Public School: Idolatry

Introduction

In all my years of Godly Troublemaking I can honestly say that there is one cultural idol that stands out above the rest, especially in evangelical circles. I have done my best to mock and malign arguments and lofty opinions raised against the knowledge of God, and perhaps even have a little fun along the way…perhaps even too much fun…one may even dare to say that I put the fun back in fundamentalism…others would say I just forgot the “n”. I would like to believe it’s a little bit of both.

All this to say, that I have received just a wee-bit of “constructive criticism” over the years, and said “criticism” coupled with the volume and adjectives surrounding said criticism can be very helpful indicators letting you know when you have pissed all the way the Asherah poll.

There seems to be one idol that illicits more noise than all the rest, again, especially in

evangelical circles. Although it seems, that in the past decade, the mushies within the church have become more sympathetic towards abortion, or at least silent on abortion for the sake of being winsome, and they have certainly become more sympathetic, if not outright embraced the homo-agenda…thus, invoking a response…nay, “constructive criticism” when said topics are brought up.

However, the one idol that seems to invoke an immediate gut level, vitriolic response…faster and more violent than any of the others when rebuked/exposed/mocked is that of public education. One would expect this regarding the secularists, after all, if you’re a secularist, it makes sense that you would want your child educated in secularism because the one thing that every parent wants to impart to their child is their worldview. Education being the most religious thing a parent can do and give to their children.

“Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.” Proverbs 22:6

“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. Deuteronomy 6:4-9

“Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.” Ephesians 6:4

Now a Christian parent may hear those verses and say, “yes, of course, I agree with you. This is why we read the Bible with our children, catechize them and pray with them and are members in good standing at a Bible believing, God-fearing church.” I would say Amen to that (if, in fact, that is the case). If this is the case (which would be best case scenario), it still doesn’t warrant sending your kids to the Leviathan of government education.

The message that you are sending to your children is that Christ is sovereign in your home and in your church, but not in the public school system. Submitting to Christ, here and here (home and church) is a matter of life and death, but not here (the school…). The best argument that one can muster in response to this is that the public school system is NEUTRAL. No, they are not, and you shouldn’t be…there is no such thing as neutrality!

If you actually think they’re neutral, ask yourself, are they neutral regarding the proclamation of Christ in the schools? Or, do they actively oppose it? Are Christian teachers free to actively declare the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ in every discipline...in this neutral system?

Also, in this NEUTRAL SYSTEM, Christian teachers are told without equivocation to never mention the name of Jesus…because neutrality and all. Like Winston Churchill said,

“Some peoples idea of free speech is that they are free to say whatever they like. But if anyone says anything back it is an outrage.”

Now, some may protest that they are sending their child to be educated by the Government regarding disciplines that are neutral…even though the system is not…because they would say, that there isn’t a distinctively Christian way to do math – It should be noted that the government just hired 87,000 IRS agents that would agree with them.

Is there a distinctively Christian way to do math? Yes…how about according to the Law of God. Or how about this, without the Triune God of Scripture who created by the Word of His power and orders the universe according to the word of His power is the only standard that makes the very concept of math possible?

Is there a distinctively Christian way of doing history?...just ask the Leftist that are trying to rewrite history. Is there a distinctively Christian way of doing science? Ask the CDC and

Anthony Fauci…or ask CCP, but then I repeat myself…the point is: there is no neutrality!

As evidenced by a recent statement by the Michigan Democratic Party,

“Not sure where this “parents-should-control-what-is-taught-in-schools-because-they-are-our-kids” is originating, but parents do have the option to choose to send their kids to a hand-selected private school at their own expense if this is what they desire. The purpose of a public education in a public school is not to teach kids only what parents what them to be taught. It is to teach them what society needs them to know. The client of the public school is not the parent, but the entire community, the public.”

The setting of curriculum is not neutral. The content of what is taught is not neutral. The

administrators hiring the teachers are not neutral. The ones doing the teaching are not neutral. The government that employs the administrators and teachers are not neutral. The government school system, in principle is Godless – at best, they teach that Jesus is irrelevant in the classroom (that’s not neutrality), at worst (what we have today), is not only the open hostility towards Christ, but any vestige of His image.

“Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters.” Matt. 12:30

...Yeah but, we are sure public school is the one exception! How is it then that any

Christian parent could lay their child on the alter of secularism? Some parents are

ignorant…they don’t know what the alternatives are, they don’t know what to do…they are concerned, overwhelmed and scared – understandably so. The church needs to come along side such parents and love and encourage and support them in whatever way they can.

Then there are others who are gung-ho supporters of the government school system and are constantly throwing up objections in order to support their negligence as parents and keep their kids under Nebuchadnezzar’s statue. The men that support this arrangement are fine with it because they are passive, and because they like the extra cheddar their wife brings in by working at the school – and because she is one of the “good ones” – she gives off enough holy jew-jew to support the existence of the entire godless system.

If you find yourself objecting to what I’m saying…perhaps even getting provoked and a little angry…I would say “said trouble-making hasn’t even begun yet – we’re still in the

introduction”. If you object, you should stick around and listen to my objections to your objections while being objectionally objectified!

Objectionable Objections

The first and perhaps most prevalent objection for not pulling their kids out of the government-mill is that their kids are missionaries. I spent a lot of time on this in episode 9 (you should go watch/listen to that again…Twice), so I’ll be brief here. No they are not missionaries! The vast majority of the time this is thrown out there by parents who have not equipped their children for this because they themselves are not equipped for this.

But in using this excuse they sound pious and nobody ever follows up with them, or challenges them on this – because, you know…evangelism is important for everyone else to do. These same parents will also refer to Daniel and say their kids are just like that…first of all, Daniel was exceptional, even amongst God’s elite…but even so, Daniel was taken as a slave to serve the king in Babylon. His parents didn’t send him and he didn’t willingly go – he was a slave…which I guess is a great comparison to the government schools!

