Josh Harris on Christian education
Pastor Harris makes some salient points in this video clip. There can be a tendency to point fingers at one another and quite frankly I know some people (online) in the homeschooling camp who are pretty pointed in their criticism of those who send their kids to public schools. I have also seen, and this got little mention from Josh, a number of comments on blogs that are pretty critical of homeschoolers (i.e. Tim Challies and Pulpit Magazine), suggesting that homeschoolers are somehow sheltering our kids, not being salt and light, hiding our lamps under baskets etc.
I get what Joshua is saying, I do. But...I don't agree entirely.
A couple of lines I take exception to...
"This is not just an education issue... this is a Gospel issue"
That smacks of a shut down comment. There are lots of issues that are Gospel issues, but that doesn't mean that we ought not discuss the ramifications of them. Being an issue of the Gospel doesn't mean that we are obligated to gloss over very real issues.
"This is not a moral issue we are talking about"
It's not? It sure seems like one.
"There are so many different ways..."
Is there not a difference in educational choices? The choice we make in how we have our kids educated, in my humble opinion, is not a value neutral decision. Blue tie or red tie is a value neutral decision. Folgers or Maxwell House is a value neutral decision. But rearing and educating our kids in a decidedly and intentionally Christian environment where God and His Word are key components of the education process is markedly different from sending our kids to be educated by "experts", where not only is God not welcome, but His Word is refuted or even worse is mocked. Telling our kids that their view of the world starts with "In the beginning God..." is not morally equivalent to telling our kids "In the beginning was a Big Bang and you descended from monkeys". Many fine Christian parents choose to send their children to a secular institution, and that is their choice. But to pretend that there is no difference between homeschool and public school is an exercise in self-delusion and perhaps even pandering to avoid conflict.
9 comments:
Paul Washer says when a pastor starts out his message with "I want to share with you tonight what's on my heart"
It's time to get up and leave.
Heart is deceitful, preach the Bible.
That certainly is a warning signal. Don't share what is on your heart, share what is on God's heart. The only place you find that is in the Word.
ummm....when did Josh Harris become a C.J. Mahanney clone? I know Mahanney gave him his church and all, but did that require shaving his head and copying C.J.'s mannerisms?
A little freaky.
I wondered that too, maybe it is some kind of weird Reformed charismatic initiation thing. Or maybe he was going bald and just decided to give up. He does kind of act and talk like him, and has the same mannerism.
Much of my own opposition to the public schools has more to do with my politics and view of the government and their schooling than anything else.
As far as being salt and light, I have found that my son is often salt and light in the Christian school (maybe I should write "Christian" school) just as he would be in the public school.
With regrad to what joe said about "I want to share with you tonight what's on my heart," that's not the time to leave, but the time to perk up your ears and listen with discernment as Arthur indicated. I don't want to quibble with words (and I don't want to accuse joe of quibbling over words), but this expression doesn't necessarily mean that the pastor is now going to go it alone apart from Word and Spirit (though some do use it to mean that), it could just be his way of saying that what he is about to say is a burden on him because of the pastoral concern he has for his people (something I believe is, at least in part, given by God).
The heart in its natural state is deceitful as Jeremiah wrote and Joe cited (which is why I cringe when people say, "follow your heart"), but Paul also wrote that we believe from the heart (Rom. 10:8-10), which is made possible because the Lord transforms our hearts so that we can believe. This means our hearts are now established by grace (Heb. 13:9) we can now also love out of a pure heart (1 Tim. 1:5), obey out of a pure heart (Eph. 6:5-6), worship in our hearts (Eph. 5:19), and seek holiness and Christian virtue and call upon the Lord out of a "pure heart" (2 Tim. 2:22).
So it might be that the pastor's heart is the Lord's heart and that what he is saying is simply something that he has been meditating on for quite some time as a result of Scripture and prayer (and I don't mean that as mystically as it sounds).
Even though I, too, did not agree with everything he said, I did agree with the overall premise that since the Scriptures do not say whether we should choose one over the others, we ought not judge one another for the choices made about the education of our children. That is scriptural. That may also be something weighing on Mr. Harris' heart. The one doesn't necessarily have to exclude the other.
In cases like these, maybe it's best simply to give the guy the benefit of the doubt and not read into everything he says.
Here ends my rant. Thank you Arthur, you're a good friend for letting me use your bandwidth and megabytes instead of mine to do it.
I don't have aa quibble with Harris on the main point, that we ought not villify others based on education, but I do think he glossed over the very real difference between home/public schooling. I sometimes do look for the personal affront in every comment, so it is quite possible that I am being hyper-sensitive but I am pretty dogmatic about the willful neglect of Christian education by the church, for little kids, youth and adults.
His similarity to Mahaney still is kind of creepy.
In my opinion:
Public school is a horrible mess, plagued by some of the most ungodly people that I have ever met.
My mother-in-law teaches public school, and I would allow my children to attend her class. I also know of some good and godly teachers trying to be salt and Light. But what a far cry from writing it on the doorposts, and when they rise up, walk, sleep and eat. (Deut. 6)
We have some people in our church, where there is no legitimate option but public school. If there were ever an appropriate place for the phrase "necessary evil" I think public school qualifies. John Adams said that public education is so necessary that no expenditure of funds would be too much.
I would love to hear his opinion after surveying our education landscape. I agree with you Michael about sharing from the heart. I was just quoting a guy. When I heard him say that, I thought it was a bit over the top, but he was making a point.
I believe we are doing a lot better service to the kingdom to help ailing Christian schools than we are by assisting public schools whose foundation is so ruined that there is no hope for return.
I view public school like a lot of denominations today. There is a point that such things reach, where there is no hope for reform.
I realize this isn't part of the main debate here, but it bothers me when Christian schools, usually those attached to churches (as opposed to the stand-alone schools), use their schools more for what they call "outreach" than for Christian education.
I have seen parents who served (and tithed) who could not afford to send their children to the Christian school that was part of their own church's ministry and were forced to do ppublic school since homeschooling was not an option for whatever reason.
I also think that churches with Christian schools should do more to help homeschoolers. I know of one school that allows Christian homeschool children (even those who do not go to their church) to participate in sports, provides proctors for tests, and helps out with other things like filing grades etc. These are the kind of things churches with schools should be doping to help homeschoolers instead of pursuing some misguided notion of "outreach."
"it bothers me when Christian schools, usually those attached to churches (as opposed to the stand-alone schools), use their schools more for what they call "outreach" than for Christian education."
That is a particular bone in stuck in my craw, just posted an incoherent post on it.
Post a Comment