Learning from What We Don’t Learn

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by Joe Renfro, Ed.D.

The Lord Jesus said:  “The spirit of the Lord…has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind.”  The American experiment in democracy has worked because of the liberty this spawned. But certain segments of our nation have been increasingly compartmentalizing God out from our focus, particularly in our education.

The founders of this nation worked toward reconciliation between reason and revelation, allowing the acceptance of both. John 1:1 says:  “In the beginning was the word, ‘Logos,” the word was with God, and the words was God.”  The Declaration of Independence says:  “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by the Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”

Liberty in Christ cultivates certain values.  The laws of this land were first established with respect to the Ten Commandments. Our nation was founded on accepted Christian values. The English and American civil societies, much from the Puritan and Reformed influences looked to God as the basis of good, and I see no way for an honest student of history to ignore this.  It is a sad picture to see from that the Supreme Court ruling of from back in 1963 the removal of the Ten Commandments from our schools and courthouses, etc., to see today the moral chaos very much in our society.            

There must be basic values assumed in the formation of any nation.  The Ten Commandments were the Jewish law, but they set up a core of Western Civilization, and especially the laws that developed in America.  The Commandments might have and continue to be understood differently by different individuals, but still are basic.  For example, in response to the command to “Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it Holy,” the Jews worship on the Sabbath, while most Christian groups, not all, worship on the Lord’s Day, the Day Christ arose, Sunday.  Some see the commandments absolutes, while some see them as guidelines, but regardless they are basic. Why seek to uproot God’s laws from man’s laws?

The concept of the priesthood of the believers which came from the Protestant reformed faith leveled all, so from this developed the basis for equality of all.   Although our different understandings of freedom of religion was concerned with different understandings often, this thinking opened the door to freedom “of,” “to,” “in,” and even “from” religion.  The freedom from religion is accepted, even if it is in contradiction of the first presupposition, “endowed by the Creator!”   But why in earth have we failed to see the negative effects on education and society at large that have developed these past 60 or so years?

The Supreme Court removed the Bible from the classrooms in the late 50s, but did remove the TV from the living rooms and other forms of media, publication, etc. that have undermined the moral fabric of our land, and the public so that is now bombarded with corruption like the world has never seen. 

It is sad to observe the deterioration in our youth in their failure to be able to constructively occupy themselves with positive reading, constructive thinking, true discipline and are failing to realize their God given talents.  Masses of our population do not see life as a gift from God, so as to seek to grow up to the glory of God, and our political elites over public education systems have seemed to ignore this.  The media is strongly motivating our youth to bask in the vulgar, the profane, the irresponsible, the rebellious, and the disrespectful behavior.  Education has become polluted with the Behaviorist Progressivism that discounts God and has increasingly become just programming our society.                                              

In his closing letter of the governors of the 13 states Washington closed it with the benediction:

“I now make it my earnest prayer, that God would have you, and the State over which you preside, in his holy protection, that he would incline  the hearts of the Citizens to cultivate a spirit of subordination and obedience to Government, to entertain a brotherly affection and love for one another, for their fellow their fellow Citizens  of the United Sates at large, and particularly for their brethren who have served in Field, and finally, that he would most graciously be pleased to dispose us all to do Justice, to love mercy, and to demean ourselves with that Charity, humility, and  pacific temper of mind, which were the Characteristics of the Divine  Author of our blessed Religion, and without an humble imitation of whose example in these things, we can never hope to be a happy Nation.”

Education is not just what is taught, but it also what is not taught. If we discount the value of God’s law and directives in our schools, what is this teaching our society?  We have chaos in many schools in land with groups demonstrating against the founding principles of our land, and unless things change, it is a most sad picture, and the cause is not the rights issues!