True, Daniel was faithful to God in Babylon, but he constantly prayed for the restoration of his people and for their return from exile. He refused to practice the paganism of the state and it almost cost him his life, and would have, apart from divine intervention on more than one occasion.

Daniel would have never justified the existence of Babylon and all of their idolatry just because he was there as a missionary. Not only that, Daniel didn’t “win” Babylon – God had determined to destroy it – what makes you think your kid, whom you probably don’t read the Bible with and catechize, and have willingly sent to Babylon is greater than Daniel?

Another objection that people throw out there is that they turned out O.K. No you didn’t, you’re still trying to justify sending your kid into a godless, god forsaken system that the only good thing you can say about, is that it was so terrible but you survived. This does nothing but presuppose my point. You’re welcome!

What are some other things that people survive: cancer, shark attacks, rape, war, violent crime, robbery, jumping out of a burning building…I survived or I turned out ok – is not a justification for any of those thing happening and I would argue that if you could prevent any of those things from happening you would. Parents do everything in their power to keep their children out of harms way. The fact of the matter is that parents send their kids to public because they don’t perceive the danger – and I’m not talking about the socialism and the homoism…that’s all down stream…I’m talking about the perceived neutrality and godlessness.

Perhaps, one of the most well-known objections is that of “socialization.” It goes something like this, “I couldn’t possibly take my kids out of public school because they won’t get “socialized”…the underlining presupposition is that any and all socialization is good – which justifies sending your kids to prison were they receive forced socialization all day every day.

Not all socialization is good…in fact, some of it is horrible – like gangs and the democratic party. Also, where in the world did anyone get the idea that the only place a child can ever be around another human being is at the public school? Our church is filled with homeschoolers who are very well socialized…not to mention every other alternative to public schools. You would think someone would have the where-with-all to ask, how where children socialized before the invention of public system 100 years ago? Well, No one actually knows – it was rare to even see a child, they often lived in caves because there was no way to socialize them.

Another objection is that there is nothing wrong with the school…the only thing wrong with the schools is that parents need to get more involved because everyone knows if Dr. Frankenstein spent more time with his monster…he would have a nice monster.

The parents that care, have been involved, are involved and will continue to get involved…and it has changed nothing! So, in one respect, I would commend every parent that goes to school board meetings and gives them a good “what-have-you.” I also, can’t help but point out the obvious – you are actively supporting the very system that you are trying to change by still having your kid there…this, ensuring that nothing will change! Kinda like getting on a plane for Mexico but complaining the whole time about how you like Canada better. You may have impacted some people on the plane but when it lands – you’re in Mexico.

Here is another one…“I would love to do something different, but I can’t afford the alternative.” Well, what’s the opportunity cost of keeping your kid in public school – I dare reckon to say that it’s going to cost you and everyone else far more in the long run keeping them there.

Every single election cycle, politicians of both parties propose spending more money on public education in order to fix public education (which presupposes the obvious), but people eat it up because it’s an investment in the future of our country. We’re o.k. with the “government” spending an excessive amount of money of education, but you don’t want to – jokes on you, actually, the joke is on all of us.

Truth be told, you’re going to pay the piper one way or another. To pull your kids out of public school, will be hard and you will incur additional expenses no matter what you do. This is where churches should be on the front end of helping…why not dump that stupid youth ministry budget and actually use it for…well, youth ministry…namely, education.

If America rose to prominence in the world because of the fear of God, a protestant work ethic and free markets and competition. Why in the world would we ever think that a godless, socialist system like centralized public education would ever produce anything other than godless socialists?

Parents obviously care about “education”…politicians have done their polling, which is why they can’t shut up about it. If Christian parents removed their children en masse, it would be hard, initially, but the market would create a tremendous amount of innovation, alternatives, and competition…and the church should be on the front line helping parents out.

What about athletics? What about them? First of all, it’s not the role of the government, at any level, to ensure that your children have the opportunity to play games. Second, just because you want the opportunity for you kids to play games doesn’t justify the existence of a godless educational system even if they provide you with cookies…like games.

And, though I’m not supporting our sports idolatry I would just like to point out the obvious – if it costs the public schools three times as much to accomplish lesser results everywhere else…why would that also not be the case regarding athletics? Perhaps, strangling the public Behemoth would be good for athletics as well. Lastly, this should go without saying so let me say it – that’s not what schools are for!

Another objection for not removing your child from the Babylonian schools is the “Christian teacher”…Because the one stalwart Christian teacher who truly loves Jesus and her students is justification for coercing every Christian parent in our country to pay for a godless educational system. But if Miss Lippy can save just one kid than it was all worth it, just like one baby snatched from the hands of a smoldering Molech Idol was worth all the other ones murdered.

Honestly, this is just stupid. This good Christian teacher is not a slave in Babylon they’ve gone there willingly and they don’t even have half the balls of a Daniel - otherwise they would have quit a long time ago, or been fired a long time ago. And, if there are so many good Christian teachers why have the schools gotten progressively worse? If Miss Lippy, or your missionary kid could have saved the schools they would have.

What about the objection that my school is different – to which I would just reply, “no it’s not”. Or what about the single mom? You know you’re getting desperate when you’re using single moms justify everything…but to that, I would simply say, it is better to help her in the rearing and educating of her children than to encourage her to send them to the wolves…

Conclusion

If you are a Christian, there is absolutely no reason to keep your kids government schools. Lines are drawn. Bridges are burned. It’s Christ of chaos…let me conclude with the words of puritan Jeremiah Burroughs,

“There is little hope for children who are educated wickedly. If the dye has been in the wool, it is hard to get it out of the cloth.”