Unprofitable Home Defense, 8

Continued from "Unprofitable Defense, 7"


I just can't afford to home-school or to put my child in a Christian school. (Common excuse)

Then Lot chose him all the plain of Jordan; and Lot journeyed east: and they separated themselves the one from the other. Abram dwelled in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelled in the cities of the plain, and pitched his tent toward Sodom. But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the LORD exceedingly. (Genesis 13:11-13)

Bob Jones Senior used to say, "Lot picked a great place to raise sheep but a rotten place to raise kids." Lot put his business and financial interests above those of his family in his choice of the environment where his children would grow up.

Incredibly enough, in a recent discussion, someone defending the "right" of parents to put their children in public schools said, "We are to be in the world but not of the world." Good point. And how exactly does subjecting your child to over 14,000 hours of indoctrination in how to view the world without God teach him not to be "of the world"?

The public school is a spiritually toxic environment precisely because it attempts to excise all reference to the Creator from all His works. Putting your child in that environment is analogous to pitching your tent toward Sodom.

In fact, the parallels here are more than superficial. Romans 1:18-32 informs us that the society which does not like to retain God in their knowledge will eventually degenerate to the point that it will condone the practice of sodomy. Our public schools do not like to retain God in their curriculum, and -- lo and behold -- promotion of perverted "sexual preferences" continues to become more common there.

So, how do I respond to someone who tells me he cannot afford a Christian education for his child? Well, for the most part, my response is speechless  contempt.

You see, for 99% of American Christians, the statement, "I can't afford a Christian education for my child," is only half of the argument. The unspoken part goes, ". . . and maintain my present lifestyle."

At this point, my answer gets personal, and for that I apologize in advance.

My wife and I have lived in rat- and roach-infested apartments while I worked jobs at or below minimum wage. For us, the idea of  putting our children in public school and using their Christian school tuition money to better our living conditions never arose. It was never an issue.

Later, in our first year of home education, the only job I could find was part-time (2 6-hour shifts/week) and paid minimum wage. Sending my wife into the job force was simply not an option -- we were committed to educating our children in a Christian worldview.

During that time, as I looked for work, I actually turned down a full-time retail position because part of the job involved sale of pornographic magazines. We have to teach by example as well as by precept. To make matters even more dire, my wife's and my convictions prevented us from signing up for food stamps or other welfare programs.

How did we make it through that year? It wasn't easy, but only the grace of God sustained us. 

In fact, an incident that occurred after our first year of home education (and a second part-time job that really improved our circumstances) burned itself into my memory as if by a branding iron. I remember one day, during our family worship time, that I polled the family about whether there was anything they would like to see different in our family's devotional life.

My second daughter, about 10 or 11 at the time, said, "Daddy, I just think it was so neat that when we had no food in the house, how we would pray and God would send us food." A lesson to me, because where I had seen privation and poverty, my children were seeing a caring heavenly Father who supplied their needs.

A little that a righteous man hath is better than the riches of many wicked. For the arms of the wicked shall be broken: but the LORD upholdeth the righteous. (Psalm 37:16-17)

Can't afford a Christian education for your children? Liar!!! You WON'T make the sacrifices necessary to disciple the children for whom God has made you responsible.

Go ahead, pitch your tent toward Sodom. Use "free" public education to subsidize your lifestyle. Secure a comfortable house and middle-class living for yourself. 

Then prepare to give an account to the Almighty God for where you placed His children's spiritual welfare in your priorities.

Discussion continued here.