Live your theology.

When is it allowable for a command from God saying “You shall do X” to be restated “You shall make sure that X gets done.”?

Deuteronomy 6:6-7 states “[6] And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. [7] You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.”

From a religious perspective, are parents justified in delegating the theological training of their children to Pastors, Sunday School teachers, and Youth Group Leaders?  Is it good enough to make sure that their children are diligently taught, even if it’s not by you.  I say no, God gave you these children and is commanding YOU (yes you) to instruct them.

But what about education in general?  Are we justified in making a distinction between religious education and “book smarts” education?  The majority of parents delegate their child’s “book education” to someone else.  They’re not involved.  Is there truly such a distinction between school & theology?  Does God say “That’s not mine.” in regards to book learnin’?

That’s the question I have in mind for next week.  I want to devote the whole time to the issue of home schooling & education because, quite frankly, I think I’m starting to look at it not as “best possible method of education” but rather as “clear command from God.”

I hope you’ll be along to work it out with me.  Also – preaching in Tacoma this Sunday AM — hope to see you there as well!

My wife & I had been leaning towards homeschooling when we realized that we couldn’t afford a private school.  As we studied the ins and outs of homeschooling and investigated the advantages and (perceived) disadvantages, we came across a DVD by Voddie Baucham called the Children of Caesar.  It seems to have been out of stock for a while, but Monergism Books has it available again.

I think this DVD does the single best job of debunking a number of home school myths along with laying out the case for the superiority of home school as a model of education & development in general.