Many Judeo-Christian believers and their leaders in the clergy fret and wring their hands about the loss of young adults to the faith. Christian and Jewish communities alike are losing massive numbers of young people as soon as they reach the age of moving away from home. Could the public school systems be part of the reason?

Consider the opening words of Psalm 1, “Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.” [KJV] It is powerful Scriptural counsel.

Our children and grandchildren are precious gifts from God. Yet, we continue to immerse them, in the public school system, for 12 years in the “counsel of the ungodly,” smack dab “in the way of sinners,” all while occupying the “seat of the scornful.” The children are taught repeatedly that

• the concept of sin is a relic of the religious myth;
• all forms of behavior and lifestyles are morally acceptable;
• none should have any form of a stigma attached. Refer to a previous blog (What the Public School is Teaching Your Children/Grandchildren is Shocking!) for a lengthy list of anti-Biblical messages relentlessly taught in the public schools

The authority figures with whom our children and grandchildren spend most of their waking hours are continuously teaching ungodly humanistic values. Why then should we be surprised by teenagers,

• engaging in immoral—sometimes illegal—behaviors,
• causing teen pregnancies,
• displaying extremely selfish attitudes,
• promoting ungodly liberal/progressive views,
• using drugs and alcohol, and
• ultimately, leaving the faith.

The Apostle Paul asks in 2 Corinthians 6:14, “…what fellowship can light have with darkness?” [NIV] None, of course! Then why do we insist on sending our children and grandchildren into 12 years of darkness?

There are few alternatives. Many faith-based schools have become elite to the point of demanding tuition in the range of $10,000 to $14,000 per year per child, simply outside the range of the average family. Some have also compromised the Judeo-Christian values that originally launched the schools. Consider two other options:

• Home schooling: Home schooling was started by God, “Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.” [Deuteronomy 11:19 NIW] God assigned the responsibility of education to the parents and has never changed His mind.

In modern times, the home schooling movement has massively matured. Consider A Beka Academy as one example of many. (http://www.abekaacademy.org/?AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1 ) Today, the number of home schooling families should be increased by at least a factor of 10.

• Faith-based schooling: Drive across any city and observe church after church and synagogue after synagogue that are occupied on occasional week nights and on weekends. These places of worship ranging from a small neighborhood church to large campuses at mega-churches lie empty during prime weekday hours virtually all day every day Monday through Friday.

The physical facilities for Christian schools already exist just waiting to be used for schools. It is shameful to waste God’s resources on empty buildings, while the American culture continues to implode. However, to use the existing facilities as schools requires cooperation and collaboration among churches even across denominational lines.

I would advise no one to send his child where the Holy Scriptures are not supreme. Every institution that does not unceasingly pursue the study of God’s Word becomes corrupt…I greatly fear that the [schools], unless they teach the Holy Scriptures diligently and impress them on the young students, are wide gates to Hell. Martin Luther

What does it take to wake up the body of believers?

What does it take to wake up the clergy?