Christian Education, Part 3
Posted on April 13, 2007
Filed Under Worldview |
Alright, it is tomorrow. (Can it ever BE tomorrow?) Anyway, we are looking at the criticality of Christian Education and yesterday we examined how the educational content of early America was consistently biblically-based. Today we are going to take a quick look at some of the founder’s statements regarding education. I’m only going to list two because of space considerations, but notice how they posture Christian education as foundational to the republic.
Noah Webster:
“In my view, the Christian Religion is the most important and one of the first things in which all children, under a free government, ought to be instructed…no truth is more evident to my mind than that the Christian Religion must be the basis of any government intended to secure the rights and privileges of a free people.” (Reply to David McClure, Oct. 25, 1836)
Benjamin Rush (signed Declaration of Independence):
“In contemplating the political institutions of the United States…we profess to be republicans and yet we neglect the only means of establishing and perpetuating our republican forms of government. That is, the universal education of our youth in the principles of Christianity by the means of the Bible.”
There is a strong hint here for what we are going to conclude with tomorrow: The founder’s believed that the republic they formed was resting upon two primary foundations: religion and morality. If what they built was going to be sustained, then our children must know and embrace those foundations. Hence, the strong Christian education that was prevalent for several hundred years.
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Dr. Del Tackett is president of the Focus on the Family Institute and Senior Vice President to Focus on the Family. He is also the architect and chief spokesperson for Focus on the Family's The Truth Project--a nationwide initiative designed to bring the Christian worldview to the body of Christ.
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Yes, they held one truth, that christianity was the foudation of all they did. They were of one mind on that….can the republic stand without that common mind set? I doubt it. We cannot count on the government to support “religion or morality” anymore, we must count on each other, and GOds direction to “educate” our children,. Isn’t that the reason that they (our forefathers) came here to begin with?
Lots of questions, it is my passion that we take responsiblity to educate our children in GOds truth. Are we failing?