Gregory Koukl's Blog, page 14

Should Christians Pull Their Kids Out of Public Education?

I recently answered the question ���Should Christians keep children in public schools to be ���salt and light?������ for our weekly video blog. This, and the larger question of whether Christians should allow their kids to be publicly educated, period, are questions I have been wrestling with for some time. I tread carefully with this question because I know many good Christian parents who enroll their kids in the local public school, and I also know many good Christians who are public school administrators and teachers. And I certainly don���t want to offer simplistic answers that minimize the gravity and implications for my brothers and sisters in Christ. I also know that school districts within the same states and even the same local region can vary widely in terms of their quality, culture, and commitments, so I don���t want to paint with too broad of a brush and be dismissive of the entire enterprise without taking these things into account. But, given the current cultural context, I think this is a question every Christian parent must seriously grapple with and do so year-in and year-out.

Let me offer a question to my Christian friends whose kids are being publicly educated, or who are working in public education, that should help guide this conversation: What is your tipping point? In other words, can public education and all that it involves disintegrate to a level where you would say ���enough is enough��� and pull your kids out? Of course, I would hope your simple answer is yes. But beyond that, you must begin to outline some specific criteria. You must make explicit the tipping point in your own mind so that you can effectively evaluate whether your local public school has reached that point. Andrew Walker summarizes this well in his article ���How the Federal Government is Transforming Public Education���:

Christian parents need to establish a tipping point. This may be the most important response to consider. What actions taken by your local school will be sufficient for you to re-evaluate public education? Is having a teacher reprimand your child for his or her belief about marriage, sex, and gender acceptable? Will you allow them to be in schools where bathroom policies are based on gender identity rather than biological sex? Not establishing a tipping point could leave your child over-exposed to environments they shouldn���t be in. Not thinking about a tipping point is irresponsible and will communicate carelessness about a child���s education and Christian formation. This is not a call to exit the public schools; it is a call to vigilance. It is advisable that spouses have a candid conversation and establish a line in the sand.

So, what���s your tipping point? Christian parents, I���m pleading with you to consider this question carefully and, indeed, to even write out specific criteria that will guide you into the future. The challenges are coming at breakneck speed. For example, entire school districts are adopting pro-transgender policies and will use coercion to enforce them. Therefore, you and I cannot simply float along with the cultural currents, as the church has for the last century, without reaping serious consequences, which we certainly are now. As one possible example, here is a Christian principal who has reached a tipping point in his role as administrator.

I know this opens up a huge conversation, and there are significant practical consequences for individuals and families to face (e.g. leaving a job as a public school teacher or moving from a two-family income household to one in order to homeschool). And of course, the way in which we are most effectively salt and light in the culture must be carefully reflected upon too. But before you consider those things, maybe first we need to spend some time rethinking our views about education itself. Is there a Christian view of education and if so, what it is? What does Scripture say? And given these things, what does wisdom demand from us in this day and age? Biblical thinking about education and our role in it will help clarify what our tipping point(s) should be.

Here are a few resources to get you thinking about a Christian view of education:

BOOKS

For the Children���s Sake: Foundations of Education for Home and School by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay
Education for Human Flourishing by Paul Spears and Steven Loomis
Beauty in the Word: Rethinking the Foundations of Education by Stratford Caldecott
Norms and Nobility: A Treatise on Education by David Hicks
The Abolition of Man by C.S. Lewis

ARTICLES

The Role of Education���Part 1 by Glenn Sunshine
The Role of Education���Part 2 by Glenn Sunshine
The Myth of a Value-Free Education by Ronald Nash
To Know the Lord: A Christian Education Prospectus by T.M. Moore
Why Christian Education by Jim Drexler

Take a first step. Now. Read an article. Discuss the question of a tipping point with your spouse, trusted family member, friend, or mentor. Purchase one of the books above. Take action immediately. The Body of Christ is responsible for raising up the next generation of Christian ambassadors, so doing nothing is not an option.

