Last week members of the Southern Baptist Convention voted on a proposal calling for all Baptist parents to pull their children from public funded schools in favor of private religious schools or home schooling.
\nThank God it was voted down.
\nI\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been faced with this issue for a majority of my life.
\nI attended private school for two years before my parents wisely decided it would be best if my sister and I attended public school.
\nThe private school I had attended was run by the non-denominational church we attended.
\nAnd the older I got, the more favoritism and partiality I saw given to the private school and its students.
\nYet I think my mom, who has taught in public schools for 21 years, saw the favoritism turn into judgment more and more as the years progressed.
\nPeople in the church practically condemned public schools each week suggesting their school was the only choice for good Christian kids — as if somehow attending a public school made you less of a Christian.
\nMy mom would sit in Sunday school and listen to her classmates condemn the public system that she worked for and she had sent all three of her children to.
\n\u00e2\u20ac\u0153The public schools are a failure,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d they said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Christians need to attend a private school where they can learn scripture and Biblical principles. Good parents send their students to private schools.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\nSunday after Sunday we heard propaganda for the private school, including from the pulpit.
\nI recall three large trophies sitting on the altar in front of the pulpit one week.
\nThe trophies were in recognition for the school choir\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s achievements at a regional contest.
\nStore up your treasures in heaven or on the altar?
\nIt\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s your choice.
\nThis attitude eventually led to my family\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s decision to leave the church.
\nThe church they now attend is very involved in the public system through its individual members, all striving to make a difference.I’m very pleased that not all churches and certainly not all Baptist churches hold this view of retreating and leaving the public system.
\nI attended college for three years at the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor and rarely saw this one sidedness at the Baptist school.
\nI also attend a Baptist church where the upper grades of a non-denominational private school are taught.
\nI\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been very pleased that I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve never heard any mention of the school at church other than occasional questions during the quarterly business meetings.
\nYet retired Air Force General T.C. Pinckney of Alexdandria, Va., and attorney Bruce Shortt of Spring, Texas think all Baptists should pull their children from public schools.
\nIn addition to Pinckney and Shortt\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s proposition, a statement denouncing “government schools” as “officially Godless” had been proposed by the Baptist Convention earlier this year.
\nThat too was voted down in exchange for a watered down statement that warned \u00e2\u20ac\u0153against the cultural drift in our nation toward secularism.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\nYou want to know why public schools are Godless?
\nIt\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s because Christians have pulled God out of our public schools
\nGood meaning Christians are pulling their children out of public schools left and right.
\nMost Christians simply have no spine \u00e2\u20ac\u201c that is unless they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve gathered to protest the latest movie or are chewing out the umpire at a church league softball game (am I harping on that issue too much?)
\nAt the sight of trouble or problems we run away and start a Christian alternative, just so we don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have to face the realities of the world around us.
\nWe have our own schools, our own music, our own television stations, our own newspapers and our own media outlets. These all have a place and serve a purpose, and I’m thankful for them.
\nYet we Christians were called to go into the world — not create our own world inside a small Christian bubble.
\nWe need to look at the examples of churches like Dr. Tony Evans\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 church, Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship (OCBF), in Dallas.
\nEvans and his congregation offer a private school yet they have also not neglected the public schools around them.
\nOCBF has been a leader in faith-based reform both in the public schools and the community.
\nOCBF members visit two to three schools each week in the Dallas Independent School District mentoring and tutoring the students.
\nThey\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re taking time to show those around them the love Christ showed to them.
\nIf we as Christians pull our children and families out of the public schools, who will be left?
\nThe Christian influence is rapidly diminishing in the schools and elsewhere, yet we all ready to throw stones at the sinners living in the world around us.
\nChristian teachers are leaving, Christian administrators are leaving and Christian students are leaving.
\nWho is left to be a God fearing example?
\nYes, its true our public schools are not the God fearing entities the private schools are, but what more would you expect when those who care about God and fear Him are no longer there.
\nSinners will sin \u00e2\u20ac\u201c I know because I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m one of them.
\nAnd without a Christ-like example how will they know any better?
\nChrist never expected the world to come to him. He went to them.
\nDenton Bible Church Pastor Tommy Nelson says he makes it a point each morning to work out a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153secular gym\u00e2\u20ac\u009d because with his busy ministry schedule, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the only contact he typically has with unbelievers. What contact will we have when we evacuate the world in search of the Christian alternative?
\nChrist hung out with the prostitutes, the tax-collectors, the thieves and criminals — and He loved them all the same. Christ invited them into his inner circle rather than creating a Christian alternative.
\nThey saw His love and accepted His message because He came to the point of their need, presented a message that was relevant to them and forgave them of their sins.
\nI believe that Christians who are afraid to be apart of the world and share Christ\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s love with others are literally telling the rest of the world to go to hell.
\nHouston songwriter Seth Woods writes, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We read in the papers about the dealers and the rapers and the wars are being fought. We see those who are needy and give thanks to the banks that we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re not\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6 We pass by the whores, the gays, the drunks in the doorways and we try to keep our eyes to the ground. We snicker at the lost and think man I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m so glad that I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m found.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d
\nAfter all, someone had to tell me about Christ. Someone had to tell you about Christ. And someone needs to tell them about Christ. And how will we reach them if we never get to know them?<\/p>\n
Scripture reassures us, “No one who trusts God like this–heart and soul–will ever regret it.” It’s exactly the same no matter what a person’s religious background may be: the same God for all of us, acting the same incredibly generous way to everyone who calls out for help. “Everyone who calls, “Help, God!’ gets help.” But how can people call for help if they don’t know who to trust? And how can they know who to trust if they haven’t heard of the One who can be trusted? And how can they hear if nobody tells them? And how is anyone going to tell them, unless someone is sent to do it? That’s why Scripture exclaims, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153A sight to take your breath away! Grand processions of people telling all the good things of God!\u00e2\u20ac\u009d –Romans 10:11-15 MSG<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Last week members of the Southern Baptist Convention voted on a proposal calling for all Baptist parents to pull their children from public funded schools in favor of private religious schools or home schooling. Thank God it was voted down. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been faced with this issue for a majority of my life. I attended private … Continue reading Officially Godless<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2090],"tags":[2088,2089,2092],"class_list":["post-40","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-columns-reflections","tag-belton-journal","tag-columns","tag-newspaper"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pEnSo-E","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/casadeblundell.com\/jonathan\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}