Biblically Speaking

A friend of mine, R.C. Sproul Jr., is in hot water. Sproul is facing discipline (I won't go into all the details of the exact circumstances) within the Westminster Presbytery because of one of his beliefs. What is this belief? R.C. Sproul Jr. believes that it is a sin for Christians to send their children to government schools.

The logic is this. Christ taught us that whoever is not for him is against him (Matthew 12:30, Luke 11:23). Note that Christ didn't say that whoever is not explicitly against him is for him. Rather than the measure being the level of our animosity towards Christ the measure is the level of our commitment to His lordship. Does the public school curriculum reinforce a commitment to Christ's Lordship? Can Christians send their children to public schools 5 days a week 7 hours a day and still legitimately claim to be training their children up in the way that they should go (Proverbs 22:6)?

So here is the 64 dollar question: Do public schools teach children to love God, submit to him and serve Christ, or do they teach children to do what is right in their own eyes and assert independence from the Creator? There is no neutrality. There is no such thing as a set of neutral data that is a common ground between all belief structures. Christians have bought into a devastating myth...that the battleground is the public school. No, the battle ground it inside your children!

The problems in society today are not the pagans, the homosexuals, the atheists or the open humanists. The problem today is the Christians have charged off in the wrong direction or have walked away from the fight altogether. Let me give you a real and very current example:

I learned this week (from a very reliable source) that a certain church (which shall remain nameless to protect the guilty) which has been a powerful advocate for homeschooling has completely retreated from homeschooling altogether. For years this church supported homeschoolers, hosted homeschool events and meetings, and served as a resource for the homeschool community in a myriad of other ways. This church had grown to the point that it was hosting three Sunday morning services in it's small building, and it was in considerable need of a larger building. The school district in which this church is located struck a deal with the church. The church could purchase the old high school for a dollar plus the current church building. Wow! This by all accounts was an incredible deal for the church. They were getting the school at a price considerably below the market value. But, there was a hitch. In the purchase contract, the school district insisted on a couple of things...the church could no longer encourage, facilitate meetings of or events of, or promote in any way homeschooling.

What did the church officials do? They signed the contract, and called the homeschool group together to tell them that they had to leave. In the discussions, the church officials talked about the great deal that they had gotten. God's provision for their building was wonderful! Was this a tremendous miracle and blessing of God, or was this what James calls the "trying of our faith."

What really happened in this situation? The school district collected taxes (for probably at least 30 years) to pay for the building which they practically gave to the church. So, you have a governmental entity extracting property taxes from the citizenry under threat of losing their homes, and then, in effect, giving the money (or what the money has purchased) to a select group...this particular church. So the school in effect bought off the church with other people's money...and they think it is a blessing from God.

R.C. Sproul Jr. has thought these through, and he's come to his conviction. Who is persecuting him? Not the world. The visible church is. Isn't that interesting. At the least, we ought to listen to people like Sproul and seriously think through what he is saying and examine our lives. Maybe he is too puritanical, but maybe he is just not tickling people's ears.