Josh Harris has posted a clip from a sermon he preached regarding obstacles to the gospel. I've got two separate purposes for posting a link to this message:
1. He touches on the issue I brought up a few weeks ago regarding the Public School debate. He capures what I was trying to say well. I would love to hear your thoughts.
2. He uses "props" in his sermon. Does his use of the "props" help him portray his point? Or, could he have made his point just as well without the "props"?
2 comments:
After watching the video, I'm still unclear to what age group he was speaking to. The props may have helped people visualize his point better and that may have been why he chose to use them. I didn't find my attention to drawn to the props, however I kept wondering where the scripture was in his message. Also, realizing this was just a clip not the entire message. Bottom line, props may help, but so does referring to scripture references for those that may not know where to find them
I heard Josh's message and very much agreed. I also read Voddie's article about the resolution as well. As a whole I agreed with Voddie on the condition of public education. I also agree that the government should not be the primary source of educating our children, but I would caution the SBC from becoming seen as "homeschool-centered" instead of gospel-centered.
My wife and I both are both products of public education. For the most part it was a good experience for us. But, times have changed. Public education is rapidly deteriorating. While I know their are many Christians teachers in public systems, at the highest levels, public education is now being dominated by secular humanists with an agenda. Children are taught that evolution is a fact, history is being revised, and sexual immorality is acceptable and even virtuous. In one of the New England states recently, the public school system forced the students to read a book about homosexual marriage and told parents not to bother fighting it! While we do homeschool, we do not look down on others who send their kids to public school. But we have experienced judgmental attitudes from Christians because we homeschool.
I would caution anyone who sends their kids to public schools with the motivation of evangelism to rethink the idea. When we think about it, do we really desire that our children be educated by unbelievers, many of which have an agenda to rob our children of their faith? Would we tolerate that in our churches in the name of evangelism? It is, in my opinion, folly to think that our young impressionable children should go into a hostile environment and stand on their own. The goal of homeschooling or other forms of christian education is to equip them to be witnesses and missionaries when they are trained and ready to do so! A rock solid high schooler would come to mind as ready to go in to the public school system. But I would not expect the average 7 year old to be ready for such an onslaught. Don't misunderstand me, for many families their are no alternatives. The public school system is flooded with tax dollars that could be given back to families, rich and poor, to give them choices for their children's education. Would it not be better, as Voddie says, if we influenced our government to give tax credits to make private or homeschools more broadly affordable? I think this is what Voddie has in mind...it's a call on the largest denomination in the country to force the issue with the federal government. Nowhere did I see Voddie say going to public school was a sin. Now if such a campaign distracts us from the gospel, then it would be a problem.
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