Does God Have a Claim On Your Child?

The recognition of God’s claim on your child should help you to decide that Christian education is worth the cost and time.

The typical school year begins with much enthusiasm. That is especially true for families who have their children in private Christian education. There is great anticipation and expectation for what will be accomplished. But as the fall months pass into winter months, the obligation of paying a monthly tuition bill sometimes begins to weigh heavily upon the minds of parents. Should I continue to make this sacrifice? Is it really worth it? Am I depriving my family of other benefits?

Can we as Christian parents answer these questions using only financial criteria to guide us? I think not! It is vital to examine the questions from the viewpoint of God’s claim upon our children. Does God have such a claim? Is He concerned about the nature of the educational experience that we provide for our children?

The answer is “yes!” Romans 14:7-8 states, “For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself. For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s.” If that passage is not enough, the prophet Ezekiel reports the word of the Lord in chapter 18, verse 4, “Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die.” This latter passage is addressing individual responsibility before God. The message of the Bible is clear on this very issue: God created children; therefore, He has first claim upon each child’s life. That claim extends to the nature of the educational program provided by their parents. When viewed in terms of the Word of God, one must wonder if any sacrifice is too great to keep children in a Christian school setting.

Some find the concept of “first claim” or “ownership” to be somewhat offensive. Yet the Scriptures previously cited clearly make the point of God’s ownership of children and, therefore, He has first claim upon them. The world certainly does not hesitate to make its claim. Typically, the world’s claim is stated as one of three positions. First, many public educators and legislators say that the state owns the child and that each child is a ward of the state, particularly for educational purposes. That testimony is frequently given before legislative committees. Second, others say that no one owns the child. In this case the child is granted the right to make his own decisions without the intervention of adults.

Unfortunately, many Christian parents fall into the trap of thinking their children belong to them. This is a false assumption.

Third, still others say that the parent owns the child. In this case, it is assumed that the parent has all authority in decision making relative to his child. None of these three views agrees with the teaching of the Bible.

Children belong to God; God has first claim upon their lives. Revelation 4:11 states, “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.” Children are created by God to do with as He pleases. His pleasure is for them to give Him first place in everything they do.

Then what is the responsibility of parents? Simply this: to rear and educate children in such a way that they are prepared to respond to the call of God in whatever God chooses for them to do in life. Obviously, this does not mean that all children will be called into some area of Christian service. It does mean, however, that each child will be ready to serve and obey God in whatever area of life he embraces, whether he becomes a teacher, brick mason, bus driver, salesman, doctor, secretary, preacher, missionary, or sanitation worker.

Education must be Christ-centered if it is to please God. It must be viewed as a primary means of preparing children for a life of service to God. Only a Christ- centered education will accomplish this end. Thus, all parents will answer to God for the nature of the educational experience that they give their children.

Is there an alternative for Christian parents? Can a public school’s educational program that is based on secular humanism accomplish that? The answer is “no!” Humanism teaches that there is no higher authority than the individual. That is the basis for all of the “rights oriented” and “politically correct” thinking that controls public policy. An educational system derived from those concepts of secular humanism simply cannot prepare a child to permit God to exercise His claim upon his life. That system can only reproduce after its kind, and its kind seeks only to serve self.

Does God have first claim on your child? The answer is “yes!” The recognition of God’s claim on your child should help you to conclude that your investment in a Christian educational program is worth it if for no other reason than it pleases God.

Dr. Phil Suiter is the former executive director of the West Virginia Christian Education Association.

Does Character Matter in Political Leaders?

The scandals surrounding many political leaders raise the question of whether character matters in a leader. For a Christian, the only answer must be an emphatic. “Yes! Character does matter.”

Scriptural passages setting forth the characteristics of leadership for civil and religious leaders makes it clear that sound character and a pure moral life are essential prerequisites. The reason for such requirements was identified by Jesus in Matthew 7:16-20 and Luke 6:43-44: bad roots will always produce bad fruits.

American founding father Samuel Adams expounded on this Biblical principle when he explained:

He who is void of virtuous attachments in private life is, or very soon will be, void of all regard of his country. There is seldom an instance of a man guilty of betraying his country who had not before lost the feeling of moral obligations in his private connections.., Private and public vices are in reality... connected... Nothing is more essential to the establishment of manners in a State than that all persons employed in places of power and trust be men of [exceptional] character. The public cannot be too curious concerning the characters of public men.

