Why I Believe in Biblical Education

Valerie Hixson is Ralph and Kathy Petersen’s daughter, a graduate of a Christian high school, a former public school teacher, the wife of a public school principal who is also a graduate of the same Christian high school, and a home school mom.

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Why I Believe in Biblical Education  Valerie Hixson, May 2007

Proverbs 22:6 is an often quoted verse that has words of instruction and promise for us. “Train up a child in the way that he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it.” God has given this responsibility to parents, not to the state.

I am a mother of three children. I am constantly challenging myself to train my children, not just teach them. My dictionary says to train means to prepare for a contest. It means to instruct by exercise. It means to drill. It means to form to a proper shape. It means to discipline for use. I can teach my children the way they should go and then someone else can come along and teach them a different way to go. I need to do more than just teach those godly ways; I must train them all day every day. I am surprised at times to see people spending so much time and money training their dogs to sit, heel, and stay, yet their children run wild. It is my God-given responsibility to train my children in the way they should go. I need to train them to fear the Lord as long as they live by keeping all His decrees and commands. I need to impress God’s ways on their hearts, talk about them when we sit at home and when we walk along the road and when we lie down and when we get up (Deut. 6:2-9).

Knowing the importance of training my children, I am certain that Biblical education is the only education I will have for my children. I have experienced public school education for five years at the University level and was a public school teacher in San Jacinto for five years. My parents made the sacrificial decision to train me in the way I should go and put me through Baptist Christian for my schooling. I am very grateful for their decision during my childhood because when I went to college, I did not depart from the way I should go. I quickly learned that public education is an open door for Satan. Children are great sponges for absorbing worldly views. In college, I was forced to take classes such as “Human Interpretations and Values,” “Perspectives on Genders,” and “Moral Choices for Life.” As I was teaching, I came across homosexuality, witchcraft, drugs, and violence in my first grade classroom.

I had my students for seven hours a day. I knew that I would teach them the best that I could for seven hours a day. I trusted myself as a teacher, but I would never put my child in my classroom. Other kids can teach ungodly things. Textbooks contain ungodly things. You may ask, “Are you going to protect them from everyone and everything?” Obviously I cannot do that but I will try, to the best of my ability, to protect them from ungodliness and instill Christian values as long as I have them in my care.

Training my children is important to Christ. Jesus emphasized the importance He placed on children by saying, "Whoever causes one of these little ones who believes in Me to stumble, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea" (Mark 9:42). I have a great promise that lies ahead. “Train up a child in the way that he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it.” This life is short. We are here for one purpose - to glorify God. I desire to train my children through Biblical education. I recognize that home school is the best form of Biblical education, but I have promised my children that they could go to school. My children will still be trained at home, and I look forward to Baptist Christian School coming alongside of me and assisting me in their godly training.

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Note: Valerie is now the mother of five. Her twin sons were born in January 2008.

The Ministry of Christian Education

by Ralph Petersen, March 2008

Most Christian schools were originally established on the scriptural principle that Christians are responsible to educate their children consistent with and based on God’s Word.

Therefore, Christian schools were never intended to be in competition with public education. They were not designed to provide a nicer or safer environment for Christian children to receive a comparable education. The difference between Christian and secular education is foundational. "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction." (Proverbs 1:7)

Nor should Christian schools be perceived as places where children are sheltered from the real world. In fact, as a friend of mine has articulated so many times, “The real world is the world that includes God rather than legislating Him out of existence. A student given an education that does not include God has no idea what the “’real world’ is” (Ron Livesay, Christian school administrator). Consequently, that student cannot be adequately equipped to survive in the real world.

Christian schools start with God because He exists, He has spoken, and His Word cannot be ignored. He created us, He is the center of life, and He will accomplish His sovereign purpose.

By contrast, secular schools start with the premise that there is no God, that the Bible was written by man, and that there is no moral authority higher than ourselves. The universe and life as we know it came about over billions of years by chance, and we are masters of our own destiny.

So then it seems incumbent on us that we should not look to the world for the qualifications of school administrators and teachers; we must look to the Word of God for the qualifications of appropriate steward for this kind of ministry.

They must hold biblical convictions that a God-centered education is an absolute necessity. They should be full of godly wisdom, scripturally qualified, spiritually gifted, called of God, and adequately experienced for the important ministry of guarding against the influences of an ungodly world and training children according to a Christ-centered world view.

