I won’t name the organization. They probably do good work, but their motto is misguided. I cringe every time I read it. They claim to help Christian families leave government schools for the Promised Land of Christian education or homeschooling.
Really? The Promised Land?
I’m a stalwart advocate for private Christian education. I have many reasons. The government school system is failing our children by every measure. From poor academics, to financial waste, to immorality, the school system gets a failing grade.
So, what are we to do? Leave the system?
Certainly, I’m all for it. But to call the exodus into Christian schooling and homeschooling an entrance into the Promised Land is too much.
Biblical imagery can be taken out of context to such an extent that it becomes unhelpful. For one thing, the Israelites found Canaan filled with idolatry and immorality, arguable worse than existed in Egypt. They were told to rid all idols and foreign gods from the land. They failed. Why? Because they brought wicked hearts with them into the Promised Land. They brought their problem with them. Their problem was sin.
The same thing is true of us. We remove our children from public schools, but our children bring their biggest struggle with them – they bring their sinful hearts. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not arguing for leaving children in the public-school system. Neither am I advocating the “salt and light” argument. I’m simply saying this: Christian schools and homeschools aren’t the Savior. Only Christ can save us from our sins. He is the One we need. He is the One our children need.
So, stay out of the public-school system, but, don’t assume you have entered a land of promise. Assume you have work to do, difficult work, gospel work. Raising your children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord takes effort and diligence. Getting them out from under humanistic teaching is only one step in the process. Pray that God uses your efforts to save, to turn hearts of stone into hearts of flesh. Our hope must be in Christ alone, not in a Promised Land of our own imagination.