Christian Storytelling Should Be Both True and Beautiful

On yesterday���s podcast, Brett talked to screenwriter and author Brian Godawa about Christian artists, beauty, truth, and storytelling. Art is indeed a powerful vehicle for expressing truth, but as Brian explains in the interview, when we use story merely as a tool to communicate a message, neglecting the beauty of the craft, we tend to end up with preachy propaganda. He argued that beauty is an aspect of the truth about God that we must not downplay when speaking through artistic forms:

When we talk about God and theology, we often talk about things like: we have to have a proper epistemology (or theory of knowledge), we have to have a proper ethic (or system of morality), we want to have a notion of ontology (or reality)���this is what traditional categories are in terms of philosophy. And [with] theology, you could talk about soteriology, salvation, these kinds of things. But what is often lacking in there is aesthetic. There are so many Scriptures in the Psalms and many places where it talks about the beauty of God���s holiness���.. My point being, beauty is not just something there to be appreciated; it���s actually part of the whole theology of how God communicates Himself.

So to the extent in which you ignore that or downplay beauty is just as if you were to downgrade any element of truth that we should have, whether it���s Christ���s nature as God, or whether it���s soteriology and salvation, or the work of the Spirit. [In the same way as these,] beauty is a part of that understanding.

Telling stories in a way that reflects God���s beauty testifies to the beauty of our God. Beauty itself is an apologetic for God because it reveals His beauty, just as making a case for the truth of the gospel through apologetic arguments reveals His truth, and serving people in love reveals His love. As Christians, we ought to be declaring God���s beauty to the world through our art. Brian had some good words of encouragement and warning for Christian artists:

I want to encourage Christians who are artists to do two things equally: Seek to value your craft and beauty as high as the truth, and secondly, seek to study and know your God (study theology and study apologetics) because [these are] both two sides of one, unified truth. And to the extent in which you���re imbalanced in either of them, it will show in your art. You���ll either have bad art that is preachy, or you���ll have art that is teaching falsehoods because you don���t understand how truth is embodied in it. So seek to pursue them both���.

Study your craft. Do everything you can to learn it���. But pursue that beauty in a way that will value the craft equally with the truth.

Listen to the rest of the interview, and if you���re an artist, consider attending the Canvas Conference in Portland later this year, where they���ll be exploring this very topic. From their website:

The Canvas Conference humbly exists to inform all acts of human creativity and beauty with biblical, gospel-centered theology for the worship of the triune God���. We want to help build strong theological foundations for the artist and, likewise, to push Christians to pursue creative orthodoxy in their theological craft���.

The Canvas Conference seeks to build bridges between the artist and the theologian by inviting God to take center stage in every human endeavor. We want to watch the Lord as he puts theology and creativity in their proper place. We want to show that creativity begins and ends with the God of Christian Scripture. It is our Creator who created us in his image to create. Thus, we should do so for his glory, for our good, and for the benefit of all.

Links Mentioned on the 4/11/16 Show

The following is a rundown of today's podcast, annotated with links that were either mentioned on the show or inspired by it:

Guest: Brian Godawa ��� God against the gods: Storytelling, Imagination, and Apologetics in the Bible (0:00)

God against the gods: Storytelling, Imagination, and Apologetics in the Bible by Brian Godawa
Brian Godawa's website
Brian Godawa's books
Hollywood Worldviews: Watching Films with Wisdom and Discernment by Brian Godawa
Word Pictures: Knowing God through Story and Imagination by Brian Godawa
Canvas Conference ��� Bringing together creativity and theology: "The Canvas Conference humbly exists to inform all acts of human creativity and beauty with biblical, gospel-centered theology for the worship of the triune God."
Discipled by Narnia by Amy Hall (quoting Joe Rigney) ��� Good stories play a part in shaping a person���s true perception of reality by developing a proper taste in the reader for the good, the true, and the beautiful.
Cruel Logic (short film) by Brian Godawa

Listen to today's show or download any archived show for free. (Find links from past shows here.)

