Equipping Christians Through Education

By Mike Riddle

“Looking back, I realize I was not at all prepared for [college] Welcome Week. I had my prerequisites completed for admission to the college of pharmacy and health sciences, but I had never taken the time to do the homework on Welcome Week and learn what it is really about. Under the mask of fun and games, it is really indoctrination to tolerance and diversity.” (Abby Nye, Fish Out of Water, 2007, p. 28.)

Why is it that when college professors ridicule the Bible and Christianity most Christian students are unable or unprepared to respond?

The first answer lies, in part, in how they were educated. For decades our children have been systematically bombarded with the secular humanistic worldview in the public school system. Most have been taught that there is no God, there are no moral absolutes, they are products of evolution, and there is no clear meaning to life.

The second reason lies, in part, in what they were not taught. Many seminary pastorate graduates are trained to give the location and sentence structure of various biblical passages, but they don’t know how to prepare their people to defend biblical truth against the humanistic worldview that is assaulting them in schools and by the media on a daily basis. This steady stream of anti-Christian propaganda against traditional values is having a devastating effect. Our youth are not prepared to counter these highly developed attacks.

“In an age of open-mindedness, too many believers have forfeited biblical clarity and exchanged it for a life of confusion and compromise. They accept too much with too little discernment.” (John MacArthur, Fool’s Gold, 2005, p. 19.)

Studies done by the Barna Group (www.barna.org) reveal that many (about 70 percent) of our youth leave the church after high school. Many students not only question right from wrong, they also question whether such standards even exist.

How did we get to this point? Why do many students reject the existence of absolutes? Why don’t they see the Bible’s history as relevant? How did we lose control of our educational institutions and our youth?

How Could This Happen?

An elaborate strategy was set in place in the 1930s by John Dewey (atheist, socialist, and father of progressive education) and others to systematically, over years of training, reprogram students to reject their core values taught by the Church and their parents and accept moral relativism. Dewey knew that in order to implement their goals they would have to de-emphasize traditional education and concentrate on the student’s beliefs and values. These new standards are based on the presupposition that there are no moral absolutes and no right or wrong (moral relativism). [See also Do You Know What Your Children Are Being Taught in School?]

The education system was to be the battleground for waging war against traditional biblical family values and the truth of God’s Word. Dewey declared that the State would be god, the public schools would be the church, and the teachers would be the prophets. (John Dewey, My Pedagogic Creed, Washington, D.C.: Progressive Education Association, 1897), pp. 6, 15, 17. )

Dewey used the education system to help transform America and redefine the culture. His goal was to redefine values for children through a three step process:

1. Desensitize children into changing their values. This would be done by “unfreezing” the child’s home-taught values and standards of moral conduct.

2. Present the child with different moral standards and a different conception of who he/she is, where they came from, and what their purpose is on Earth.

3. Lock the child into a new set of standards and identity.

An effective method for achieving the first task was to train teachers to administer open-ended questions with this goal in mind. Supposedly there is no right or wrong answer, only answers that seem right for the student. Note these examples of these questions used in elementary schools throughout America:

· Would you favor a law that would limit the size of families to two children?

· Would you choose to die and go to heaven if it meant sitting around on a cloud and playing a harp all day?

· What would you rather do on Sunday morning—sleep late, play with a friend, or watch TV?

· Do you approve of premarital sex for boys? For girls?

· Would you like to have different parents?

· Should we legalize abortion?

· Do you approve of a couple trying out marriage for six months before getting married?

· Should we legalize mercy killing? (Marlin Maddoux, Public Education Against America, 2006, p. 84.)

To help achieve the second task (present the child with different moral standards), teachers were trained to implement co-operative learning methods. The group—not the individual child—gets a grade. Each individual must be made to become a part of a group and think like the group.

Secularist humanists have commandeered the public education system in America and are using it to instill their own set of values and beliefs. Too often when I go to churches to speak, I have parents tell me how they raised their son or daughter in the Church only to send them to a secular university and have them walk away from the Church. Some of these same humanistic values and beliefs have infiltrated the Church. In churches they are being taught to believe in the virgin birth, believe Jesus died on the cross, and believe Jesus rose from the dead. But they are told that they don’t have to believe God created in six literal days. Our students today lack a foundation for what they believe. They become confused and begin to compromise God’s Word or turn their back on the Church because they have not been taught there are answers in the Bible and that science really does support God’s Word.

What Can Be Done?

Dewey and others used a long-term strategy to take control of the education system and effectively replace God and His Word with a new set of values (secular humanism). Dewey’s strategy of training teachers so they can in turn train the next generation was a good strategy, even though it was meant for evil (whether intentionally or not). This same strategy can be used to take back the education system.

Answers in Genesis (AiG) recognizes that equipping teachers and training up the next generation of children to become leaders in their field is a long-term strategy. AiG is therefore implementing a new education program designed to prepare Christian school teachers, Sunday school teachers, pastors, youth leaders, homeschool teachers, and parents to talk about and teach the foundations of the Christian faith to High school and college students. This one-day course is the first step designed to prepare Christians to teach and present accurately, and with confidence, a biblical worldview of origins using the Bible, scientific evidence, and critical thinking skills. Topics include: The relevance of creation to Christian doctrine, apologetics, logic, and critical thinking skills, Science and origins, and Educating for success—making Christian education the best education.

The course is ACSI approved for one Continuing Education Unit (CEU) in either Education or Bible. The cost is $30 per student. To schedule a one-day class call (859) 250-7987.

AiG is also asking for donations to help off-set expenses.

Mike Riddle is a full-time apologetics speaker with Answers in Genesis who has been heavily involved in creation ministry for more than twenty years. He is also an adjunct lecturer with the Institute for Creation Research. Mike holds a degree in mathematics and a graduate degree in education and before becoming involved in creation ministry was a Captain in the Marine Corps.