Covenant Presbyterian Church

Never have the resources and focus of a culture been more dedicated to its children. Yet the more we do, the worse our children become. The trillions of dollars spent on government education have yielded increasing functional illiteracy among high school graduates, reduced-demand standardized testing even with built-in scoring inflation, colleges and universities that have radically reshaped the curricula in order to accommodate perversity, and teachers that are forced to prepare students almost exclusively for standardized tests in order to retain their jobs (and their benefits).

These well-documented facts reveal one initial aspect of the problem; we evaluate young people purely in terms of their academic performance. It is true that there is a strong emphasis upon extracurricular activities and "well-rounded children," but the predominant concern is qualitative success in school. Why? So students can attend college. Why? So students can obtain a lucrative job. Why? So they can live in a nice home and raise their children with all the amenities of life. Why? So their children can turn around and do the same. Why? So the economy will continue to grow. Why? Because this life is all there is, and the measure of man is his possession and enjoyment of the world’s goods. And why are this philosophy and the vicious cycle it produces followed with such unremitting tenacity? The answer is multi-faceted: fallen man is covetous and materialism is an extension of his rebellion; consumerism is a convenient pacifier for the masses that allows the statists to build their global empire with as little inference as possible; the people must be kept dumb - yes, dumb. When the masses are dumb, distracted, and disinterested, they more willingly embrace paternalistic, cradle-to-grave socialism, cannot think through the issues, are satisfied with blithe answers to difficult questions, and feel quite relieved when pretty flickering faces assure them that the "experts" have everything in hand.
Our children are pawns in this tragic saga. They are pawns and playthings for government educators, and especially the bureaucrats who set the agenda. Children are never told about the unique contributions of western civilization to the world: its commitment to objective truth and the necessity of submission to God as the fountainhead of liberty. They are never told that science, medicine, and technology sprang up as a result of western commitment to an orderly, lawful universe created and providentially governed by God. They are never presented with the legitimate alternatives to the secularist, postmodern agenda. It is never critiqued; its agenda is never fully explained. They are fed a diet of moral relativism, welfare statism, legal positivism, and lesbian literature. They are never told the truth about themselves, the origin of the world, and the necessity of submission to the triune God as the sole avenue of personal peace and joy, meaning and morality, liberty and justice for all. They are told that it would have been legitimate for their mothers to have aborted them, that pornography is a harmless form of entertainment, and that human sexuality is to be enjoyed like a kickball game - as great fun, without any lasting consequences, and without any real purpose other than to be a good player. Our educational system is guilty of vicious child abuse. Your tax dollars and political slogans cover the scandal. "No child left behind" means "no child left behind in the attempt to sterilize and rape American children of their heritage and to train them to do their part in the dismantling of biblical Christianity in the west."
Yet even this is not the bottom of the rabbit hole. Conservative critiques of secularism do not get to the heart of the issue. Secularism’s primary target is not western civilization; it is the biblical faith that gave rise to it. We must be careful here, for Christianity and the Church are not to be equated with western civilization, for much that has transpired in the west has been a departure from biblical faith; medieval Roman Catholicism comes immediately to mind. But the Christian faith did give rise to the best of the west: King Alfred, Shakespeare, too many philosophers to mention, scientists galore, the end of the divine right of kings, and finally religious liberty under the authority of God’s law rather than the tyranny of civil and church leaders. This is what secularism hates and why the typical child can complete an entire academic program, from kindergarten through post-graduate work, and never be exposed to the truth, to the cultural impact of the Christian faith, to the living force of biblical principles in the lives and works of untold millions of men and women, from the highest to the lowest segments of society. Secularism endeavors to establish economic strength, legal justice, and individual liberty upon a different foundation: absolute skepticism and radical relativism. Because the emperor has no clothes, it covers the past, misrepresents the present, and distracts the masses through its reeducation program that has been exposed qualitatively, personally, and culturally as bankrupt.

