The Secularization Of America Through Public Education And The Urgent Need For The Church To Respond
In this article I am going to make a proposition that the secularization of American society is directly linked to and primarily caused by the embracing and utilization of the public school system. If this premise is true, then the response to correct the error is in abandoning public schools and taking back the responsibility of raising our kids.
The Link Between Public Education And The Irreligious
Speaking boldly against the public school system in my context has been widely criticized both in my time in the Midwest and the past decade that I've spent in the Southwest. People of all backgrounds seem to love their children's School. Experience has also shown me that parents either outright ignore or ignorantly whitewash the crime, corruption, and inferior product put out by these public schools by simply normalizing it. Using the idiom 'it is what it is' is not the right mindset to take when talking about the welfare of our children and the state of our society. Public education was founded on the principals of socialism and totalitarian regimes. This methodology of educating children is foreign to the Bible. But the abysmal moral implications of being raised in the public school system is a result of breaking the Biblical tradition of doing what should be done, not a matter of restoring a system to something it never was so it can produce something else. Public schools were never designed to lift up and exalt the name of Christ. We should not be surprised that those coming out of them don't either.
Those Who Know The Power Of Indoctrination Change History
Whether for better or for worst, those who understand the significance of educating a generation have had the most influence throughout history.
Hitler understood:
"I want to raise a generation of young people who are devoid of conscience, imperious, relentless, and cruel."¹
"As long as the government is perceived as working for the benefit of the children, the people will happily endure almost any curtailment of liberty and almost any deprivation."¹
So did Karl Marx:
"The education of all children, from the moment that they can get along without a mother's care, shall be in state institutions."²
One generation is all it takes to flourish in freedom and prosperity or to crumble under socialism and governmental oppression.
"Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction."³ - Ronald Reagan
Whether a movement is for freedom, social change, justice, or power, if you have control over the indoctrination of the next generation your agenda will come to pass. These things, of course, follow the everlasting truth of God's Word in the proverb that teaches to "Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it." (Proverbs 22:6, ESV) and the warning to "...be on your guard and diligently watch yourselves, so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen, and so that they do not slip from your heart as long as you live." (Deuteronomy 4:9, ESV). God has given his people a timeless method for preserving the Gospel and advancing his Kingdom from generation to generation. It is no surprise then, that when we began falling away from the simple precepts of the Lord that we also began losing our children to the world.
Christians Will Suffer Greatly If We Fail To Take Action
From our foundation America quickly became the envy of the free world. The success of this country is undoubtably due to its founding on Judeo-Christian values. God's law, in part, is meant to restrain evil. When we see laws forbidding murder, incest, theft, rape, limiting government, promoting and defending inalienable rights of individuals, and how to seek justice and see the government properly affect it, these are all truths derived from God with the intent of restraining evil and promoting righteousness.
Do not forget the Babylonian captivity! God used Babylon as his agent of judgement against Israel for their sins of idolatry and rebellion against him. He used an ungodly and unbelieving people as judgement against his chosen people. We do not need to reconstruct biblical prophesy or improperly interpret historical events. Simply realize that great suffering comes to God's people when subjected to the rule of those not governed by his truth. The lack of God's truth is lawlessness. Would he not continue to work in similar ways with his Church today?
Suffering Has Already Begun
We are seeing events in this country that were unthinkable only years ago. Christian businesses are being sued and closed for not advocating for immoral practices. Christian parents are being arrested for homeschooling their kids. Teachers are being fired for promoting Christianity. Socialism is openly promoted and embraced. Homosexual marriage is legal in all 50 states. Children are being dressed in drag and being subjected to the mentally ill. A baby, full term, can be legally murdered in the safety of its mothers womb seconds before birth. These are but a few dramatically shifting trends lately.
If we don't take swift action not only is there no reason to think that things will improve but they will surely continue to deteriorate rapidly if we don't.
What Christians Must Do To Reverse The Cultural Exodus From The Church And Corruption Of Society
I take a presuppositional apologetic when approaching any topic in this life. It really should be the only mindset that Christians have if they actually believe the Bible to be true. So whether some make the argument that not all schools are so bad or that they are sending their extremely malleable children to be lights in the world, pragmatism falls flat. You can't change truth by changing thought. A "good" public school is still a bad choice for the Christian and placing a child you're instructed to protect and train up in the faith into a godless and increasingly hostile place in which they're expected to submit and conform to will always be an unfaithful and incorrect decision if made willfully.
God Instructs Parents To Raise And Train Their Children
There are some important biblical positions that are constructed from a lack of information that have had profoundly negative effects in our world recently, specifically in Christendom. I won't open the can of worms of eschatology here, but briefly look at the view of dispensational premillennialism and where our world is headed. The idea is heavily dependent on a lack or absence of information (referring to the church not being mentioned in a chunk of Revelation) rather looking at what is evident. The belief was derived not from what was revealed but from something that was claimed to have not been. Based on this, countless Christians believe the world is going to become worst and worst until Jesus returns and rescues us from it. Where is there room for optimism and any motivation for effort if you have a fatalistic position of the degradation of all peoples and places until its inevitable destruction? That doesn't sound like the reign of Christ, spread of the gospel, conquering of nations, and expansion of his Kingdom that I read about.
Likewise, the strongest argument Christian parents can make for supporting the use of the public school system for their kids is based on a lack or absence of information and instruction. But the reason that the church historically never entertained the idea of sending their children off to be trained by the government, or anyone else, is that they saw clearly the commands and pattern throughout the Bible that it was in fact their responsibility. All a parent has to do is open the Bible and submissively search out God's truth for how they are supposed to educate their kids. If you think the Bible is silent on the topic, you've never researched it. And why would we not search and submit to God's truth for one of the most important things we do with our lives?
If you are willing to submit to God's Word, here are some places to start on this critical subject: Exodus 34:10-16, Deuteronomy 6:6 9, Psalm 1:1 2, Psalm 78:1 11, Psalm 127:3 5, Proverbs 4, Proverbs 6:20-23, Proverbs 13:20, Proverbs 22:6, Proverbs 23:7, Ecclesiastes 4:12, Isaiah 54:13, Jeremiah 10:2, Ezekiel 33:1-9, Mal. 4:5 6, Matt 7:24 29, Matthew 18:1-7, Matthew 22:21, Luke 1:57-80, Luke 6:39-40, John 7:15, 1 Corinthians 15:33, 2 Corinthians 6:14, 2 Corinthians 10:5, Ephesians 6:4, 2 Timothy 2:15 and 3 John 4.
From Genesis onward the pattern and method used by God's people for training up each generation has been the responsibility of the parent. If we don't return to this important pattern we will quickly enter into a period of great persecution and lose countless more to the world.
Will the Church sit by in awe as an increasingly unbelieving and evil society militates against it or will we submit to God's instruction and dress for battle? The unbelieving world is working tirelessly to indoctrinate your kids. It's time to take them back and continue to advance the Kingdom of God to the glory of Christ.
"Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession." - Psalm 2:8