A Tale of 2 Sons- School, Lefties & the State

Imagine six people- two fathers, two mothers, two sons. Two of the parents, we’ll call them the Sprouls, are Christians. Sinners to be sure, but by God’s grace, repenting ones. The other parents, we’ll call them Mr. and Mrs. Horace Mann, are non-Christians. This theological difference, of course, will impact all manner of convictions. Each parent, I suspect, would be saddened by the convictions of the other parents.

The Sprouls would hope that one day all six would agree with them, that they would embrace the finished work of Christ. The Manns would like all six to agree with them, to embrace that glorious notion that we are cosmic accidents who will return to the dust. These are important, life-shaping issues that separate these two men. So what do we do, especially with these two little boys?

What I propose is that the Sprouls instruct their son in their faith. We are called, as Christians, to raise our son in the nurture and admonition of the Lord (Ephesians 6:1-4). If God should provide opportunity we would certainly welcome conversation with the Manns, in which we would call them to repentance and saving faith. If God should so bless we would then delight to encourage them to raise their son in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. But, if they will not, we are left to pray. As we would pray for their son.

What we would not do is ask the state to regulate how the Manns teach their son. We would not insist that the boy must study the 10 Commandments and the Reformation. We would not threaten them that if they failed to meet our regulations we would require his son to be homeschooled at our house.

The Manns, however, all too often, have not been willing to reciprocate our broadmindedness. In their concern over what we teach our children, they are quite willing to have the state tell us what we must teach, and how long. Their perspective is not live and let live, but live like us, or else. Fail to educate in our home as they wish and we will be forced to send our son elsewhere to be educated as they wish. Sadly, however, they do not stop there.

The Manns want still more. They want the authority to determine what and how our children must learn, and they want us to pay for the education of their own child. They aren’t saying, “Regulate the Sprouls, but leave us alone.” They are saying, “Regulate the Sprouls, and take of their wealth to finance our educational goals for our son. Tax their wealth to pay for our regulation to make sure their son is regulated as we see fit.” The Manns are the aggressors, insisting that the state force us to measure up to their convictions.

I hope this little illustration might help us see through the fog of battle in the education wars. It is true that Christians stand on one side, and unbelievers on the other. But we’re not asking for different versions of the same thing. We Christians are not asking, at least those of us who remember our calling to do unto others, to control the education of the children of our neighbors.

We’re not trying to seize government schools for Jesus. Jesus doesn’t work that way. He doesn’t call us to take from our neighbor so that we might teach our neighbor and his children what they don’t believe. What we want is liberty. For ourselves, and our neighbors.

We believe in the power of the gospel to change they world. They believe in the power of the sword. We are financed by the gifts of God given freely by His people. They are financed by forcefully taking from their ideological enemies. We are seeking to live by the golden rule. They want to control our children. The real issue is less gender ideology, more polite totalitarianism.