“Get out of Babylon! Run from the Babylonians! Shout the news. Broadcast it. Let the world know, the whole world.”
Isaiah 48:20 MSG
If anything can be said that is remotely good about President Barak Obama, it is that he is good to his word. During the presidential campaign of 2008 and including his election night victory address, he was clear when he said that he was going to “fundamentally transform America”. Like it or not (and I suspect most who read this blog absolutely loathe it) he has kept that promise. It is so blatantly clear concerning the change he has advocated and implemented that giving you a list would simply prove the obvious. This is no longer your granddad’s nation. In fact, your granddad would barely recognize it.
The latest “transformation” has happened this week as the President who would-be-King has issued a mandate to the public schools to accommodate immediately transgendered individuals in restrooms and locker rooms. Bottom line is that boys can now relieve themselves in front of girls and girls can shower with the boys. It seems bizarre even writing that line. However, that edict has produced a flurry of anger, concern, and questions…as it should.
The point of this blog is not to analyze the obvious. It takes no Ph.D in sociology or psychology to know that this edict is a train wreck waiting to happen. My question is at what point do we as Christians flee from the Babylonian system called “public education”? When is the moment we evaluate where we send our kids for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week, 9 months of the year, for at least 13 years and ask the question, “Is this system so broken that it is beyond repair, redemption, or constant monitoring?” When do we as Bible-believing Christians acknowledge that this system is not helping educate our kids but in fact is indoctrinating our kids in the very things God abhors for His people? Babylon has a worldview too and it is committed to engraining it into our children’ minds. What must happen for Christian parents to simply say they are tired of their faith being undermined at every turn and they simply say…”Enough!” When do we protect our kids from the Babylonian whore called public education and decide that perhaps it is time we took their education and upbringing in our own hands? I can assure you that even the least able amongst you who might be reading this blog is far superior to the product your kids are currently receiving.
Now it’s at this point I need to offer some clarity and affirmation. I personally know scores of Christian public school teachers and administrators who are doing their best to teach, minister and bear witness to the truth in the midst of Babylon. They are truly to be commended and recognized as missionaries in a hostile land. Many consider it their “calling”. Some are incredibly creative in witnessing their faith and truly reaching out to their students. Hear me clearly as I say this…I salute you. But you need to know that recent statistics are showing that increasing numbers of public school teachers are taking their children out of the system. Why? They recognize perhaps more clearly than anyone that public education is significantly broken with no repair in sight. Listen carefully, I am no “retreat-ist” or “defeatist”. I believe the Gospel ultimately prevails. That being said there is also a realism which has to be recognized…Babylon is falling and will we as believers ride the collapse.
I also recognize that there are untold numbers of Christian parents who feel they have no alternative to public school education. All of us are taxed significantly to prop up this Babylonian system and to suggest that several more thousand dollars a year be expended for education seems almost wasteful. What is a seriously concerned, biblical worldview Christian to do? Perhaps it is time to consider, in spite of the challenges, fleeing Babylon.
My wife and I crossed this road in the 1990’s, 2000’s, 2010’s with all of our children. Our story was one of a different era than the one we now face, but perhaps it holds some wisdom for those who may be concerned. We were blessed to live in a southern city for a few years which had a public school which unashamedly allowed teachers to witness and practice their faith. In public elementary school our children had as their teachers women who were also Baptist pastor’s wives which made a significant impact on our kids. I am sure those assignments to those teachers was in no small part due to our prayers that they would have Christian teachers. I will fully stipulate that it is indeed possible for our kids to have great teachers in the public school. However, the increased pressures of federal mandates and an increasing adversity to Christianity in the public school began to be more evident as the years passed. We eventually made the decision that we would either homeschool or find a Christian School which had a philosophy of education which honored comprehensive Christianity. We did in fact, homeschool for a few years one of our children and all three of our children graduated from Christian school. Each one has excelled in college with no sense of academic or spiritual deficiency. (Mom gets the credit on that point)
Through our experience I would suggest that any Christian parent in this nation consider the following in answering the question, “Should we flee Babylon?”
1. Will public school help or hinder the faith you are imparting to your child?
As mentioned above, some public schools can be a relatively good experience. At the very least, they do no harm. But can you really afford an institution undermining the most important thing in your child’s life which is their spiritual well being? As parents, my wife and I were able to navigate a few things at public school. I can tell you that to do that I had multiple “worldview” conversations with teachers and what they were teaching. Are you prepared to monitor closely what your children are hearing and learning?
2. Can your children resist not only peer pressure adequately, but teacher pressure?
My wife and I came to the conclusion that our children were simply not prepared to be missionaries in that foreign land. They simply did not have the spiritual tools to effectively douse the fiery darts of the adversary in that environment. They needed training and candidly, it couldn’t be “on the job” training. I know, people say that if you take them out of that environment and “shelter” them that they won’t be ready for the “real” world. Baloney! I often told my kids that you don’t have to stick your head in a used toilet to know it stinks. It is self-evident by observation. As a parent I am responsible to “train up a child in the way he should go”; not toss them into the toilet of a Babylonian coliseum.
3. Which direction, in light of your priorities as a Christian parent, is your local public school headed?
Perhaps your local public school is tolerable and navigable at the moment. That is great…but where is it headed? Does it implement the current federal mandates? Are you willing to challenge that system and mandate? At what point are you willing to say philosophically or morally that your school has drifted too far? I remember the days when teachers signed moral clauses and were expected to live exemplary lives outside of the classroom. I remember when we prayed at school and it was teacher led. I remember Bible clubs. I remember Friday night football invocations and pastor’s preaching at graduations. But these simple things are gone or going. Which direction do you see things headed especially in light of federal funds being attached to boys using your daughters bathroom and showers?
There are probably more questions that could help clarify your evaluation, but for our family it was all we needed. We ejected and fled Babylon. We never once regretted it. I don’t know what your decision might be. I understand the pressure, the concern, the finances, and the overall cultural expectation concerning education. Welcome to the new American reality for Christians that we are officially in a Babylonian environment. I personally believe that if a new generation of “thought-leaders” is to emerge from the Church and be used by God to challenge Babylon, they will have had those intellectual tools sharpened by a Kingdom system rather than the Babylonian system. Stay tuned, I have some ideas as to what the Church might do to help address this problem and raise up a generation of world-changers.
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