2024-08-07 Issues in Education

One of the political issues that has come to the forefront in recent years is the question:

Ultimately, who is the most qualified caretaker for minors?

• Children are given to parents who are responsible before God for raising and educating them

Genesis 1:27-28 (NLT2) ²⁷  So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. ²⁸  Then God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and govern it. Reign over the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the animals that scurry along the ground.”

What does it mean to “be fruitful and multiply”? 

Psalm 127:3 (NLT2) ³  Children are a gift from the LORD; they are a reward from him.

A gift – from whom to whom? 

Malachi 2:15 (NLT2) ¹⁵  Didn’t the LORD make you one with your wife? In body and spirit you are his. And what does he want? Godly children from your union. So guard your heart; remain loyal to the wife of your youth.

• In Deuteronomy, God begins to “lay down the law” about children. Throughout the OT there is a series of passages about who is to teach children. It always assumes these things happen in a family setting.

Deuteronomy 4:9-10 (NIV) ⁹  Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them. ¹⁰  Remember the day you stood before the LORD your God at Horeb, when he said to me, “Assemble the people before me to hear my words so that they may learn to revere me as long as they live in the land and may teach them to their children.”

Deuteronomy 6:4-7 (NIV) ⁴  Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. ⁵  Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. ⁶  These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. ⁷  Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.

The responsibility for teaching children was given to whom? 

• There was also direction given to children

Proverbs 1:8-9 (NIV) ⁸  Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction and do not forsake your mother’s teaching. ⁹  They will be a garland to grace your head and a chain to adorn your neck.

Who is being taught? Who is the teacher? 

Proverbs 4:1 (NIV) ¹  Listen, my sons, to a father’s instruction; pay attention and gain understanding.

Who is being taught? Who is the teacher? 

Proverbs 5:1-2 (NIV) ¹  My son, pay attention to my wisdom, listen well to my words of insight, ²  that you may maintain discretion and your lips may preserve knowledge.

Who is being taught? Who is the teacher? 

Proverbs 6:20-23 (NLT2) ²⁰  My son, obey your father’s commands, and don’t neglect your mother’s instruction. ²¹  Keep their words always in your heart. Tie them around your neck. ²²  When you walk, their counsel will lead you. When you sleep, they will protect you. When you wake up, they will advise you. ²³  For their command is a lamp and their instruction a light; their corrective discipline is the way to life.

Who is being taught? Who is the teacher? 

Proverbs 22:6 (NLT2) ⁶  Direct your children onto the right path, and when they are older, they will not leave it.

Who is being taught? Who is the teacher? 

• This is also true in the New Testament

Ephesians 6:1-4 (NLT2) ¹  Children, obey your parents because you belong to the Lord, for this is the right thing to do. ²  “Honor your father and mother.” This is the first commandment with a promise: ³  If you honor your father and mother, “things will go well for you, and you will have a long life on the earth.” ⁴  Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger by the way you treat them. Rather, bring them up with the discipline and instruction that comes from the Lord.

Who is being taught? Who is the teacher? 

Colossians 3:20-21 (CJB) ²⁰  Children, obey your parents in everything; for this pleases the Lord. ²¹  Fathers, don’t irritate your children and make them resentful, or they will become discouraged.

Who is being taught? Who is the teacher? 

• What did Jesus have to say?

Matthew 19:14-15 (NLT2) ¹⁴  But Jesus said, “Let the children come to me. Don’t stop them! For the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to those who are like these children.” ¹⁵  And he placed his hands on their heads and blessed them before he left.

There is absolutely no indication that either culture or government has the responsibility for training children or deciding what children should be taught.

The responsibility falls entirely on the parents.

Examples of non-Biblical policies

• Communist and Socialist countries
• Gaza and Palestine
• Germany

The threat has now reached American shores.

• New Hampshire
• Duval County Public Schools – in 2020 published “LGBTQ Support Guide” that stated that “it is never appropriate to divulge the sexual orientation of a student to a parent”
• 2022 Clay County

Is that biblical?

Parents should never even begin to think that the public school system is replacing the parents as the party primarily responsible for training children.

The Bible in Schools

• The majority of our Founders wanted Bible as textbook in public schools
• The Old Deluder Satan Act

Many children were taught at home, and in 1642 the General Court of Massachusetts (that is, its legislature) expanded education by enacting the first public education law in the nation. It required that all children, both boys and girls, receive an education and be taught the principles of religion. ¹⁴⁸ That law also started public, or what they called common, schools. Five years later, a 1647 law affirmed that a general education was necessary because it was the “one chief project of that old deluder, Satan, to keep men from the knowledge of the Scripture”¹⁴⁹— that is, Satan wanted to keep people from being able to read, and thus from knowing the Bible. But Massachusetts was not going to let this happen. That education law became known as The Old Deluder Satan Act.^[1]

• President Jefferson designated the Bible for use in public schools

…While serving as president, Jefferson authored the original plan of education for the public schools of Washington DC. As the primary reading texts for students, he selected the Bible and Watts Hymnal, one of the most influential hymnals in Christendom. ^{184 [2]}

• The “Father of Public Schools” in America contended for the use of the Bible in public Schools

Benjamin Rush^[3] – The great enemy of the salvation of man, in my opinion, never invented a more effective means of limiting Christianity from the world than by persuading mankind that it was improper to read the Bible at schools. ^{104 [4]}

• Congress agreed in 1777 to import Bibles for use in schools

In 1777, a request was therefore placed before the Continental Congress by three Philadelphia ministers to print or import more Bibles. They explained, “unless timely care be used to prevent it, we shall not have Bibles for our schools and families and for the public worship of God in our churches” ¹⁸⁸ Congress agreed with the sentiments of those clergymen and therefore announced: “The Congress desire to have a Bible printed under their care and by their encouragement.” ¹⁸⁹ A special congressional committee convened to find a solution. It concluded…: [T]he use of the Bible is so universal and its importance so great,…your Committee recommend that Congress will order the Committee of Commerce to import 20,000 Bibles from Holland, Scotland, or elsewhere, into the different ports of the States of the Union.^{190 [5]}

All laws and policies

are based on somebody’s

values and worldview.

There are no better values and worldview

than what we find in Scripture.

Should Christians give any support to the idea of government-supported public schools? 

Public schools should be helping parents in their task.

(MULTILINE REVEAL BIG)

1. Barton, David; Barton, Tim. The American Story: The Beginnings (pp. 181-182). BookBaby. Kindle Edition. NOTE: Blue numbers are designated footnotes in the Bartons’ book that support these claims. ↑

2. Ibid. p 396 ↑

3. Signer of Declaration; considered by John Adams to be one of America’s three most notable Founding Fathers, alongside George Washington and Benjamin Franklin; founded – with Benjamin Franklin – the first anti-slavery society in America; “The Father of Public Schools Under the Constitution”; an advocate for free public schools for all youth ↑

4. Ibid. p 243 ↑

5. Ibid. p 293 ↑

Please