To take part in the Twitter conversation during the live show (Tuesdays 4:00���6:00 p.m. PT), follow @STRtweets and use the hashtag #STRtalk.

Is the Bible Full of Contradictions?

���The Bible is full of contradictions!��� We hear it all the time from skeptics and atheists as if it���s common knowledge. But is it true?

I���ve devoted the last few months to answering this question. What I have discovered is that many alleged contradictions arise because an unfair standard, or false expectation, is applied to the Bible. Most modern readers just assume that the biblical authors wrote like we do today in the twenty-first century. Consequently, they end up applying a twenty-first century standard to an ancient document. This is a gross mistake. In fact, most claims of Bible contradictions stem from the reader misunderstanding, and even misrepresenting, the author���s intent. The alleged contradictions stem from the reader, not the author.

Some of these false expectations include:

Selection (or omission) of certain facts is a denial of other facts.
If something is accurate, then it must also be precise.
Ordering of events must always be chronological.
Time compressing events of a story is errant.
Mysteries in the Bible are irreconcilable.

For each false expectation, I offer a corresponding helpful principle that will allow you to properly understand that author���s intent in light of the context and literary genre. My hope is that these principles will help you as you read and study God���s Word.

You can watch the entire presentation here:

We're Meant to Represent our King in This Foreign Land

The Bible says that Christians are ambassadors for Christ. At STR, we���ve highlighted three skills an ambassador needs to develop to be effective representing our King: knowledge, wisdom, and character. I���ve been reminded recently that essential to being an ambassador is being a representative in a foreign country. For most of us in Western culture, our culture hasn���t been all that foreign to us. But it���s becoming increasingly foreign territory populated by people who speak a different language and have very different values. But that���s where ambassadors belong. This foreign land is precisely where ambassadors are meant to be representing our Sovereign.

How Do You Respond to Someone Who Says That Religion Doesn't Impact Them?

Brett shares how to start a conversation with someone about Christianity even if they don't have any interest in religion. 

Why #GiveElsaAGirlfriend Shouldn���t Surprise Anyone

I���ve been asked to respond to the recent campaign to get Disney to make Elsa the first lesbian princess. Disney is currently working on Frozen 2, which is sure to be another box office hit. In fact, the first Frozen film grossed more than a billion dollars worldwide, making it the biggest animated box office success in cinema history.

Some LGBT activists and Frozen fans have created the viral hashtag #GiveElsaAGirlfriend to urge the sequel���s writers to make Elsa Disney's first lesbian queen. They believe that Disney is long overdue to have a lesbian represented in their films.

Dear @Disney, #GiveElsaAGirlfriend

��� Alexis Isabel (@lexi4prez) May 1, 2016

#GiveElsaAGirlfriend normalising a f/f relationship will help queer young kids accept & understand their sexuality, that rep is so important

��� tammy (@octaviabIake) May 1, 2016

Some people, including many Christians, were surprised at the news. I, for one, found their surprise a little surprising. In fact, anyone shocked by this news hasn���t been paying attention to what���s going on in the culture.

Let me give you three reasons why we shouldn���t be surprised by this attempt to turn Elsa into a lesbian.

First, Hollywood has had openly gay characters in movies and TV for years (shows like Will and Grace and Modern Family come to mind). Granted, it hasn���t been as prevalent in movies, but it���s hard to find a show on TV today that doesn���t have a gay character. It was only a matter of time before this kind of thing made its way to movies and TV shows for kids. From a worldly mindset, this is a natural progression. Whether or not Disney makes Elsa a lesbian character remains to be seen, but make no mistake, the day will come. Some LGBT groups will not rest until their ideology is propagated in every area of education and media. If Jesus doesn���t come back first, it will come.

