Voddie Baucham: "Christians will not win the culture war until they remove their children from Government Schools."
(This post was supposed to be This Week in Books: Week 3 - I kind of got long-winded in the first review, though!)
Jesse and I watched the two-DVD set, The Children of Caeser by Dr. Voddie Baucham this past Sunday. Like we have found all of his materials to be, these messages were thought-provoking and Scripturally-sound.
Dr. Baucham's thesis is that Christians will not win the culture war until they remove their children from Government Schools. I know this is a touchy subject and I've made a lot of folks upset in the past with how dogmatic I am that Christians should have no part in the government school system. However, I would challenge any Christian to give me a Scriptural basis for sending young children away from their parents for eight or more hours a day to be indoctrinated by a system which is anti-God. You can search the Scriptures high and low, but it isn't there.
If we don't have a Biblical basis for why we do what we do, how can we call ourselves Christ-followers? As parents, it is our responsibility before God to train up our children. We are called by God to shape their world view. How can we do this in our children's formative years if we are barely even spending any quality time with them at all? Devoid of parental involvement and oversight, peers, humanistic teachers, the media and modern entertainment industry, and a variety of other forces will gladly take our place.
I know that those last two paragraphs were really strong, maybe blatantly over-the-top strong for some of you. Please know that it is not my intent to offend, but to really encourage you to think Biblically, to use Scripture as your Guide for all of life and practice.
And lest you homeschoolers think you get off the hook in this post, let me say a few words to you: It is not enough for us to just pull our children out of the public school system or to remove wrong influences. No, we need to be filling our children's lives with the good, the wholesome, the God-honoring.
Sometimes I think we become complacent in thinking that as long as we avoid humanistic philosophies or corrupt peers, our children will be okay. We wrongfully assume that being a homeschooler means our children will automatically turn out alright.
I've been around homeschoolers long enough to know it doesn't work that way.
As parents we must be ever vigilant. We must constantly be praying for our children, constantly modeling a God-honoring life before them, constantly pouring into them God's Truths, and most of all, to be raising our children to be Godly adults.
My goal as a parent is to work myself out of a job. I want to raise my children up to submit to my authority so that they learn, at an early age, to submit to God's Authority. I want to train them to make wise decisions now with my guidance so that someday they will look to the Lord for guidance.
Jesse and I pray without ceasing that our girls would love the Lord with all of their hearts. Yes, we want to protect them from the evils of the world. Yes, we want them to be pure. Yes, we want them to be wise and discerning. Yes, we want to see them succeed in life.
But all of that is not enough - all that is meaningless, in fact - if they do not love the Lord with all their hearts. Homeschooled or public schooled, it really doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things, if they are not sold-out, impassioned soldiers of the Cross of Christ.
And so yes, we feel very strongly that God has called us to homeschool our children, but it goes so much deeper than academic education. We are called to train up these precious little ones that God has given us to be shot out as well-equipped arrows - to pierce through the sin and darkness of this world, to mightily impact our culture for the glory of God.
Related: If you are unfamiliar with Voddie Baucham, I highly encourage you to listen to this sermon and also, if possible, to buy a copy of his book, Family Driven Faith
. It was by far one of the best books I read in 2007.
Also finished this week:
Healthy Habits - 20 simple ways to healthier living. Simple ideas and a quick read. I was challenged to make more of an effort to cut back on sugar consumption.
Sweet and Sugar-Free An All-Natural Fruit-Sweetened Dessert Cookbook - Lots of great-looking recipes, some which I've added to my list to try soon. Definitely worth checking out if you have a sweet-tooth but are hoping to cut back on sugar.
Exodus - I am so enjoying reading straight through the Bible again! And reading around 4 chapters per day seems to be the perfect length. I have been amazed, once again, at just how normal the heroes of the Bible are - falling into sin, struggling again and again - and yet God used these very human people for His great glory!
[Note: I'm closing comments to this post because I know this is a hot topic and I don't have the time or desire to moderate a debate on the subject right now. I do encourage you to examine your own life and your own family's decisions and actions in light of Scripture, as this DVD series has caused me to do. Feel free to email me privately if you have any comments.]