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Visit Ralph Petersen's Blog, “Well-Meaning Gentlemen with Different Ideas."

The Love of God

by Ron Livesay

In the day and age in which we live, it is easy to ask why God puts up with all the sin and foolishness of the human race. Why does he not just put a stop to it all and judge the sinfulness of man? In contrast to some who believe the only attribute of God is love, we know that God is also a God of justice, holiness, righteousness, and that He will judge sin. Nevertheless, we still need to remember that, while there is much in the world that is abominable to God, He is a God of great love. He loves us beyond all human understanding. Human love is little more than a shadow of His love for us.

How much does God love us? John 3:16 uses one small word to express an infinite love. That word is “so.” “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” This small word tells us that He loves us “in such a way” that He gave everything for us. God the Father gave His only Son so that we might live. God the Son gave up the glories of heaven to become a man and die the death of a criminal for us. “Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” (Philippians 2:5-8, NASB)

There are those who actually express the idea that God somehow owes us something. “If God will show me He loves me, then I will believe in Him,” they say. Such thinking totally ignores the fact that He has already done more than enough to show us He loves us. How much more could possibly be necessary to prove His love? How dare we expect Him to do more? He has taken us from the depths of sin and condemnation to the heights of being His children. “And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places, in Christ Jesus, in order that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” (Ephesians 2:1-7, NASB)

The amazing thing about the love of God is that He loves those who hate Him. He loves those who are His enemies. He loves the unlovely. He loves those who disobey Him. He loves the ungodly. He loves sinners. This love defies all human logic and human comprehension. “For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:6-8, NASB)

The love of God is greater far

Than tongue or pen can ever tell;

It goes beyond the highest star,

And reaches to the lowest hell;

The guilty pair, bowed down with care,

God gave His Son to win;

His erring child He reconciled,

And pardoned from his sin.

Refrain:
O love of God, how rich and pure!

How measureless and strong!

It shall forevermore endure

The saints’ and angels’ song.

When years of time shall pass away,

And earthly thrones and kingdoms fall,

When men, who here refuse to pray,

On rocks and hills and mountains call,

God’s love so sure, shall still endure,

All measureless and strong;

Redeeming grace to Adam’s race—

The saints’ and angels’ song.

Could we with ink the ocean fill,

And were the skies of parchment made,

Were every stalk on earth a quill,

And every man a scribe by trade,

To write the love of God above,

Would drain the ocean dry.

Nor could the scroll contain the whole,

Though stretched from sky to sky.

“The Love of God”
Fred­er­ick M. Leh­man, 1917

Quotes by Martin Luther

“The authority of Scripture is greater than the comprehension of the whole of man's reason.”

“I am much afraid that schools will prove to be the great gates of hell unless they diligently labor in explaining the Holy Scriptures, engraving them in the hearts of youth. I advise no one to place his child where the Scriptures do not reign paramount.”

Some Common Sense Reasons to Believe in Creation and Reject Evolution

by Ron Livesay, 1996
 

I recently saw, for the third or fourth time, the beginning of the movie, 2001: A Space Odyssey. It did not take me very long to realize why I have never watched more than just the beginning – it is not my kind of movie – so I turned it off, just as every other time I have started to watch it.

The beginning section, which is entitled “The Dawn of Man,” once again brought to mind the essential foolishness of the philosophy of mankind today. A number of apes, who were supposed to be “ape-men” or whatever name is in vogue for the mythical creature which has been imagined to span the gap between animals and humanity, fought over possession of a pool of water. Great progress was made in the evolution toward human civilization when one of the creatures discovered that a bone could be used to crush a skull. Hence, the first weapon was invented. The scene then cuts to space travel, obviously skipping quite a span of time in the alleged evolutionary process.

The opening scenes of this movie, which was made in 1968, serve only to underscore the false assumption that all people swallow the story of evolution. This assumption is simply not true. Those who pretend to be scientists by passing off a very silly and absurd story as science do not speak for the majority of people, and when the average person, educated or not, looks at the claims of evolution, the sensible response is, “Give me a break!”

I believe the Bible is 100% true. However, I understand that the same average person, who very naturally sees the absurdity of evolution, is not necessarily a Bible-believer. Therefore, to appeal to the Scriptures to such a person often produces the same skeptical response as the evolution myth produces. On the other hand, while the average person may not understand spiritual truth, he is also not stupid. An appeal to common sense makes creation by God a much more sensible answer to origins than the absurdity of evolution.

