And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. (Deuteronomy 6:6-7)
A vital conversation that the church needs to have
Dr. Mohler discussed the education situation in America on his radio program on Friday, Aug 3, and as he stated several times it is a conversation that we MUST have and continue to have. The topic of Christian education is one that is the proverbial elephant in the corner, because no one wants to talk about because it strikes so close to home. The vast majority of people sitting in pews were educated in public schools, have or had their children in public schools and because of that it can be hard to consider any other solution to educating our children. Consider the entire chapter of Deuteronomy Six, and the emphasis it places on the ways of the Lord...
1 "Now this is the commandment, the statutes and the rules that the LORD your God commanded me to teach you, that you may do them in the land to which you are going over, to possess it, 2 that you may fear the LORD your God, you and your son and your son's son, by keeping all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be long. 3 Hear therefore, O Israel, and be careful to do them, that it may go well with you, and that you may multiply greatly, as the LORD, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey. 4 "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. 5 You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. 10 "And when the LORD your God brings you into the land that he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you--with great and good cities that you did not build, 11 and houses full of all good things that you did not fill, and cisterns that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant--and when you eat and are full, 12 then take care lest you forget the LORD, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 13 It is the LORD your God you shall fear. Him you shall serve and by his name you shall swear. 14 You shall not go after other gods, the gods of the peoples who are around you, 15 for the LORD your God in your midst is a jealous God, lest the anger of the LORD your God be kindled against you, and he destroy you from off the face of the earth. 16 "You shall not put the LORD your God to the test, as you tested him at Massah. 17 You shall diligently keep the commandments of the LORD your God, and his testimonies and his statutes, which he has commanded you. 18 And you shall do what is right and good in the sight of the LORD, that it may go well with you, and that you may go in and take possession of the good land that the LORD swore to give to your fathers 19 by thrusting out all your enemies from before you, as the LORD has promised. 20 "When your son asks you in time to come, 'What is the meaning of the testimonies and the statutes and the rules that the LORD our God has commanded you?' 21 then you shall say to your son, 'We were Pharaoh's slaves in Egypt. And the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand. 22 And the LORD showed signs and wonders, great and grievous, against Egypt and against Pharaoh and all his household, before our eyes. 23 And he brought us out from there, that he might bring us in and give us the land that he swore to give to our fathers. 24 And the LORD commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the LORD our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as we are this day. 25 And it will be righteousness for us, if we are careful to do all this commandment before the LORD our God, as he has commanded us.' (Deut 6: 1-25 ESV)
There is NOTHING more important than our children learning to love and fear the Lord. If your child grows up to be a Doctor but doesn't learn to love Christ, you have failed them. If your child is a Nobel Prize winning physicist, or a captain of industry, or a New York Times bestselling author, any of these and is not taught to the ways of the Lord, you have failed them as a parent.
Dr. Mohler, who it sounds like is a homeschooler himself in a consortium (i.e. a group of homeschool families who gather and teach their children together) also addressed the question of whether Christians are doing the right thing by pulling our children out of public schools. As Dr. Mohler eloquently stated, while Christians should be concerned about the situation in public schools, our first priority must be the education of our children, and (I am inferring this) that influencing the schools should not come at the expense of sacrificing our children. Also, a point that I have often made, the public schools are not value neutral but rather are actively seeking to proselytize our children to a secular worldview. Children of school age, I believe as does Dr. Mohler, are the most vulnerable to peer influencing and are far more likely to be influenced than to be influencers. Also commended is a article Dr. Mohler wrote in 2005 titles "Needed: An Exit Strategy" Well worth the read.
There is a time and place to impact the world at large, but our children are not cannon fodder to charge the entrenched secularists in the public school system. The time is long past that we take a Biblical approach to the topic, and quit letting the world tell us how we should raise our children.
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