Education: What
Pastors and Parents
Need to Know
By James A. Boyes
The education
of children for God is the most important business done on earth. It is the one
business for which the Earth exists. To it: all politics, all war, all
literature, all money-making, ought to be subordinated; and every parent
especially ought to feel, every hour of the day, that, next to making his own
calling and election sure, this is the end for which he is kept alive by
God--this is his task on earth. -- R.L. Dabney (1820-1898)
What a wonderfully
powerful statement: “The education of children for God is the most important
business done on earth.” Nothing is more important than to
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raise, nurture and educate your children toward the
Lord. But we seem to have lost the significance of this parental/Church
ministry. Many Christian parents, pastors, and other church leaders
no longer view education with the same high priority found in R. L.
Dabney’s writings. Most Christian parents do not educate their children,
much less educate them “for God.” Instead millions, upon millions of
young Christian children are sent each weekday morning, to government
schools where the name of the Lord evokes anger and strife amongst teachers
and staff. Is this what Jesus planned for His children?
According
to Douglas Wilson, editor of R. L. Dabney’s On Secular Education,
Mr. Dabney “was one of the most remarkable men of 19th century America.
He was a preacher, theologian, poet, and essayist, as well as a staff
officer for General ‘Stonewall’ Jackson in the War Between the States.”
Douglas goes on to say Mr. Dabney’s observations regarding state education
are not only profound, but modern Christians would find his work prophetic
as well. |
 R.L. Dabney |
“But God is
the only Lord of the conscience; this soul is His miniature likeness. His
will is the source of itsobligations. Likeness to Him is its perfection, and
religion is the science of the soul’s relation to God. Let these statements
be placed together, and the theological and educational processes appear so
related that they cannot be separated.”
Can humans separate
soul from spirit? “For
the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword,
piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and
marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” (Hebrews 4:12). Can we separate
spirit from mind? I think not. Yet we attempt to separate spirit from mind when
we allow our children to be educated without God.
tells us this concept of compartmentalizing education from
one’s faith is completely contrary to biblical thinking: “The soul is
spiritually indivisible. Those powers, which we name as separate facilities,
are only different modes of functioning. The central power is still one. From
these truths it would appear that the soul cannot be successfully cultivated by
patches. We cannot have the intellectual workman polish it one place, and the
spiritual workman at another. A succession of objects may be presented to the
soul, to evoke and discipline its several powers; yet the unity of the being
would seem to necessitate a unity in its successful education.”
This important
interrelationship between soul and mind is but one of many reasons why
Christian children should not be educated by those who are neither saved, know
the Lord, nor possess a Christian worldview.
Worldview? What is a
worldview?
In many ways, a worldview
is much like what modern folks call a “paradigm.” We can think of a worldview
as an intellectual/spiritual filter upon which everything you know passes
through. It is a perspective or viewpoint that all of us have which impacts
why we think the way we do about
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these issues (your beliefs concerning origins, your
faith, who you are, who you belong to, and where you are going when
you die, etc.) are fundamental, everything else we know is affected
by this worldview. According
to David A. Noebel, author of Understanding the Times, “[e]very
individual bases his thoughts, decisions and actions on a worldview.
A person may not be able to identify his worldview, and it may lack
consistency, but his most basic assumptions about the origin of life,
purpose, and the future, guarantee adherence to some system of thought.” Hence, when
it comes to education, the overarching worldview (whether it be Marxist,
Humanist, or Christian) of the curriculum developers and educators,
regardless of their intent, is passed on to the students. This transfer
takes place for the simple reason that it is impossible to impart education,
minus a worldview. And contrary to what most of us have been led to
believe, there is no such thing as an objective, or “neutral” education
“He that is not with Me
is against Me; and he that gathereth not with Me scattereth abroad.” (Matthew 12:30, KJV) The biblical conclusion which pastors and
parents need to grasp and respond to accordingly is this: non-Christian
(or “neutral”) education is in effect, anti-Christian education. |
God’s worldview “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth,
and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me.” (John 14:6, KJV) And, this is the only
worldview under which Christian children should be educated. To do otherwise
corrupts God’s children and robs Him of the glory of giving them His truth,
wisdom, and eternal life.
Pastors and parents
alike should remember that Christian children bare God’s image and therefore
belong to Him; they do not belong to the State “Then saith He unto them, Render therefore
unto Caesar the things which are Caesar’s; and unto God the things that are
God’s.” (Matthew 22:21).
Pastors and parents
need to begin to understand the importance of tying all the branches of
knowledge (theology, math, science, history, geography, etc.) together, because
they are each intimately linked with the Creator. Everything we know to be
true, and everything we will learn to be true is so only because God has made
it so. He is the author and sustainer of all that is “Who being the brightness
of His glory, and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by
the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down on the
right hand of the Majesty on high...” (Hebrews 1:3). Thus He needs to be the focal point or hub
of each and every subject that is taught. This runs contrary to modern-day
child-centered learning taking place in state schools.
Child, or
student-centered learning stems from the Humanist worldview and is very much a
part of the educational psychology mindset. However, pastors and parents need
to know that child-centered curricula attracts Christian children away from their
Lord. It rests upon a philosophy which shifts the focus of learning away from
traditional or classical academic content, toward the affective (emotional,
attitudinal) process of learning. Student-centered curriculum constantly
questions the child’s feelings, experiences, and thought processes in an
attempt to inculcate a politically-motivated agenda (anti-Christian doctrine).
