On Education

This past Sunday, my dad, during both the sermon and Guardians, preached on training and those teachings are the inspiration for the topic I will talk about today. Clearly, training children is a fundamental aspect of life and a very important topic to consider. Education is merely one extension of this massive topic, but a very important extension.

When children are young, it is imperative to train them well, as things they learn early in their life will stay with them long after they leave their parents’ home. Many parents do not take seriously the task of training their children, and we see the fruits of their neglect wherever we go: rebelliousness, carelessness, laziness, naivety, etc.  

Parents are to “teach a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.” (Proverbs 22:6) Thus, the number one goal of education is to teach our children the ways of the Lord. If we fail to teach the fear of the Lord to our children, then there is no point in teaching them science, math, English, or any other thing. If our children do not obey the Lord or fear him, any other teaching we do is futile. The teachings of the Lord should be the focus of our education.

Deuteronomy 11:18-25 summarizes this point very well:

You shall therefore lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall teach them to your children, talking of them when you are sitting in your house, and when you are walking by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, that your days and the days of your children may be multiplied in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers to give them, as long as the heavens are above the earth. For if you will be careful to do all this commandment that I command you to do, loving the Lord your God, walking in all his ways, and holding fast to him, then the Lord will drive out all these nations before you, and you will dispossess nations greater and mightier than yourselves. Every place on which the sole of your foot treads shall be yours. Your territory shall be from the wilderness to the Lebanon and from the River, the river Euphrates, to the western sea.  No one shall be able to stand against you. The Lord your God will lay the fear of you and the dread of you on all the land that you shall tread, as he promised you.

These reasons are why I believe homeschooling is infinitely better and more effective than public school teaching. At home, I can teach my children to obey the Lord, to keep is commandments. I can teach them about Jesus, their Savior, and the God who created them. I can teach them Scripture, I can speak of the Lord when they rise, when they are walking by the way. I can write Scripture on the doorposts of my house, on my gates, I can lay up the word of the Lord in their heart and soul. Where else can I do all this? Not at a public school, where my kids go for 9+ hours every day and are fed the poison of evolutionary theory, feminism, and liberal indoctrination.

When should we teach our children? We are to teach them every waking minute of the day, from when they rise up to when they lie down. The world views “school” as something you go to five days a week and learn math, science, and history. “School” (I prefer “training”) is not five days a week, it is all the time.

The teachings of the Lord should be present in everything we teach. Whether we eat or drink, or whatever we do, we should do all to the glory of God. (1 Corinthians 10:31-32) If we teach math, do it to the glory of God. If we teach science, do it to the glory of God. Everything we do is for God’s glory. Does secular education teach the things of the Lord? No, it doesn’t. Should we teach science, math, English, and history to our children? Yes, there is nothing wrong with learning: it is good to learn, but only if we do it to the glory of God.

Slightly off topic, but related to education, is the argument used by many Christians who support Christian participation in the public school system. If you’ve seen the documentary IndoctriNation (which I highly recommend), you know what I’m talking about. These people argue that since the public school system is such a dark place (which it is) and needs the light of Christ to shine in it (which it does), we should send our Christian children to evangelize other children. Beware! Remember Deuteronomy 11:25, which says that the world will fear and dread those who follow the Lord and will smother your children as quickly as it possibly can! Don’t be surprised when you find that your children abandon the faith of their fathers and walk away from the Lord. When our children are young, they are easily teachable. We need to teach them the right things when they are young, not teach them the ways of the world! If we teach them correctly when they are young, even when they are old they will not depart from that teaching. But poor company can corrupt morals and young minds are easily swayed. This should be a solemn reminder for us.

In summary: all education is to God’s glory, and we need to teach our children the ways of the Lord above all else. God first; math, science, grammar, music, and all other subjects come in their logical place, after.

Closing passage:

Ephesians 6:1-4

Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. "Honor your father and mother" (this is the first commandment with a promise), "that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land." Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.