Category Archives: Children

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February 24, 2016

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Children, Education, Pastoral, Public School

Reality is Not Taught

Introductory Note: I was educated in public school. I have many friends and family who send their kids to public school. This post is not meant to be cruel. But we can look around and see that something needs to change with our country, communities, and churches. Educating our children in the Lord is one the best things our generation can do to turn the tide and more importantly to honor Christ. I know Christians can come through public school with their faith intact. But that is a sign of God’s grace and kindness, not a Christian’s obedience. Christians who sleep together before marriage can have good marriages. That does not make fornication okay. Just because someone got through “okay” does not make it right. I believe it is wrong for Christians to send their kids to public school. I am in favor of both home schooling and Christian private schools. Feel free to ask questions, raise objections, or comment. 

Here in West Virginia there has been a rather contentious bill that was passed by the our legislature that gave those who home school more freedom. It was spearheaded by many good people, in particular Brian Kurcaba, a state representative from my county who home schools his children. With this law being in the news it is a good time to once again state what the Bible teaches on the matter of education and how Christians should approach education.

I plan on writing a couple blog posts on Christian education and public schooling. The first point I want to make is that Christian parents are required by Scripture to give their kids a Christian education. Public school does not provide a Christian education and therefore Christian parents should not send their children to public school.

What is the purpose of an education? Why do children learn math and science, Spanish and English grammar?  Is education primarily the accumulation of various facts and skills so the student can eventually get a job? Or is there a moral dimension to education? Can it be an education if it does not train hearts and minds in the proper direction? Do we want men like Walter White, good at chemistry, but who use it make meth?

All men would, if pressed, agree that education will and must have a moral dimension. Education cannot be morally neutral. Children, whether they know it or not, are being taught every day what is right and wrong. They are being taught how to think about the world, what the great truths are that govern our lives, what is right, good, and beautiful, what is important, and what is not. Education is the shaping of a heart and mind and not just the passing on of facts.  Therefore Christian parents should not send their kids to be educated by those who do not believe in God or cannot express that belief in God in the classroom. Without God, it is not a true education.

The goal is not to learn math, science, etc. The goal is to bring glory to God and to love my neighbor by doing math and science. If God is eliminated from education we have missed the main point. As I tweeted the other day: To eliminate God’s authority from education is to eliminate the primary lesson that is to be learned.

God made this world from nothing. He rules this world. He redeemed it by sending his only Begotten Son.  He gave man dominion over the earth to serve one another and build his kingdom. We are sinners, made in His image, but separated from Him by our sins. This is reality, the world as it is. The Bible is clear that parents must bring their children up to love God with all their heart, mind, soul and to love their neighbor as themselves. This is not an option or suggestion. It is a command. Christian parents cannot afford to put their children in an environment where the essentials about the God, the world He has made, and mankind are blatantly denied or ignored. Here are some Scriptures to back up this point.

“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 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. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates (Deuteronomy 6:4-9).

Our children are to be surrounded by the great truths of God’s Word day in and day out.

We will not hide them from their children, but tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the LORD, and his might, and the wonders that he has done (Psalm 78:4)

“Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea (Matthew 18:5-6).

Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord (Ephesians 6:4).

These are some of the obvious examples, but there are more. The entire book of Proverbs is built on the assumption that the son is being raised to loved God. It is a covenantal book. Joshua’s statement in Joshua 24:15, God’s statement about Abraham teaching his children in Genesis 18:19, Psalm 1, Psalm 112, Psalm 128, and passages like Romans 6 and Matthew 22:37 make it clear that our children are to be taught to think God’s thoughts after him, to bring him glory, and to serve our neighbor.

Our public school system has denied God. God is neither acknowledged nor taught. He is an afterthought occasionally prayed to before a football game. But he is not Lord. His commands on sexuality, holiness, respect, kindness, and greed are ignored. Darwinian evolution teaches a false view of origins, which influences all disciplines, not just science.  There is no standard for right and wrong other than what works. Pragmatism rules. Children are not taught how to glorify God in their studies or interaction with other students. Reality, the world as it actually is, is not taught. The most important things are ignored for the trivial. Self-fulfillment is the great goal. That is not an education, even if it does help someone get a job. Christian parents should want their children to grow up loving God, loving their neighbor, and loving Jesus. They should want their children to learn math and science in a place where God’s glory is the great aim. Public education does not provide this. Therefore, outside of circumstances where there are no other options (for example a single mother) Christian parents should not send their children to public school.