Second, one of the schemes of the devil is to suppress the guilt we feel from sin by normalizing it. If everybody���s doing it, or everyone agrees with it, then this helps suppress feelings of guilt and shame. If Satan can get us to invite sin into our homes through entertainment so that we can laugh at it and cheer for it, then it���s a win for him. When we invite sin into our homes, we are inviting it into our hearts.

It has long been the known that the LGBT agenda is to normalize homosexual behavior. That���s not a secret. If they can normalize it, then it will invariably become an accepted moral norm. As a result, people who think homosexual behavior is wrong become the immoral ones. This leads to my last point.

Third, this strategy is consistent with a culture that is thoroughly relativistic. If one believes cultural relativism is true���that the culture decides what is right and wrong���and wants to change the culture���s moral opinion, then to make something ���moral,��� you must get the culture to agree with you. Many LGBT activists know this. In fact, they have devoted considerable effort to changing moral opinion through changing laws, modifying education curriculum, and influencing media. People who resist their agenda are ridiculed and called names like homophobe, bigot, and intolerant.

The world is going to do what the world is going to do. It���s our job as Christians to remain faithful to Christ and our moral convictions. As with any kids movie, Christian parents are going to have to make a judgment call on what is appropriate for their children.

Why Would God Create a Massive Universe?

From time to time, an atheist will say to me that the size of the universe is evidence that A) we���re insignificant, and B) it wasn���t created by God (since there���s so much ���wasted space���). In his book Look and Live, Matt Papa reflects on a purpose for the massive size of the universe:

One of the best places to see the glory of God is up. The Bible says ���the heavens declare the glory of God��� (Psalm 19:1 NIV). This means the skies are saying something. And that something is this: ���God is massive, eternal, creative, powerful.���

We should listen to them. Consider these fun space facts:

You could fit one million earths inside our star, the sun.
In a larger star named Betelguese, you could fit one billion (1,000,000,000) suns or 262 trillion (262,000,000,000,000) earths.
The largest star in the universe is the VY Canis Majoris. It would take 9.3 billion (9,300,000,000,000) suns to fill Canis Majoris.
It would take 11,666,192,832,000,000 earths to fill Canis Majoris.
If Canis Majoris were put in our sun���s place, it would extend past Saturn.

Feeling small yet? ���

Why in the world would God make something so massive and wild?

Assuming we are the only life in this endless black (which I do), couldn���t He have just made the earth, the moon, and the sun? Or perhaps even just the earth with some sort of self-illumination?

But no. He didn���t.

He made a terrifying, endless, beautiful, unexplored, unexplorable abyss. He made an immeasurable, untamed ocean of mega stars, galaxies, quasars, and black holes in which we are a mere floating speck.

Why?

The heavens declare the glory of God.

The Artist must have wanted to tell us something about himself. He is the real terrifying, endless, beautiful, unexplored, unexplorable Abyss. He is the immeasurable, untamed Ocean of truth, wisdom, goodness, and light in which we are a mere floating speck.

Holy.

So yes, the massive size of the universe does reveal our insignificance in comparison to the God of the universe, and that inspires our awe. But at the same time, He created it this way for this precise purpose of revealing His glory to us, and that means that despite how insignificant we are compared to Him, He stooped down out of love for us and declared us to be significant to Him.

Challenge Response: Is Pig���s Meat Allowed Today or Not?

Here's my response to this week's challenge:

Questions about Transgender Theories to Consider

On today���s podcast, Greg talks about an article discussing how people who object to radical changes in our society, like transgender bathrooms, are being bullied to abandon their reasonable sensibilities and objections. Tevin Wax has some good questions about this radical new theory of sexuality. If you���re challenged about your views, it might be helpful to have some of these fair questions in mind to try to engage in a respectful and useful discussion about these highly charged issues. The questions also constitute some very good reasons why we shouldn���t accept the new theory on human sexuality.