And the Lord commanded the Hebrews, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.”
But, there was one father named Jesse, who had a better idea. Wanting the best education for his youngest son, he sent David down the road to a popular and modern Philistine school. Among the Philistines David attended school for 13 long years. Then one day a Philistine army came to conquer Israel, and all the Hebrew men prepared for battle.
Jesse: Quickly son, prepare for battle! We must fight the Philistines!
David: The Philistines? What’s wrong with the Philistines?
Jesse: They sacrifice their babies as burnt offerings!
David: Yeah sure, but just the unwanted ones.
Jesse: Their women are harlots!
David: Hey now, I fooled around with several Philistine girls and they seemed alright to me.
Jesse: They hate the Almighty God!
David: Who’s God?
Jesse: The only God! The one true God of Israel!
David: Oh, we aren’t allowed to talk about Him at school. And besides…
Suddenly, a giant came to the middle of the battle field and issued a challenge, “I defy the ranks of Israel this day; give me a man that we may fight together.”
Jesse: That man curses God and threatens Israel. He must be killed!
David: Killed?! That’s Big Guy Golia. He’s my best friend, Dad! We sit together every day in Antisemitism 101. What is your problem, anyway? If the Philistines are so bad, why did you send me to their school?
With that David abandoned his father and his father’s God, and joined the people who had raised him. In the evening, David and his best friend Goliath led the charge and defeated the Israelites.
Thankfully, this is not the real story of David and Goliath. No God-fearing Israelite would allow an enemy of God to educate his children. This is actually a parable of American families and government schools. If you are a Christian and not homeschooling, please reconsider before it is too late.
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I got so much from that dialog 🙂 Thank you. Have a blessed week.
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Love it!!! Thanks! It is so important to remember what our kids are taught in school these days.
I’m chuckling, but there is a great deal of truth in this little conversation. I’ll be sharing this one around the dinner table tonight. thanks!
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Thanks for sharing these thought-provoking insights and questions. It’s important that parents think through their choices and the consequences. Bless you.
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Oh my gosh girl, this made me laugh! I love the way you set up your point with humor.
It is so important to pass down our faith, and also to represent it in our actions. Our children, and our family members all over the world are watching and listening. No Antisemitism 101 here!
So fun to ‘meet’ you here :),
Ceil
Oh dear… this feels so inappropriate to me. I am a Christian, and I send my children to a Christian school because our church’s school is available to us. However, it is not available to all in my extended family – and many of them send their children to public school. They also regularly share God’s Word with them, talk about the false doctrine that they might be hearing in school, and equip them to share God’s Word with others. I think homeschooling is great. I also think it’s wrong to judge people for choosing not do it.
It might be helpful to think about David’s children. I’m quite sure they were all homeschooled. A few did not turn out so well. Homeschooling, like anything else, does not guarantee that our children will walk with God. Only God, in his grace and love, can accomplish that through the work of the Holy Spirit.
Anna, this post is meant to warn, not judge. Several studies over the last 20 years have found that between 75-85% of children raised in the church are walking away from their faith when they turn 18.
On the other hand, one study found that 94% of homeschooled children continue to love the Lord after graduation. We just can’t take those kind of chances with our children, if their is another way.
I don’t live in America, and I do plan to homeschool, so maybe this post is not for me. But I am a Christian, and I am American, so maybe it is. I suppose sending your children off to government boarding school for 13 years would be spiritual abandonment. But living in the world while not living of the world is a difficult place we ALL find ourselves in. Sometimes that includes working with unbelievers, and sometimes that includes education with or by unbelievers. Christian parents must work extra hard to communicate Biblical truth to their children who spend time being educated by the world. But let us encourage one another out of love, not fear. Fear is never the right motivation. “Perfect love drives out fear.”
And as a previous commenter mentioned, our training of our children, is sadly not a guarantee that they will walk with God. What good news that was for Abraham, though, that God called him out of his family’s idolatry and revealed the truth to him. The same for St. Paul, who was fully educated AGAINST Jesus, and yet became a believer. What relief it is, that God is stronger than our education, childhood, or family background. He can do anything! Let’s teach that to our children.
Kate, I totally agree that God is stronger than our education, and there is always hope. But God also commands parents to bring our children up in the Lord, and that is hard to do when our kids spend the majority of their time in a secular school.
That fact that Christian churches are witnessing a mass exodus of our youth the moment they turn 18 should be a warning to Christian parents to reclaim our children and homeschool.