Similar Posts
A Few More Verses Would Have Been Nice.
Failure of Modern Education to Teach Selflessness. 
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February 9, 2016

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Children, Education, Parenting, Public School

Charles Hodge on Education

Last week the local newspaper here in Morgantown, The Dominion Post, wrote an editorial disparaging a new homeschooling law, which gives homeschoolers more freedom in their educational choices. I plan on responding to the article as well as writing several blog posts explaining why Christians must give their children a Christian education. In the meantime, here is a blog post I wrote in December 2012 which should help prime the pump. The initial quote is from Charles Hodge’s commentary on Ephesians. Hodge was a professor at Princeton in 1800’s, when it was still Christian. He was of the great American reformed men in 1800’s. 

“This whole process of education is to be religious, and not only religious, but Christian. It is the nurture and admonition of the Lord which is the appointed and the only effectual means of attaining the end of education. Where this means is neglected or any other substituted in its place, the result must be disastrous failure. The moral and religious element of our nature is just as essential and as universal as the intellectual. Religion, therefore, is as necessary to the development of the mind as knowledge. And as Christianity is the only true religion, and God in Christ the only true God, the only possible means of profitable education is the nurture and admonition of the Lord. That is, the whole process of instruction and discipline must be that which he prescribes and which he administers, so that his authority should be brought in constant and immediate contact with mind, heart and conscience of the child.  It will not do for the parent to present himself as the ultimate end, the source of knowledge and possessor of authority to determine truth and duty. This would be to give his child a mere human development. Nor will it do for him to urge and communicate every thing on the abstract ground of reason; for that would be to merge his child in nature. It is only by making God, God in Christ, the teacher and ruler, on whose authority every thing it so be believed, and in obedience to whose will every thing is to be done, that the ends of education can possibly be attained. It is infinite folly in men to assume to be wiser than God, or to attempt to accomplish an end by other means than those which he has appointed.” (Charles Hodge on in his commentary on Ephesians 6:4)

Hodge makes some excellent points in this paragraph, a couple of which I would like to draw you attention to.
First, education must include the will and the moral character if it is to be called education at all.  I would add that education will be religious and moral in nature. The only question is will the religion be explicit or hidden. Public schools train our children to worship and form their moral character all the while claiming that they are morally neutral.
Second, God, since he is the only God, is the only right source of education. To try to gain a proper moral formation apart from God is like doing heart surgery with a butter knife. 
Third, notice how Hodge says that the child’s heart, mind, and conscience must be brought into constant and immediate contact with God’s authority. This is a paraphrase of Deuteronomy 6:7. And here is why an education that excludes the Lord is a lie and is no education at all. God really does rule the world through His Son Jesus Christ and we really are to trust in Him and obey him and his Word really is the foundation for everything. To eliminate God’s authority from education is to eliminate the primary lesson that is to be learned.
Fourth, God is to set the curriculum. That curriculum is to make our children like their Savior Jesus. That does not eliminate math or science or literature. But it does eliminate math or science or literature without Jesus.  This also means that returning some vague, amorphous “god” to public education is not sufficient.  It must be “God in Christ.” This also means the goal of an education is not to pass a test, get a job, get to college or make a lot of money. 
Fifth, any attempt to educate our children any other way is infinite folly and is a guaranteed disaster. We cannot eliminate the Creator and the Savior from our education and not also ultimately eliminate wisdom and joy and beauty and truth and righteousness. 

