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The good people at Focus on the Family sent me this alert a few weeks ago:
"How DOMA (Defense of Marriage Act) Could Impact You and Your Family."Finally, I thought, someone is going to spell out for me why I should care about DOMA! I've been waiting for this for a long time. Yippee! And here was the elucidation offered by Tom Minnery, Senior Vice President of Government and Public Policy at FOF.
Ready?
"Already, an increasing number of public schools are promoting controversial and confusing sexual topics to kids. Homosexual activists groups like GLSEN (The Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network) sponsor events that discuss homosexuality in thousands of public schools and colleges across the nation. This can often create a pressure-cooker situation for Christian teens."
That's it. That's the bomb. That's the thing that should keep us tossing and turning in our beds.
Um...
Let's see. An education system run by the government is going to promote a government agenda? Gosh! I never thought it would come to this...not.
(For the record, I do think there are valid reasons that we should care about DOMA, but how it makes Christians feel in humanist settings is not one of them.)
Jesus warned us to render unto God what is God's and to Caesar what is Caesar's. RC Sproul, Jr, comments in his excellent homeschooling apologetic, When You Rise Up, that the corollary to that is this: Do NOT render unto Caesar what is God's.
Simple--but profound. Yet that is precisely what believers all over the country do every day. Statistics tell us that 80% of children from believing families reject the faith when they grow up. Eighty percent! If that doesn't get your attention, my fellow believer, I don't know what will.
Of course, my favorite of the flimsy arguments offered in defense of throwing our kids to the wolves is, "But if all the believers pull out of the public system, the public system will fall apart!"
Gasp!
Yes?
And?
Another argument is that the government school system is a war zone, and we must send in our Christian soldiers to fight. Not even God Himself did that. Don't believe me? Try Numbers chapter one and 2 Chronicles chapter 25. Men did NOT go off to war until they were twenty years old.
Meanwhile, we're sending our five, ten, fifteen year-olds directly into artillery fire. And, I daresay, this battle for their souls is far more lethal than any battle against the Canaanites. Allow me to connect the dots for you. You'll need one ruler and one pencil.
Draw Dot A. Label "Government Education"
Draw Dot B. Label "Reject the True Faith"
With the help of your ruler, draw line from Dot A to Dot B.
There.
Problem explained...
So, when Mr. Minnery soberly warns me that without DOMA, my kids will suffer pressure in government schools, I say, "Stuff and nonsense. Pressure in public schools was happening long before this issue ever came up. That's why my children aren't there."
They are at home--in a pressure free environment. And when it's time for them to meet that big, bad world, they will be old enough, strong enough, and properly trained with the weapons of that warfare.
Spiritual weapons
For a spiritual war.
But I'd be kidding you if I thought homeschooling wasn't failing, as well.
And I, one of its most stalwart advocates, now also find myself one of its most vocal critics.
More to come...
If we think that the teaching of gay and lesbian doctrine is on in the public schools then we are lying to ourselves. It has envaded the homeschooling communities as well. Because they fill they are being persecuted and bullied in the public schools.
ReplyDeleteBut that is precisely the beauty of homeschooling. How would what gays and lesbians do in their own homeschools possibly effect my homeschool? Not at all. That's why I do what I do. Thank God for this liberty.
ReplyDeleteHow could it effect you? A dear friend of mine began a homeschool coop a couple of years ago. She has a big loving heart and caring spirit and chose to be inclusive of everyone not realizing exactly what that meant until a family joined who were big supporters of Teen Gay Lesbian Rights. Although they were Christians and had no gay teens. This family began talking up the gay rights at the coop. So if we are apart of coops and support groups we need to be aware of this as it will effect our homeschool too. Another homeschool coop several years ago discovered that one of the parents who were teaching History at the coop were teaching a slated view of white supremacy during the classes. These may not be in "your" homeschool but your families and children can be affected by them in a homeschool community. As a side note these were both "true" homeschool coops.
ReplyDeleteYes, but unlike govt schools, you can tell them to scram. Co-op membership, like church membership, fences people out as well as in. Inclusivity is a bad idea. Or you can start another co-op. Or you can quit co-op. We aren't forced to socialize with anyone. A good public rebuke by the leadership would have been totally appropriate. Personally, I don't do co-ops. It saves me alot of headaches. I learned that the hard way.
ReplyDelete