation), and thus will naturally form social networks constituting new “tribes“. Ex. Liberals, centrists, democratic socialists, conservatives, compassionate conservatism, etc.
- It takes a villageis a proverb that leverages the cultural context and belief that it takes an entire community to raise a child. A child has the best ability to become a healthy adult if the entire community takes an active role in contributing to the rearing of the child.
- A postmodern educational philosophy makes moral education impossible because there is no objective basis upon which the teacher or student can determine morality, since there is no absolute truth. Ex. My 8th grade social studies class (1975/76) we were taught situational ethics.
- Biblical Principles relating to education:
- The purpose and goal of education:
- I Corinthians 10:31, Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God
- The highest goal of education must be to assist individuals in developing the knowledge, skills, and attitudes that will enable them to better know, enjoy and glorify God.
- Through worship:
- John 4:24, God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth
- Through science:
- Colossians 1:16-17, For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist
- Through history:
- Proverbs 21:1, The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will
- Through the arts:
- Psalms 27:4, One thing have I desired of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to enquire in his temple.
- Through wisdom:
- Proverbs 9:9-10, Give instruction to a wise man, and he will be yet wiser: teach a just man, and he will increase in learning. The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is
- The responsibility for education:
- Every individual is ultimately accountable to God to be a learner:
- Proverbs 2:1-5, My son, if thou wilt receive my words, and hide my commandments with thee; So that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding; Yea, if thou criest after knowledge, and liftest up thy voice for understanding; If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures; Then shalt thou understand the fear of the LORD, and find the knowledge of God.
- Parents are responsible for the education of their children:
- Deuteronomy 6:7-8, And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.
- Education is not an explicitly mandated function of the government:
Note: given today’s almost complete governmental control of the formal education process of children, it is appropriate to ask whether this is either mandated or allowed by Scripture.
- There are 2 biblical examples of “public education,” Moses (Egypt) and Daniel (Babylon).
- Home: Deuteronomy 6:7-8, (see above)
- Parochial: Ezra 7:10, For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the LORD, and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments
- The spiritual leadership within the church is responsible for the education of its members:
- Matthew 29:19-20, Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.
Note: It seems unfortunate that many Christian young people and teens are not challenged spiritually. They wrestle with the serious study of calculus, physics, world history, and literature every Monday through Friday, but we are told we need to dumb down our curriculum for them. Why?
- Qualifications for teachers:
- Speak the truth always:
- James 3:1, My brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation.
- Be faithful:
- II Timothy 2:2, And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.
Note: to what extent do most Christian parents take purposeful steps to get to know the character of the teacher (public or Christian school) in the class room of their child?
Application
-I am 100% unapologetically for Christian education, whether home or private.
-The need for Christian education grows more urgent and important every day.
-The Christian School movement needs to be growing not shrinking.
-Parents need to find ways to be able to afford Christians Education (a great sacrifice).
-Christian schools, administrators, and boards need to finds way to make Christian education more affordable.
–Ex. PCC 4th year free, education subsidized by ABEKA books.
-But, if your child attends public school or college, you must be involved in their education, and not just helping them with their homework, but attending parent/teacher, and school board meetings, and counter-acting the secular influence that is vying for your child’s heart.
-You need to know the curriculum they are using to teach your child.
-You need to know your child’s teachers.
-They are teaching your child, whom you are responsible for.
-You can deny it if you want, but public education has an agenda (pre-school, elementary, Jr. and Sr. high, and college).
-Parents of children who go to Christian schools and institutions, don’t think that because you are sending your child to a Christian school you are done with your responsibility.
-It is your child! Don’t send them off in their nice little Christian School uniform and think all is well. Be involved! You are the parent; they are your children!
-The highest goal of education must be consistent with God’s larger purposes, to equip individuals to more effectively glorify God through worship and service. For this is the chief end of man.
-What steps are you as a parent taking to counteract the secularizing of public and private schooling in the lives of your children, young people, and collegians?
-What steps are we taking as a church to counteract this?
-In this series, I have sought to have us see the urgency of the hour.
-We must understand the age and time in which we live.
-We must understand how to reach the people around us.
-We must develop a Christian Biblical World View.
-We must learn, believe, know and defend truth.
-We must think biblically.
-We must view our world through the lens of Scripture.
-Every decision we make must be Bible based.
-Oh God, help us to be people of the Book!
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