Similar Posts
C.S. Lewis on Education
A Plea to Flee Public Schools
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September 23, 2015

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Abortion, Children, Parenting, Pastoral, Sex, Sexual Immorality

No, It Really Isn’t That Hard

In a recent article in the Huffington Post, Wendy Davis, a Democratic politician from Texas who tried to become governor said this:

She is angry about the threat of Planned Parenthood being defunded. She thinks abortion is great. She thinks it is unfair for women to have carry children to term. 
Several thoughts went through my mind as I read this. First, the use of “literally” is like, totally, lame. 
Second, no one is forcing women into being child bearing vessels. They are born that way.  God made women to bear children. They do not enter this world with no reproductive organs and then some scientist inserts a womb. They enter this world with wombs and breasts, which are for carrying, giving birth to, and feeding children. 
Third, very few women are forced to bear children. The only exception would be a pregnant rape victim. All other women know that having sex can lead to children and they chose to do it anyway. If they don’t want children then they shouldn’t have sex. Typically we see in this statement by Ms. Davis the divorcing of sex from procreation. She wants to chant, “Make love, not children.” The world doesn’t work that way. 
Finally, is it really that hard to feed and educate a bunch of children? Raising children is hard work. But feeding them and educating them is not the most difficult part. In fact, I have never had a problem feeding or educating my children. One year I made less than thirteen thousand dollars and my children (at that time I had four) were still fed, clothed, and educated. Currently, I have nine children. My wife has not worked for money in many years. I am a pastor. In other words, I am not rich, have a lot of children, and my wife does not work. You might think I would struggle to make ends meet. But that is not the case. We feed our children just fine without using government money.  We home school our children and they regularly score above the national average on tests. In other words, I pay for my kids school and I pay for someone else’s kids school. My church is kind to me, but I know that even with nine children I could feed and educate them on a lot less than what I currently make. 
Everyone does not have to do it my way, though I think you should avoid the schools of Molech. And I know there are hard cases where it is difficult to pay the bills. But most people by hard work, careful use of resources, sacrifice, and a refusal to buy everything being sold by the advertisers can feed and educate their children, even when they have a lot of them. It is getting harder to make ends meet. But that is because of all the taxes being taken from the people to fund overseas wars, public school, welfare, and Planned Parenthood. We can feed and educate our children as long the Republicans and Democrats will let us keep our money.  So the answer is not more government programs or abortion. The answer is lower taxes, hard work, and lots of little feet. 
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September 18, 2015

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Book Review, Children

Book Review: The Biggest Story by Kevin DeYoung

The Biggest Story: How the Snake Crusher Brings Us Back to the GardenThe Biggest Story: How the Snake Crusher Brings Us Back to the Garden by Kevin DeYoung
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A unique book for introducing children to the big picture of Scripture. I have not read any book like it. DeYoung moves from the garden to the major events in the history of Israel to Jesus to Heaven. He does all this in a book that can be read in one sitting and is packed with wonderful illustrations.

Some of my friends have disagreed with parts of it. But I am not sure I agree with any book in its entirety, especially one interpreting Scripture. DeYoung emphasizes Israel’s failings. I wish he had put more time into those who were faithful in Israel. He mentions them, but then reminds us that they were sinners too. He emphasis on God’s faithfulness is excellent. But at times this comes at the expense of faithful men and women throughout the history of God’s people. To prove God is faithful one does not have to minimize the faithfulness of his people. DeYoung also leaves out creation, which is odd.

Still it is a great read because of its length, illustrations, the emphasis on God keeping his promises, and the way it gives kids the big picture of the Bible.

View all my reviews

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May 27, 2015

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Children, Pastoral, Worship

Right Worship and Faithful Children

What should our priorities be as we try to raise faithful children? Family worship? Christian education?  Our example? Praying for them? Spanking?

You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments. (Exodus 20:4-6)

The Westminster Shorter Catechism says this about the 2nd Commandment

Q50: What is required in the Second Commandment? 

A50: The Second Commandment requires the receiving, observing, and keeping pure and entire, all such religious worship and ordinances as God hath appointed in His Word.

Here is the Heidelberg Catechism:

Q: 96. What does God require in the second commandment?

A: That we in no wise represent God by images, nor worship him in any other way than he has commanded in his word.