And the church is acquiescing. Consider, for example, children’s church. The idea behind children’s church is simple and dangerous. Children need to be taught at their level, given a more comfortable and entertaining view of God and the Bible, all in a non-confrontational atmosphere where the views of each child are respected. In other words, children need to be trained to think and act like children all their lives. The foundation of children’s church are: a Rousseauian philosophy that affirms man’s natural innocence, the unbiblical fear that children will be less persuaded to embrace the Christian faith if they are given strong meat, and the abandonment of covenantal, multi-generational Christian families worshipping and learning together. The fruits of children’s church are: rising skepticism among churched youth, a youth culture that is only a slightly sanitized version of MTV Live, and adult spiritual illiteracy.
Against this movement and its philosophical underpinnings, children need to be taught to think like mature adults. Their basic thinking paradigms are not correct. Their taste buds must be shaped by Scripture not by their natural inclinations. If you raise them on spiritual cotton candy, they will grow up spiritual diabetics. This is why our forefathers stressed the importance of catechetical training for children. They, like their parents, must be taught to think in terms of God’s revealed will. It matters not that they cannot understand everything in the catechisms or in the morning sermon. The goal of parents is to "fill the fireplace of faith with solid wood," trusting in God’s covenant promises that he will set their hearts ablaze by his word and Spirit. Yet to the degree that churches adopt the children’s church mentality, they are also guilty of child abuse, and are in no small measure contributing to a generation that cannot think and live in terms of God’s word, is unable to tread through the difficult issues of our day, and is unwilling to shoulder the responsibilities of Christian maturity.
Consider also Christian education. The goal of Christian education is not to provide an environmental alternative to government education. It is to train future soldiers for Jesus Christ in his great war against the world, the flesh, and the devil. It is to give them a comprehensive knowledge of the biblical battle plan for victory. It is to equip them to think, live, and feel in terms of God’s covenant. Its goal is the glory of God. Its standard is the word of God. Its motivation is faith in God’s promises and the desire to direct them to offer their hearts to God in prompt and sincere, lifewide, intelligent service to his kingdom. And yet Christian schools and even home schooling get caught up in the competition game with secularism. "Our students outscore yours - Nah, Nah!" Christian schools yearn for accreditation, as if an outside agency can vindicate covenant education. In theory and methodology, goals and standards, we often abuse our children by not giving them the solid meat of consistently biblical education, the tool box of a biblical worldview. Christian education should never become primarily concerned with tests and college acceptance, protectionism, or elitism. It has one and only one fundamental purpose - to glorify God by training faithful, knowledgeable, and dedicated servants of the living God. This goal can never be realized simply by a return to the classics, or classical educational models, or "very, very concerned parents." The Bible must be opened in the classroom, guide and interpret the curricula, and be proclaimed in its richness as the only foundation of knowledge and morality, society and the family, peace and security.
Never let it be said that we allowed our children to become pawns - of consumer-driven education, of secularism, of children’s church, of our own insecurities that we are not measuring up. If you capitulate to the demand for fun and constant excitement, if you allow your children to set the agenda for your home life, and if you do not train them to be mature, godly, and faithful through a solid diet of the Word of God, you too will raise pawns. Give them meat, not milk, and they will grow. Model faith not foolishness, and they will follow. Speak to them courageously and respectfully as young people made in the image of God and redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, and they will be encouraged. Give them a vision of the world discipled by Jesus Christ, and they will want to fight with you for the glory of the Savior. Show them humility, confess your sins against them to them, and demonstrate in your own life submission to the gospel of grace. Pray earnestly for their salvation as you do for you own, love them, entrust them to God’s covenant, and protect them, and it will be "checkmate" for secularism.
O, Christian parent, you have within your possession a glorious heritage from the Lord, children lovingly crafted by God in their mother’s womb, embraced within the warm promises of God from eternity, and carefully nurtured in his powerful, loving arms. Your children may frustrate you at times. You may even be tempted to think you must be doing something wrong, that what God has promised is not coming to pass, that perhaps you should make "God" more fun and interesting for them. You feel many pressures to conform, to give in. But remember David and Daniel and Mary and Timothy. Faithful, covenant parenting lays a foundation for victory that is not immediately seen, but when the kernel ripens, you will see the power and faithfulness of God. Then you will consider the fruit well worth your pains and sacrifices, the ridicule you received, and the cross you bore. When your daughters are polished pillars in the house of the Lord and your sons mighty arrows piercing the heart of the enemy, you will see the salvation of God, the truth of his promises, and his overwhelming faithfulness. Raise kings and queens in Christ, Christian parents, not worthless pawns in the hand of the enemy. The memory of the just will be blessed; the name of the wicked will rot.