My Mea Culpa on Public and Homeschool

I intentionally provoke discomfort on occasion, not for the sake of discomfort, but to turn otherwise heated issues, like education, into warm-hearted dialogues.

That was the purpose behind my recent series on schooling. I wanted to provide valid points for and against each form of schooling, and in the process, collect opinions in a casual sort of way.

As might be expected, various folks were a bit offended on either side of the issue. This is unsurprising--the issue is particularly sensitive as we view the way in which we raise our children as a reflection of our parenting.

For those of you who were offended, I offer my sincere apologies. It tried very hard to keep the issue in the abstract, but on a matter such as this, it can obviously feel very personal.

I would assure you that I will seek to avoid stirring the pot again in view of any sloppiness that occurred here, but I would rather assure you of the opposite.

I believe one of the worst insults we can pay one another, and to our culture in general, is to say that people are necessarily set in their views. If we adopt such intellectual fatalism, then we shall cease to speak with one another.

We converse because we are pliable, especially as it pertains to how we apply our worldviews. For Christians in particular, we adopt the cry of "semper reformanda"--we are always reforming in accordance with the fixed, but never exhausted, truth of God's Word.

Tying up the previous discussion, I believe the fundamental postulates can be asserted, and agreed upon, with regard to how we school our children:

1) God's Word does not speak specifically concerning how we school our children. As such, it is a matter of Christian freedom (Gal. 5). We must be careful not to consciously and unconsciously bind the conscience of another on a matter of freedom (Col. 2), elsewise we do violence to their conscience and to the faith of Jesus Christ, generally speaking.

2) As this matter is not specifically laid out in Scripture, Christians must rely upon the two sources of God given wisdom and growth given them: God's Word and God's Spirit. We take the broad principles of Scriptures, pray that they would inform our conscience, and take stock of the world and circumstances and try to act accordingly. As our wisdom is fallible, we will inevitably struggle in this regard, but our comfort can always be found in the freedom we have in Christ.

3) The primary prerogative for education is delegated by God to parents (Deut. 6) and the Church (Matt. 28). Whatever decisions are made regarding schooling, they never abdicate the responsibility of parents and the Church. Children will acquire a worldview, and it must be the faith once for all delivered to the saints, passed through the hands of parents and the Church (as Timothy was formed by his mother, grandmother, and the apostle, Paul).

4) Even as parents mature in wisdom, they will inevitably fail at various points. We are sinners seeking to raise sinners, by grace through faith in Christ, in accordance with His Word and to His glory. And even as parents rely upon the grace by which they stand, they will inevitably falter, and in their failures rely upon that grace as well. We must remember that our authority is delegated by God. He is the Father and Shepherd of our souls, and He is all-powerful, loving, patient, and gentle. We are called to model His character to our children, and like children flee to the comfort of such a God when burdened by this great and precious responsibility of tending Christ's little ones.