Jesse and I watched the two-DVD set, The Children of Caeser by Dr. Voddie Baucham this past Sunday. Like we have found all of his materials to be, these messages were thought-provoking and Scripturally-sound.Dr. Baucham's thesis is that Christians will not win the culture war until they remove their children from Government Schools. I know this is a touchy subject and I've made a lot of folks upset in the past with how dogmatic I am that Christians should have no part in the government school system. However, I would challenge any Christian to give me a Scriptural basis for sending young children away from their parents for eight or more hours a day to be indoctrinated by a system which is anti-God. You can search the Scriptures high and low, but it isn't there.
If we don't have a Biblical basis for why we do what we do, how can we call ourselves Christ-followers? As parents, it is our responsibility before God to train up our children. We are called by God to shape their world view. How can we do this in our children's formative years if we are barely even spending any quality time with them at all? Devoid of parental involvement and oversight, peers, humanistic teachers, the media and modern entertainment industry, and a variety of other forces will gladly take our place.
I know that those last two paragraphs were really strong, maybe blatantly over-the-top strong for some of you. Please know that it is not my intent to offend, but to really encourage you to think Biblically, to use Scripture as your Guide for all of life and practice.
And lest you homeschoolers think you get off the hook in this post, let me say a few words to you: It is not enough for us to just pull our children out of the public school system or to remove wrong influences. No, we need to be filling our children's lives with the good, the wholesome, the God-honoring.
Sometimes I think we become complacent in thinking that as long as we avoid humanistic philosophies or corrupt peers, our children will be okay. We wrongfully assume that being a homeschooler means our children will automatically turn out alright.
I've been around homeschoolers long enough to know it doesn't work that way.
As parents we must be ever vigilant. We must constantly be praying for our children, constantly modeling a God-honoring life before them, constantly pouring into them God's Truths, and most of all, to be raising our children to be Godly adults.
My goal as a parent is to work myself out of a job. I want to raise my children up to submit to my authority so that they learn, at an early age, to submit to God's Authority. I want to train them to make wise decisions now with my guidance so that someday they will look to the Lord for guidance.
Jesse and I pray without ceasing that our girls would love the Lord with all of their hearts. Yes, we want to protect them from the evils of the world. Yes, we want them to be pure. Yes, we want them to be wise and discerning. Yes, we want to see them succeed in life.
But all of that is not enough - all that is meaningless, in fact - if they do not love the Lord with all their hearts. Homeschooled or public schooled, it really doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things, if they are not sold-out, impassioned soldiers of the Cross of Christ.
And so yes, we feel very strongly that God has called us to homeschool our children, but it goes so much deeper than academic education. We are called to train up these precious little ones that God has given us to be shot out as well-equipped arrows - to pierce through the sin and darkness of this world, to mightily impact our culture for the glory of God.
Related: If you are unfamiliar with Voddie Baucham, I highly encourage you to listen to this sermon and also, if possible, to buy a copy of his book, Family Driven Faith
. It was by far one of the best books I read in 2007.Also finished this week:
Healthy Habits
- 20 simple ways to healthier living. Simple ideas and a quick read. I was challenged to make more of an effort to cut back on sugar consumption.Sweet and Sugar-Free
An All-Natural Fruit-Sweetened Dessert Cookbook - Lots of great-looking recipes, some which I've added to my list to try soon. Definitely worth checking out if you have a sweet-tooth but are hoping to cut back on sugar.Exodus - I am so enjoying reading straight through the Bible again! And reading around 4 chapters per day seems to be the perfect length. I have been amazed, once again, at just how normal the heroes of the Bible are - falling into sin, struggling again and again - and yet God used these very human people for His great glory!
[Note: I'm closing comments to this post because I know this is a hot topic and I don't have the time or desire to moderate a debate on the subject right now. I do encourage you to examine your own life and your own family's decisions and actions in light of Scripture, as this DVD series has caused me to do. Feel free to email me privately if you have any comments.]
Labels: Hot Topics, Mothering, Reviews
posted by Crystal Paine at 4:36 PM
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