August 16, 2007

Forget that Iron Sharpens Iron Stuff…

Posted by Adam Graham in : Christianity

A Christian Children’s pastor from Indiana posts about his decision to have his kids go to public school instead of private school. Of course his decision is his own, he’s got to make the best judgment for his family, but this one reason for sending his son to public school just got my goat:

Homeschooling would reduce my son’s opportunities to make friends outside of our church. He is a pastor’s kid and spends almost too much time with other Christian children.

Too much time with Christians? That doesn’t seem to be a concept covered in scripture:

Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.-Proverbs 27:17

Be not deceived: “Evil associations corrupt good manners.”-1 Corinthians 15:33

To me, it seems that the Bible tells us that there’s too much of Christian fellowship, and in fact warns of the dangers of bad fellowship with folks you shouldn’t be with.

I also found this reason a little odd:

Homeschooling would not give my son experience dealing with with ‘worldly people.’ Dealing with mean people is a skill that kids must learn. Christian homeschooling would protect my son from these people. But only for a little while.

I’ve run into some mean people in church, backbiters, liars, bullies, folks on power trips. Walking through a church door doesn’t make you a saint. Stay long enough and you’ll run into every type of sinner imaginable, some are struggling, some aren’t serious at all. If all the kids are truly saints at the age of 6 and all the adults are free of vice and the since of the world, then this must be the one perfect church on our planet.

Again, this pastor doesn’t need to make excuses for his educational choices. “This is what I feel led to do.” should be enough. But these excuses just seem to paint an unrealistic picture of the choice Christians face.

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Comments (10)

10 Comments

Comment by Charley

Actually, “This is what I FEEL led to do.” ISN’T enough! One who claims Christ as Lord and Savior doesn’t make determinations by feelings, but rather by the revealed Word of His Lord. In the educational realm, a Christian should be searching the Scriptures and determining what God would have him do regarding his children…and then doing just that! I have a post on “feelings” at http://riseupandgetserious.blogspot.com/2007/06/i-have-peace-about-it.html

Charley
Comment by Adam Graham

There are some issues that scirpture doesn’t speak and when scripture is silent, that’s when God’s Spirit leads and when others should be silent when scriptures are silent.
Comment by Charley

…Except that the raising and discipling of your children isn’t one of the “silent” issues. And I would dare say that while there may not be direct “Thus says the Lord” commandments for all aspects of life, it would be tough to find anything in life that God doesn’t address by principle or normative example. It just requires work to flesh out what God has to say about some things.
Comment by Adam Graham

I don’t see a specific biblical command to homeschool or to any specific driection.
Comment by Charley

Then you aren’t looking very hard! You are correct in that there is no “specific” command to homeschool. As I said in the previous comment, not all aspects of life are addressed in “thus says the Lord” commands. The Bible is laced with principles about how to raise a child (Deuteronomy 6, Psalm 1, Proverbs, Ephesians 6…to name a few). From these passages (and others), it is fairly simple to conclude that intentionally sending a child to an officially pagan, God-hating government school is NOT what God has in mind. The principles don’t necessarily prohibit a solidly Christian school, but even then, I think an argument can be made for the discipling that can only be done with your children home with you for their developing years. If you TRULY are interested in this subject, many more studied than I have written eloquently about it. I would recommend the following books: “When You Rise Up” by R.C. Spoul, Jr, “Upgrade” by Kevin Swanson, and “Family Driven Faith” by Dr. Voddie Baucham…all available at Amazon.com.

Charley
Comment by Adam Graham

Though sound like those are some excellent books, and a good place to start if you’re examining the issue. Not particularly relevant to me as I’ll be homeschooling my kids regardless. And of course there are few schools that aren’t all that bad, but I think their number is overestimated by parents who’d rather not have to deal with the issue. Regardless, every parent will answer to God for how they raised their children and what they became.

Regardless, I’ll agree that parents should be discipling kids at home regardless of where they’re sending them to school. I think it’s a huge problem that parents send their kids to school and expect an hour of church + 1 1/2 hours of youth group (if that.) can deal with propoganda in the public schools or that their duty has been met by that. I’m downright disturbed by parents who claim that they’re sending their kids as an almost missionary effort. Now 5 year olds certainly have led some people to Christ, but neither at church or home have kids given that preparation, so it seems like more of an excuse.
Comment by Charley

Hi Adam,

I’m glad to hear you are going to homeschool…does that mean you are currently homeschooling, or planning to as young ones get old enough? Even if you are convinced of your position, I found all three of these books to be extremely encouraging as well as very good for formulating your overall homeschooling philosophies.

I agree that every time a person justifies his sending his children to the government schools, he says his particular schools are good relative to the others. Somehow I suspect that can’t truly be the case!

And I think you have stated the position for argument for NOT sending one’s children away quite well.

Blessings upon your efforts. Come visit my other blog at http://www.homedisciplingdad.blogspot.com

Charley
Comment by Adam Graham

Well, we don’t have kids now, making it hard to homeschool now, but when we have them, the process will start. Not really with formal schooling, but reading and CDs and such. (No Videos for kids under 2 or 3.)

Of course, if we adopt an older child, we’ll send them to Christian school at least initially. There’s a very good one in the Vally that’s solidly biblical.
Comment by Charley

Yeah…lack of children does make it difficult to homeschool! May your quiver one day be overflowing!

In the mean time, take the time to nail down with your wife your Biblical foundations for homeschooling and for childrearing. May I suggest that you focus on what it would mean to DISCIPLE your children rather than simply EDUCATE them. Note also the difference between “smart” and “wise”…along with God’s priorities and thoughts on wisdom. How would you go about raising children who are “wise” and who will influence their culture? What does it mean to influence the culture? How would a Biblical Christian go about doing just that? (For some starter thoughts, go back to the beginning of my homedisciplingdad blog and read through some of the posts.)

These are the sorts of questions that can lead to wonderful discussions with your wife and to wonderful plans for your children. They will be blessed by your efforts now to sort these types of things out.

Charley
Comment by Adam Graham

It’s something we’ve definitely thought about and continue to. Thanks.