Southern Baptists And State Schools

On June 16, 2004 the Southern Baptists met for their annual convention.  One of their members, Mr. T. C. Pinckney had a plan to change America for the better.

His plan was to get the 16.3 million Southern Baptist church members to pull their kids out of public schools and home school them or put them in Christian schools.  

He felt this would send a message to the public schools that they should stop being anti-Christian in their textbooks.

His resolution did not pass but maybe it was a good idea.  If Christians did pull their kids out of public schools, and kept them out, until the public schools changed the text books to include creation and positive things about our Christian heritage and Christian values, this would be a good positive result.

Maybe Christians do not need a formal resolution to do this.  We have home schooled our kids and had them in Christian schools and they turned out to love the Lord.  We attribute much of the way they turned out to having made the wise decision to keep them out of public schools.

While I believe Godly parents can raise Godly children even if the kids are in the public schools, I believe mediocre, luke warm Christians with kids in the public schools almost always end up raising kids that do not love God.  And if those same mediocre Christian parents had put their kids in a Christian school or home schooled with Abeka videos, the chances of their kids turning out to love God are very high.  Many times I've felt our kids are more Godly and love the Lord more than my spouse and I, and I think this is because of the homeschooling and Christian teachers who demonstrated God's love and taught them God's word.

Maybe you should consider homeschooling your kids.

Comments From Readers

A reader says ... As a retired public school teacher, I have wondered about this situation especially now that the public schools are more intolerant in some areas against Christians than when I was teaching.  If the parents cannot homeschool or send their children to a Christian school, then perhaps they could get other parents together who go to the same church and whose children, hopefully, go to the same school and get something organized to teach the children about how to reply to teachers and other non-Christian students when situations come up.  One item that seems to come up is about evolution.  A source for parents to learn about this is from a group called "Reasons to Believe" headed by astrophysicist Dr. Hugh Ross.  Some of his material is of course science-oriented but much should be understandable to most parents.  He believes in an old universe and says that if that is the case, the evidence is there for evolution not to be possible even with an old universe.  He has a number of books out:  "Beyond the Cosmos", "A Matter of Days", etc.  Check out that website - very interesting.

A reader says ... I'm a mom of a 3rd grader in public school, we are a Christian family who love the Lord...and while our walk at times could probably be classified as mediocre (and I think that if we are all honest, every Christian can probably make that confession over the course of their lives...after all only Jesus was sinless) we know who our Lord and Savior is and the Holy Spirit helps us recognize when we've gotten off track and we will repent and resolve to get back on track with the Lord's help. So I debated as to whether or not to write anything...and even as I write, I'm not sure that I should.  My comments are not meant to be judgemental in anyway...I just would like to express a different point of view so to speak.  I am truly in favor of Christian schools and homeschooling.  I have several friends and my sister-in-law who all homeschool, as well as several friends who have their kids in Christian school - one of which is a 3rd grade teacher at a public school.  Another of my friends has had to work in addition to her husband working in order to keep her child in Christian school.  I personally would love for my child to be in a Christian school...but circumstances being as they are in our family we are not able to do that and still have me be at home, which is where God wants me to be.  As far as the homeschooling goes...I think it is a wonderful thing if you are gifted in that area.  And I have heard the argument that every parent is responsible to teach their child...I understand that and take my responsibility seriously  when it comes to raising our child to be a kind, moral, responsible person who loves the Lord Jesus, but if we were to homeschool...the results would not be pretty.  My husband and I have been thru some spiritual gifts classes and I know that teaching is not something that God has gifted me with, my God given gifts lie in other areas.  So I guess what I am trying to say is that while homeschooling is a wonderful thing for those who are blessed with the gift of teaching...to imply that Christian school and homeschooling is the only way that kids will grow up to love the Lord...I don't think I can necessarily agree with that.  I can't say what my child will do when she's grown up...I can only pray that she will choose to continue to walk with the Lord (the way we are raising her to do) and Love him with all her heart.  I know that she is saved and that because of that nothing can separate her from the love of God...not even public school.