Many of us claim that we believe the scriptures to be the Word of God. This should by both implication and explicit command in the scriptures mean that the commands therein would be binding for anyone naming the name of Jesus as Savior and Christ. However, it seems from our actions that we only really mean that we believe the bible when it is convenient. My question to you is what have you done lately as a result of your bible study that has cost you and where is the sanction for your actions in scripture?
For our family we are paying a price for our commitment to welcoming children as the blessing from the Lord the Scriptures declare them to be. (Ps. 139:1-24; Ps. 127:1-5 ; Gen 1:28; Gen 29:31; Gen 30:22).
Here are 2 takes on the same issue and while their solutions may differ they both agree – Something is wrong in Mudville!
First we start with a secular filmmaker who takes a hard look at the education establishment in America. While I doubt I would agree with his solutions to the problem I find it interesting that a man who by all indications makes no profession of submission to Christ sees what Pastors and Christian Parents refuse to acknowledge – the youth ministry of the church of secular humanism (government schools) are horribly broken! It is to our shame that those without eyes to see the truth see in their groping what we who have had our eyes opened by Christ willfully shut our eyes against. Take a look:
The good news is, believers are beginning to wake up.
This next one is from Gunn Brothers Productions an award winning Christian production company who is tackling the issue from a distinctly Christian worldview. I really appreciate these guys and their work. I would most likely fall closer to their solutions to the issue and highly recommend you see this film when it is released this fall. Take a look at the issue through the lens of the scriptures:
“A disciple[1] is not above his teacher[2], but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher.” Luke 6:40 ESV
(footnotes added)
1 μαθητής – one who engages in learning through instruction from another, pupil, apprentice (1)
2 διδάσκαλος – teacher (2)
Who then will your children be like?
(1) – William Arndt, Frederick W. Danker and Walter Bauer, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, “Based on Walter Bauer’s Griechisch-Deutsches Wr̲terbuch Zu Den Schriften Des Neuen Testaments Und Der Frhchristlichen [Sic] Literatur, Sixth Edition, Ed. Kurt Aland and Barbara Aland, With Viktor Reichmann and on Previous English Editions by W.F. Arndt, F.W. Gingrich, and F.W. Danker.”, 3rd ed. (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 609.
“He who does not bellow the truth when he knows the truth makes himself the accomplice of liars and forgers.” – Charles Peguy
This is one of the leading quotes in the latest edition of “The Continuing Collapse” over at Voddie Baucham’s blog. Please go read this well researched monthly feature on the state of education in America. Every parent needs to be informed of the direction and state of our schools and these gentlemen have done the leg work for you but have also clearly documented their sources for your own research so that you might be a Berean in your daily walk. Read the full post
More than half beaten, but fearless, Facing the storm and the night; Breathless and reeling but tearless, Here in the lull of the fight, I who bow not but before thee, God of the fighting Clan, Lifting my fists, I implore Thee, Give me the heart of a Man!
What though I live with the winners Or perish with those who fall? Surely the cowards are sinners, Fighting the fight is all. Strong is my foe – he advances! Snapt is my blade, O Lord! See the proud banners and lances! Oh, spare me this stub of a sword!
Give me no pity, nor spare me; Calm not the wrath of my Foe. See where he beckons to dare me! Bleeding, half beaten – I go. Not for the glory of winning, Not for the fear of the night; Shunning the battle is sinning – Oh, spare me the heart to fight!
Red is the mist about me; Deep is the wound in my side; “Coward” thou criest to flout me? O terrible Foe, thou hast lied! Here with my battle before me, God of the fighting Clan, Grant that the woman who bore me Suffered to suckle a Man!
“…we’re not as concerned as we ought to be about the millions of young men who are floundering or lost.
But they’re there: The young men who are working in the lowest-level (and most dangerous) jobs instead of going to college. Who are sitting in prison instead of going to college. [My note: I would also add "instead of becoming entrepreneurs", understanding the great opportunities that await and are not limited to those with college degrees.] Who are staying out of the long-term marriage pool because they have little to offer to young women. Who are remaining adolescents, wasting years of their lives playing video games for hours a day, until they’re in their thirties, by which time the world has passed many of them by.
Root Problem
Whether in the prison system, in my university classes or in the schools where I help train teachers, I have noticed a systemic problem with how we teach and mentor boys that I call “industrial schooling,” and that I believe is a primary root of our sons’ falling behind in school, and quite often in life.
Two hundred years ago, realizing the necessity of schooling millions of kids, we took them off the farms and out of the marketplace and put them in large industrial-size classrooms (one teacher, 25 to 30 kids). For many kids, this system worked — and still works. But from the beginning, there were some for whom it wasn’t working very well. Initially, it was girls. It took more than 150 years to get parity for them.
Problem With Industrialized Schooling
Now we’re seeing what’s wrong with the system for millions of boys…Beginning in very early grades, the sit-still, read-your-book, raise-your-hand-quietly, don’t-learn-by-doing-but-by-taking-notes classroom is a worse fit for more boys than it is for most girls. This was always the case, but we couldn’t see it 100 years ago. We didn’t have the comparative element of girls at par in classrooms. We taught a lot of our boys and girls separately. We educated children with greater emphasis on certain basic educational principles that kept a lot of boys “in line” — competitive learning was one. And our families were deeply involved in a child’s education.
By navigating to these pages from here, any purchases you make will benefit our Family as we seek to Glorify God in the vision he has given us. If you chose to encourage us by patronizing these businesses please accept our thanks in advance for your coins in our Beggar's Cup.
