A Profoundly Troubling Statement

9 words Jesus uttered could turn one's concept of school on its head. 

Jesus made a profoundly troubling statement when He said, "He who is not with Me, is against Me." (Matthew 12:30)

What did He mean by this statement? Did He mean what it sounds like He said? If a person is not with (or for) Christ, is he or she against Him? 

What if a person is not a Christ-follower, but never says anything bad about Christ, never uses His name in vain, never criticizes or thinks poorly of people who follow Him? Is that person against Christ, because he or she is not for Him? 

It appears so. Jesus said a lot of difficult things.

What about schools? If an institution selling knowledge and understanding is not for Christ, is it against Christ? 

Are non-Christian schools (public or private) against Christ, if they never mention His name to a student, one way or another, for 13 years? 

We need to think about this. Deeply. 

Does a school have to announce that it is "against Christ" in order to be against Christ? Must it be written in the official handbook, "Our school is against Christ," or be posted on the classroom wall, or discussed at parent-teacher meetings in order for this to be the case?

Let's pose the question another way. "Are non-Christian schools for Christ?" 

What might happen if you asked your local public school principal (who is a dedicated Christian attending your church, and clearly called to serve in that capacity): "Is your school for Christ?" 

What if the answer is: "Our school is neither for nor against Christ. We have students who are Christians, and students who are not Christians. We take no position on the matter, pro or con, at school. We're neutral."

Would Christ say this school (which is an institution selling knowledge and understanding) is for Him or against Him?

Sometimes Jesus' words are profoundly troubling. 

They're meant to be. 

Contact RenewaNation at www.renewanation.org 

Silence Speaks Louder Than Words

Would it concern Christian parents if their children were being indoctrinated in Buddhism at their local school?

In the majority of U.S. schools today, it is not permitted to teach the way Noah Webster envisioned we should teach children. In declaring, “education is useless without the Bible,” Webster condemned the wasteland of disoriented learning we see today. Did he not?

In most schools, it is no longer permitted to teach students that the Bible provides True North for adequately understanding every subject in school. Yet, it is allowable to teach (directly or indirectly) that a framework of meaning is something students determine for themselves.   

Here’s the big question: If it is a faith position to teach students that the Bible provides the overarching framework of meaning and purpose for learning and living, is it not also a faith position to teach—or to imply—that it does not?  

If it is a faith position to say, “Jesus is Lord of all, and by Him and through Him all things exist,” is it not also a faith position to say—in so many words or lack thereof—“Christ and the Bible are irrelevant to our discussion of pronouns and math?” Are not both statements faith positions? 

To teach students that Christ and the Bible are irrelevant to pronouns and math can be done very effectively without telling them this directly. A teacher does not have to stand in front of a class and say “the Bible has nothing to do with our discussion” to communicate the message that the Book is irrelevant. In school, silence speaks louder than words.  

If we think the U.S. system of education is religiously neutral, think again. If state schools were indoctrinating children in Buddhism, Islam, or Native American Animism, many Christian parents would hit the ceiling. Maybe. But when it comes to indoctrinating children in John Dewey's "Common Faith" (the Non-theistic Faith in autonomous human self-sufficiency), Christian parents are curiously passive. (See Dewey's, A Common Faith.)

Apparently enough Christian parents think Secularism is neutral, and if their children can learn to read and write well enough to enter a university, they'll give secularized/secularizing education a big pass. Apparently enough Christian parents feel that if teachers don't stand up in front of a class and say, "the Bible is a fairy tale," things are OK.

Yet, when teachers don't place a single academic subject into the context of a biblical frame-of-reference over a period of 13 years, are those teachers really being "neutral?"

Contact RenewaNation at www.renewanation.org 

Which Faith?

First Church of the Secularized MInd?

As shocking as it may sound, public elementary and secondary schools in the U.S. prior to the 20th century were overtly Christian in orientation and practice. This is evidenced by the texts commonly used in public schools. 

Texts such as the McGuffey Readers, which contained many references to Scripture and to Biblical ideals. It sold some 120 million copies between 1836 and 1960.  

Perhaps the most noteworthy evidence of Christian thought being blended with U.S. education prior to the 20th century is Noah Webster’s American Dictionary of the English Language (1828). This magnum opus took Webster 28 years to complete. It is full of Bible references, and Webster had a distinctly Christian purpose in writing the dictionary, which he plainly laid out in the Preface to the work. 

"Education," wrote Webster, "is useless without the Bible. The Bible was America's basic text book in all fields. God's Word, contained in the Bible, has furnished all necessary rules to direct our conduct." 

As the United States transitioned to a state-run system in the late 1800’s, Princeton theologian A.A. Hodge declared: “It is self-evident that on this scheme, if it is consistently and persistently carried out in all parts of the country, the United States system of national popular education will be the most efficient and wide instrument for the propagation of Atheism which the world has ever seen.”

