Whose Child Is This?

In education, as in everything else as it comes to children, a basic question must be answered? To whom does the child belong? Humanistic statist educators have given their answer to this question. They have answered this question in one of three ways. First, under the old humanistic banner, statist educators saw children as the property of the family while still emphasizing the individual. This is how it was in the ancient world of the Greeks, Romans, and the Chinese.

But for us as Christians, the family is still the basic institution in society but instead of the state or the parents being the owner of the children, God is the owner and parents are the managers and the state has nothing to do with any of it. As you can see, there is already a big difference between the humanistic and the biblical views of the family.

The second way statist educators view children is that they view children as the property of the state. This is statist education 101. This philosophy is one of the pillars in all forms of Marxism and socialism. The child is seen as a resource of the state that should be cultivated and used for the welfare of the state. This idea is crucial to understanding the reigning philosophy of state education. They see your children as their property! Hopefully, you can see why this is a problem.

Third, there is the view commonly held by existentialists and anarchists that child is his or her own lord and belongs only to him/herself, not to the state or to her parents. This was the mantra of the hippy culture of the 1960s.

Christians today typically see the second and the third view as problematic but defend the first view, as though it represents a valid alternative. But the fact of the matter is that a biblical faith requires us to declare that we and our children are God’s property. Psalm 100:3 says that “It is he who made us, and we are his.” Sheep are property that are to be used as the Shepherd sees fit. We and our children are God’s property therefore our lives and our schooling can’t be for our own pleasure or our own profit but for the glory of God.

So, what now? What does this mean practically? First, it means that the focus of our education is not on the child, nor on the parents, nor on society but it is on God. So, education will be primarily theological. Because of the biblical doctrine of calling or vocation, the Christian school will strive to excel all other schools in preparing its students for life, but the focus will be primarily service to God, not service to man. But because God’s revelation give knowledge, and because knowledge is an aspect of God’s image in us, we will seek to surpass all other schools in our service to man also. Our focus, however, will be on the competent and faithful service to God.

Second, worship and prayer will be a basic aspect of the Christian school because students must never forget that all their schooling must serve not only themselves but primarily the Lord. Prayer and chapel in the Christian school should stress the absolute property rights of our Lord over us.

Third, the school must break its ties and gain independence from state controls, state standards, and state accreditation. The root word in accreditation is credo where we get the word creed and if the state is our Lord, it is the state’s approval and accreditation that we seek. But if Christ is our Lord, it is the accreditation of His Word that we long for.

Unfortunately, states are trying to gain control over Christians schools and churches. They are demanding the right of lordship and accreditation. This we must resist. Join us in the resistance. For more info on Christ Church Academy, please visit our website at christchurchacademy.org or shoot me an email at scott@wearechristchurch.com.