Here is a quote from Calvin’s Catechism on the same commandment: 

149. Now to what end shall we refer this commandment?

With the first commandment, God declared that He alone, and no one beside Him, should be worshiped: so now He shows us the correct form of worship, in order that He may draw us away from all superstitions, and carnal ceremonies. 

The second commandment is not just about building golden calves. It is about the right worship of God. But what is the promise attached to this commandment? We often separate  “visiting the iniquity of the fathers…” from the 2nd commandment. While the curse in verse 5 and the blessing in 6 apply to all the commandments, we must not forget the immediate context. Here is my own paraphrase based on context:

I am a jealous God, therefore I will not give my glory to another (Isaiah 42:8). I must be worshiped as I have commanded. Fathers who refuse to worship me rightly will find that I curse their children. But fathers who worship me rightly will find I bless their children to a thousand generations.  

There are many questions that follow these verses. However, I want to focus on one fact; when fathers worship God according to his Word their children are blessed by the Lord. There are long books written on what God requires in worship. I can only briefly touch on what that means here. All that I list below is not equally serious nor does failure in one area make a church not a church or a person not a Christian. Everything below is not a direct violation of the 2nd Commandment. However, over time failure in these areas can have significant impact on a child’s faith.

Right worship requires weekly gathering with the saints. Worshiping at home or by video is usually a mistake. This also means that if our children are going to learn to worship rightly then they should be in worship. Leaving them out of worship is not a grievous sin, but it is hard to see how children will mature in worship if they are in a separate room.

Right worship requires living in community outside of worship. Showing up for one hour on Sunday and then not seeing a fellow church member for seven days will leave you anemic.

Right worship requires confession of sin and pleading the shed blood of Christ to cover our sins. If worship is primarily about moral improvement then it cannot rightly be called worship. If worship requires something more than the shed blood of Christ to forgive sins then it is not true worship. We do not have to confess our sins every worship service. But it must be clear that the only reason we can worship God the Father is because we have repented of our sins by the power of the Spirit and rest upon Christ’s sacrifice and his sacrifice alone to cleanse us.

Right worship requires the giving of tithes and offerings. If we do not give on Sundays then we are probably not giving Monday through Saturday.

Right worship requires congregational singing, which should include singing the Psalms.

Right worship requires the faithful preaching of God’s Word.  Faithful preaching means that God’s Word is considered the only infallible and authoritative source of faith and practice. The magisterium, the celebrity pastor, the legalistic traditions of the elders, and the local pastor’s good ideas will not suffice. Also the pastor must be competent to unfold the meaning of God’s Word and to apply that meaning to his congregation.

Right worship requires faithful men to lead in worship and in preaching. There are two components to this. They must be faithful in life and doctrine. Second, they must be men.

Right worship requires that there be no images set up that Christians pray to.

Right worship requires prayer. These prayers must be offered to God through the blood of Christ by the power of the Spirit and not to anyone else.

Right worship requires a joyful awe when we enter his presence. Sloppy worship that downplays the serious joy of entering God’s throne room weakens the church. It might be true worship, but it is not strong worship.  Parents, we need to model and teach a Biblical view of worship. That means joy mingled with fear as we enter God’s house.

Right worship requires the proper administration of the sacraments, baptism and the Lord’s Supper. There is much I could say here, but I will postpone that for another blog post.

Right worship requires regenerate hearts.  Having all your body parts does not make you alive. You must be breathing. A church with all the right pieces can still be dead.  A man who takes his family to a church with all the right pieces can still be dead. We must have the Holy Spirit.

Do we want faithful children? Do we want children who are blessed by Father, Son, and Spirit? Do we want children who love God and love their neighbor? Do we want children who love the Scriptures and love God’s people? Then there may be nothing more important than attending a church where the Lord is worshiped with reverence and awe. No church is perfect. We all have blind spots and flaws. But that does not mean all churches are equal. If the preaching is weak, the pastor is unfaithful, women lead, legalistic traditions trump Scripture, prayers are offered to Mary, sermons are moral improvement lessons, the Lord’s Supper is absent, images are set up, or it is hard to tell the difference between your worship service and a movie then you may want to move on.