What is being propagated today makes mere Atheism look pale.

That which was “self-evident” to A.A. Hodge, was not so “self-evident” to others. The "scheme,” as Hodge called it, was indeed carried out. Few decisions have had greater long-term consequences for American society than the placing of children’s education into the hands of the State.

Many people, including Christians, may balk at Hodge’s words, insisting that State education is "neutral" when it comes to matters of faith. Really? Do we not understand that Secularism is a faith, too? It takes remarkable faith to be an Atheist, or a Materialist, or a Humanist, or a Secularist of any sort.

The question of not mixing faith with education must be carefully re-examined. The question is not whether faith will be allowed to mix with education, but which faith?

The fact is, faith is being mixed daily with state education today. It’s just a different kind of faith than the one that was mixed with U.S. schools for our first 150 years.  

Stay tuned.  

Contact RenewaNation at www.renewanation.org 

Let's Revive The Lost Purpose For Learning

Got meaning?

Followers of Christ in the United States are coming to the sober realization that the Christian foundations for law, civil government, economics, family and gender that once provided commonly accepted harbor lights for society have not just been dimmed, but replaced.

The incessant move toward the secularization of society and the privatization of Christianity that took place in the 20th century has been enormously successful, being expedited greatly through elementary and secondary schools, as well as higher education.

What do we do now?

Renewing our nation necessitates the teaching of children. Those who understand this, take the long view. Ideas acquired by children, especially prior to high school, are not immediately felt on a national level because it takes time for little acorns to grow into giant oaks. But grow they will. In 2020, we are experiencing the fruit of 3 generations of the focused and intentional secularization of children's minds prior to age 13. From 14 to 18, it's mostly reinforcement. 

This blog is a call to action for Christ-followers to be focused and intentional about the de-secularization of children's minds, through formal and informal education. This process not only involves school teachers and headmasters, but church workers who interact with students between the ages of 4 and 18, pastors who educate families from the pulpit, and especially parents, who teach their children daily by default or design, as well as grandparents.

Among other things, let's revive the lost purpose for learning. This purpose has been neglected for 150 years in the U.S., and cries out to be restored, both in the U.S. and elsewhere in the world. This can only be done if we will first understand what has been lost, and then take the necessary steps to regain that lost purpose in ways that are systemic, intentional and repeatable.

This will not be a quick fix. It took 3 generations to get into the mess we're in, and it may take another 5 to get out. If so, so be it. If not, thank God.  

Albert Einstein once said, “The formulation of a problem is often more essential than its solution…” With this in mind, let’s start by formulating the problem, in order to more fully understand what has been lost, before we look at how it can be regained.

What exactly has been lost?

To be continued.

Contact RenewaNation at www.renewanation.org 

Ignorance, Unwillingness Or Fear

Last month, Christian Overman was the guest of Carrie Abbott on her Relationships Insights radio program. Carrie is the Founder and President of The Legacy Institute.

Most US citizens are unaware that in former times, our laws and institutions were normatively aligned with the teachings of Christ. 

The Supreme Court affirmed this plainly in Church of the Holy Trinity v. United States (143 U.S. 457), quoting no less than 87 precedents:

"Our laws and our institutions must necessarily be based upon and embody the teachings of The Redeemer of mankind. It is impossible that it should be otherwise; and in this sense and to this extent our civilization and our institutions are emphatically Christian...This is a religious people. This is historically true. From the discovery of this continent to the present hour, there is a single voice making this affirmation...[W]e find everywhere a clear recognition of the same truth...These, and many other matters which might be noticed, add a volume of unofficial declarations to the mass of organic utterances that this is a Christian nation."

Feel like you're on another planet? Those words were written in 1892, and express what is no longer recognized.

But once was.

For this to be recognized again, depends largely upon the consent of the governed. 

In the US, we have this risky tenet called "consent of the governed." Currently, the governed of this nation are either unwilling to or ignorant of the fact that we can consent to the higher standards of God's Word and still have a fully functioning democratic Republic without violating the separation of Church and State. 

In this country, we once recognized the overarching role of Christ. We operated this way for 150+ years. Normally.  

What's getting in the way today? It's either ignorance, unwillingness or fear.  

Recently, Christian Overman was a guest on Carrie Abbott's "Relationships Insights" radio program. They discussed how churches can play a role in equipping congregants to be active participants in a return to normalcy.  

Christian and Carrie discussed how Critical Theory (a polarizing worldview imported from Europe to the US in the 1930s, and proliferated through higher education ever since) is imposing a social disorder that has produced lawlessness and great division, by design. Critical Theory is a much different view of reality than any US citizen conceived of in 1892.

For the first half of the interview, click here. For the second half, here.

For a FREE copy of An Introduction to Critical Theory, which Carrie Abbott calls "a game changer," click here. For a .pdf copy, here. 

Can we afford to not know this? You decide: click here.

Contact RenewaNation at www.renewanation.org