While many other Founders made similarly succinct declarations on the necessity of private morality in public officials (to read more of these quotes, see our book Original Intent), in recent weeks I discovered an especially interesting essay on this topic written in 1801 by Noah Webster. In that work, Webster explained why a high level of morality was necessary in the Presidency:

All history is a witness of the truth of the principle that good morals are essential to the faithful and upright discharge of public functions. The moral character of a man is an entire and indivisible thing—it cannot be pure in one part and defiled in another. A man may indeed be addicted, for a time, to one vice and not to another; but it is a solemn truth that any considerable breach in the moral sense facilitates the admission of every species of vice. The love of virtue first yields to the strongest temptation; but when the rampart [resistance] is broken down, it is rendered more accessible to every successive assailant... Corruption of morals is rapid enough in any country without a bounty [an encouragement] from government. And... the Chief Magistrate of the United States [the President] should be the last man to accelerate its progress.

America long understood what the Bible taught: the quality of government in any country depends more upon the quality and characteristic of leaders than laws. Signer of the Constitution and Supreme Court Justice William Paterson was one of the many Founders who reminded citizens of this truth by citing Proverbs 29:2, “When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: but when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn:”

For a Christian, there can be no other position: character does count, and morality—both private and public—is essential in our leaders.

“The moral character of a man is an entire and indivisible thing.” —Noah Webster

It is the responsibility of Christians to also be good citizens. Let each of us do our part by casting our vote for truth and righteousness while encouraging those around us to do the same.

-DAVID BARTON

Christian Values Are Foremost in Christian Education

 At the heart of Christian school education is values—Christian values. Christian schools unashamedly embrace Bible-based values, beliefs, and virtues. They also emphasize quality teaching, life skills, discipline, patriotism, character development, a safe environment, and a solid academic program. Thus, Christian schools focus on teaching the head knowledge and the heart Christian values.

 Most people agree with teaching values in schools. Regrettably, the teaching of biblical values offends some people. But why would anyone oppose the teaching of values simply because the teacher emphasizes the relationship between values and the Bible? Before addressing this question, the discussion needs a definition of the term value. A value is a belief, principle, standard, or trait regarded as meaningful, worthwhile, and desirable to a person, a family, a school, a state, or a society.

 A person’s values are based upon a belief system. A belief system is how a person thinks in relation to creation, to God, and to sin. No matter how one looks at values and the premises upon which they are based, values are always built upon how a person views God and His teachings as recorded in the Bible. For those who reject the values espoused in the Bible, they develop their own value system, or they adopt a system developed by society or a religion. However, for Christians, values are based on the teaching of Scripture. Therefore, Christians embrace Bible values because they want to honor God in everything they do (Col. 1:18).

 In relation to education, the issue of values is rooted in the religious premises espoused by the school and its teachers. Since teaching cannot exist in a religiously neutral vacuum, someone’s teachings will prevail in every classroom. The question is, “Whose teachings?” All teaching has a religious premise, whether it is the teacher’s teaching, a textbook’s teaching, or a school’s teaching. All teaching is embedded in philosophy, and philosophy has its biases. Thus, all educational institutions promote a value system, and every value in that system is assumed to be true by its proponents.

 Interestingly, research shows that social issues such as values, beliefs, and discipline rank decidedly in what parents want in the schools where their children attend. However, research does not define the supporting truths upon which these values are based. Is a value good because society says it is good, the school says it is good, or the teacher says it is good? Christian parents define their values on the basis of biblical teaching, and in turn teach these values to their children. The same principle applies with the schools their children attend. 

If parents don’t shape their children’s values, someone else will. That someone will teach their value system. Who is this “someone”? How about the school where your child attends’? How about society’s values as promoted by television, Internet, movies, magazines, and music? Which source do you want your child to model his values after— school, society, or the media? Actually, none of these!

 If you want your child to embrace and practice Christian values, you must model and teach them at home. This would include values such as honesty, trust, truth, responsibility, character, love, forgiveness, respect, tolerance, hard work, and other character development traits. The home is responsible, but the school where your child attends must complement your values, or what you value at home will be negated at school. The Bible tells us in Amos 3:3: “Can two walk together, except they be agreed?” When it comes to your child’s education, the home and school must be in one accord.

 All schools teach values, some by preference, some by conviction, and some by law. This is fact! The issue is:

“What values do I want taught in my child’s school?” If God is left out of a school’s philosophical value system, then the school is saying that what federal law and society say is OK with me.