Following are a few common sense reasons, which are neither scientific nor theological, for accepting creation and rejecting evolution:

Creation requires miracles performed by a miracle-working God. Evolution requires miracles performed by blind chance, which means miracles performed by no one.

Creation requires that a designer be involved in the production of intricate design. Evolution requires that intricate design has been produced without benefit of a designer.

Creation requires a great “first cause” of all things, which is God Himself. Evolution requires that there is no “first cause.” Either matter itself is eternal, having never had a beginning, or matter was somehow created by accident out of nothing by no one.

Evolution is mathematically impossible. Chance could never intervene into natural laws to the extent of producing the universe, life, and all living things. Only the Creator could do that. If He did not do so, then we do not exist. There is a famous quote which says, “I think. Therefore, I am.” Even more true would be the statement, “I am. Therefore, I was created. If I was not created, then I am not here.”

Creation requires faith in God. Evolution requires faith in blind chance, matter, Charles Darwin, etc., all of which are much less than God.

Creation is a positive teaching, elevating man to a special creation of God, and placing him in a position of responsibility. Evolution is a negative teaching, degrading man to the status of an animal which was produced by accident, removing all responsibility from him, and ultimately leading to anarchy. There can be no law or civilization without God and His laws and principles.

That all having been said, it remains true that, for the Christian, the very best reason for believing in creation is the fact that God says He created, and we ought to take Him at His Word. It is tremendous that the scientific evidence, when viewed honestly, points to creation and totally refutes evolution. However, even if we did not have that, we know that creation is true, because God, who cannot lie, has told us so. “By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible.” (Hebrews 11:3, NASB)

Books

Today, many Christians are spending their time reading all sorts of books other than the Bible. There is nothing inherently wrong with reading extra-biblical sources, but it is very important to be sure such books are doctrinally sound and consistent with the teachings of the Scriptures. Far too many Christians spend their time reading feel-good drivel, taking in spiritual baby food, or perhaps spiritual poison, instead of “the meat of the Word.”

The last three books I have read are Faith Undone, by Roger Oakland, The Shack, by William P. Young, and What in the World is Going On?, by Dr. David Jeremiah.

Faith Undone is a very insightful commentary on the current “seeker-sensitive” and “emerging” types of churches. Bible believing Christians need to be aware of these false systems. The danger they pose to biblical Christianity is very real. If I had to select one book, other than the Bible, to recommend that all believers read, Faith Undone would be it. The book is available on Roger Oakland’s website, “Understand the Times.”  (http://www.understandthetimes.org/)

Dr. Jeremiah’s book, What in the World is Going On? is a well-organized and well-presented look at eschatology in light of current happenings in our world. Many today are encouraging Christians to ignore prophecy and concentrate on making the world a better place. This is contrary to the teaching of Scripture. Our hope is not in this world. Our “blessed hope” is “the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus. (Titus 2:13, NASB). Dr. Jeremiah’s book is an easy read that helps put all this in perspective. I can certainly recommend it.

I will not comment further on The Shack, other than to say that I cannot recommend it. My complete review is found elsewhere on this blog.
(http://buffalonoise.blogspot.com/2009/03/review-of-shack.html).

John Bunyan – A Great Example of Doing Right

by Ron Livesay

John Bunyan, best-known as the author of Pilgrim’s Progress, was a man who set a tremendous example of standing for right, an example from which all Christians can certainly learn. In 1655, Bunyan became a deacon and began preaching with great success. In 1658, he was indicted for preaching without a license. The authorities were fairly tolerant of him for a while, and he was not imprisoned until November of 1660, when he was taken to the county jail and there confined (with the exception of a few weeks in 1666) for 12 years. After his release, Bunyan became a pastor and was again imprisoned for preaching publicly without a license, this time for six months.

John Bunyan was married with children to support, and he could have walked out of the jail a free man at any time if he simply promised to stop preaching publicly without a license. He adamantly refused, recognizing that His calling and authority were from God, not from the government. He chose to do right, regardless of the consequences.

When the Lord Jesus Christ was on the earth, He did not seek permission, approval, licensing, or accreditation from those in power at the time. He did not ask permission to preach from the Jewish religious leaders, the Jewish king, or the Roman government.

After His ascension into heaven, the apostles began the great work of evangelizing, and they likewise did not ask for anyone’s permission, approval, licensing, or accreditation. When confronted, they gave that classic answer, “We ought to obey God rather than men.” (Acts 5:29)