This type of learning all takes place under the presumption that God does not
exist; thus it is anti-Christian education.
When we teach
science, math, and history without God’s worldview, we wrench and warp the
subject matter to fit falsehood and philosophical darkness. This is what has
happened to the subject of origins. If one believes we are the product of an
evolutionary process, then one must conclude the same progressive process must
be taking place in other areas as well (the cosmos, our legal system, the
sciences, human psychology, etc.). The worldview that stems from evolutionary
thinking has distorted much of our culture today -- a mutilation leading many
children and young adults away from the Gospel. Yet surprisingly so, many of
our seminaries fail to teach our young pastors the importance of origins and
the Book of Genesis to the rest of
what we know. Therefore, I encourage and pray that pastors who read this and
feel divided on this issue, will explore and review the many Creation-related
links provided on the CEANet Creation Links page (see Related URL Address
below).
Some pastors fail
to properly address the Christian education issue because of their own
mis-education. We can only respond and act according to what we know. But there
are other pastors who are informed about this issue, and still refuse to
respond (they have yet to inform and motivate their congregations to pull their
children out of state schools and draw them back to the Lord Jesus Christ
through a Christian education). One of the primary reasons informed pastors
fail to act, I believe, is a fear of controversy. These church leaders are
afraid of “rocking the boat.” When it comes to Christian education, however
there are plenty of boats that need to be rocked! Nevertheless, is this fear of
controversy, biblical?
The New Testament authors and Christ,
Himself, encountered controversy wherever they went. Whenever the Light of
God’s Word is shed, it evokes controversy. Paul spent a large portion of his
ministry in prison, because of controversy. Presentation of the truth will
naturally evoke controversy in a world filled with falsehood. J. Gresham
Machen, author of Education, Christianity, and the State, has this to
offer concerning avoidance of controversy: “Again, men tell us that our
preaching should be positive and not negative, that we can preach the truth
without attacking error. But if we follow that advice we shall have to close
our Bible and desert its teachings.
The New Testament is a polemic book
almost from beginning to end... Some years ago I was in the company of teachers
of the Bible in the colleges and
other educational institutions of America. One of the most eminent theological
professors in the country made an address. In it he admitted that there are
unfortunate controversies about doctrine in the Epistles of Paul, but, said he
in effect, the real essence of Paul’s teaching is found in the hymn to
Christian love in the thirteenth chapter of 1
Corinthians, and we can avoid controversy today if we will only devote the
chief attention to that inspiring hymn. In reply, I am bound to say that the
example was singularly ill-chosen. That hymn to Christian love is in the midst
of a great polemic passage; it would never have been written if Paul had been
opposed to controversy with error in the Church. It was because his soul was
stirred within him by a wrong use of the spiritual gifts that he was able to
write that glorious hymn. So it is always with the Church. Every really great
Christian utterance, it may almost be said, is born in controversy. It is when
men have felt compelled to take a stand against error that they have risen to
the really great heights in the celebration of the truth.”
With regard to
education today, the Church is unquestionably in error. The Christian Church
should never have given up her role and responsibility
concerning this extremely important ministry: education. Had
the Church kept this ministry, the state would have absolutely no grounds for
interfering with the education of Christian children, because such interference
would be a clear violation of the U.S.
Constitution. But the Church gave up her role to the state, she has turned
her saved children to the lost in order to be taught doctrines which end in
darkness and death.
What can parents,
pastors, and other church leaders do? The first thing to do is to become better
informed on the subjects of the mission and purpose of modern state education,
the Christian worldview contrasted with other worldviews, and the significance
of Creation and Genesis to everything
else we know to be true. Once all of this is accomplished, the Holy Spirit will
have the opportunity to light “inward motivational fires” to encourage and
inspire the writing and delivery of sermon series articulated toward the
biblical purpose of education. Children are to be educated for God’s purposes,
and glory. He must be at the center of what they learn. As a starter I highly
recommend a complete review of the URL addresses located at the end of this
essay and particularly the essay The
Restoration of Education (see Related URL Address below).
In closing, I’d like to share with you
a passage of Scripture which communicates the need for a restoration of
Christian education as a parental/church ministry. According to the Word of
God, Jesus is to be preeminent in all things; this would especially include the
education of Christian children (Colossians
1:16-18): “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: 17. And He is before all things, and by Him all things
consist. 18. And He is the head of the body, the Church: Who is the beginning,
the Firstborn from the dead; that in all things He might have the preeminence.”
“But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and
His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” (Matthew 6:33)
Related URL Addresses:
* CEANet Creation Links page:
http://www2.whidbey.net/jmboyes/create.htm
* Exodus Mandate Project: http://www.exodusmandate.org
* Institute for Creation Research (ICR): http://www.icr.org
* Rescue 2010:http://www.nace-cee.org/rescue2010.htm
* The Restoration of Education:
http://www2.whidbey.net/jmboyes/restore.htm
* David Noebel’s Summit Ministries Christian Worldviews in
Education web site: http://www.christiananswers.net/summit/sumhome.html
James A. Boyes is the host of the Christian Education Awareness Network
(CEANet) website http://www2.whidbey.net/jmboyes, and may be reached by e-mail
at jmboyes@whidbey.net.