 Think about this. Is it actually OK with you that God is left out of the value and belief system taught at your child’s school? The Bible answers this question for you: “I will teach you by the hand of God: that which is with the Almighty will I not conceal” (Job 27:11). So, what biblical rationale can a Christian parent use in supporting any teaching institution that leaves God and His values outside?

 This leads to an even more pointed question: Should Christian parents send their children to a school where God has no relevance, where God is omitted from textbooks, where being a Christian is not a prerequisite for teaching, where the Bible’s teachings are considered illegal or politically incorrect, and where Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is despised and held in contempt? I submit to the reader that every Christian’s child should be attending a school where God, His Son, prayer, and the Bible occupy positions of preeminence. To do otherwise is to deny God’s value system.

Dr Charles Walker is the executive director of the American Association of Christian Schools. He also serves as the executive director of the Tennessee Association of Christian Schools.

How Does Humanism Affect Your Child?

Something appalling has happened in America and most parents are completely unaware of what has taken place.

What is secular humanism? How has secular humanism influenced traditional family values and beliefs? How has secular humanism affected your child? What can you do to minimize the impact secular humanism has and will have upon your child? Parents would do well to ponder these questions.

Secular humanism, commonly called humanism, has become America’s new religion, a religion that begins and ends with man, as opposed to Christianity that begins and ends with God. According to humanists, no deity can save them, they must save themselves. Such empty rhetoric shows the foolishness of man’s thinking. Conversely, Psalm 100:3 states, “Know ye that the Lord he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.”

To better understand the beliefs and values advocated by humanists, read the following words taken from the Humanist Manifesto 11(1973), a document that is to the humanists what the Bible is to Christians. As you read, keep in mind that the people who wrote the Humanist Manifesto were well-educated, intelligent people of prominent positions in well-known institutions of learning.

We believe... that traditional dogmatic or authoritarian religions that place revelation, God, ritual, or creed above human needs and experience do a disservice to the human species. Any account of nature should pass the tests of scientific evidence; in our judgment, the dogmas and myths of traditional religions do not do so... We find insufficient evidence for belief in the existence of a supernatural; it is either meaningless or irrelevant to the questions of the survival and fulfillment of the human race. As nontheists, we begin with humans not God, nature not deity.

The U. S. Supreme Court ruled humanism as a religion in Torcaso v. Watkins (June 1961). The court stated, “Among religions in this country which do not teach what would generally be considered a belief in the existence of God are Buddhism, Taoism, Ethical Culture, Secular Humanism and others” (emphasis added). Four years later (1965), the U. S. Supreme Court ruled that a humanistic conscientious objector was eligible for a religious exemption from the armed services because of sincerely held religious beliefs.

In the January/February 1983 issue of The Humanist, John Dunphy stated that the faith of humanists, not the “rotting corpse of Christianity,” was the secular school’s religious base. Twenty-two years after the 1961 Supreme Court’s decision, Dunphy wrote:

These [humanist] teachers must embody the same selfless dedication as the most rabid fundamentalist preachers, for they will be ministers of another sort, utilizing a classroom instead of a pulpit to convey humanist values in whatever subject they teach, regardless of the educational level—preschool day care or large state university.

Furthermore, the Supreme Court has expelled Christianity from secular education, and humanism, a system of beliefs that denies the divine Christ, exists as the acceptable religion of secular education. Keep in mind that for humanists, there is no God; there is no heaven; there is no Jesus Christ; there is no supernatural; there is no life after death. If humanists cannot prove something scientifically, they reject it; that is, if they cannot see, feel, hear, taste, or smell something, they reject its existence.

Undeniably, humanistic thinking has gained control of secular schools. Whereas secular schools do have some Christian teachers, in reality these teachers have strict religious limitations placed upon them by the Supreme Court. Secular schools promote humanism through their textbooks and secular- thinking teachers. Clearly, secular humanism has deprived secular schools of a moral, Christian purpose.

Application

Christian school students learn from Christian teachers who honor the Lord, teach Bible values, revere the teaching of Scripture, and respect the family. The school environment is safe and the academic program is strong. The Christian school protects your child from the teachings of secular humanism. The question is often asked: “Why would Christian parents consciously embrace an indoctrinating philosophy that denies the Christian faith? After all, students attending secular schools are bombarded daily with secular values and beliefs.” You know this, of course; this is why you selected a Christian school for your child to attend. Fortunately, you are among those parents who recognize the worth of a Christian school and the danger of humanism. Never let anyone convince you otherwise! Know this for sure: God is pleased with your decision.