“If the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be seasoned?”(The compelling case for Christian Schools) The Lord Jesus Christ told his disciples: “Ye are the salt of the earth,” and “Ye are the light of the world” (Matt. 5:13,14). It is worth noting at the outset that He did not say that we are meant to be such, but that we actually are such. However if we are to function effectively as salt and light in the world in which we live, we need to be properly trained and equipped, and given a solid foundation, especially in our formative years. The State in which we live today is no longer merely a secular State, as it may have been in the past; it has become increasingly atheistic, humanistic, pluralistic, and actively immoral. Evolution is accepted, and taught, as fact; promiscuity is taken for granted (with the result that sex education is largely concerned with helping people to escape, or at least minimise, the consequences of their immorality); homosexuality is regarded as an acceptable alternative lifestyle; and Christianity has been relegated to a status equal to that of other world religions. And now the Government appears quite willing to expose the impressionable young minds of our children to the evil influences of homosexuality by the repeal of Section 28 of the Local Government Act. Yet the vast majority of Christian parents still continue to entrust to the State the task of educating their covenant children and young people, whom they have been commanded to “bring up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord”. And then they expect these young people to function effectively as salt and light in the world in their day and generation! Is it any wonder that the reverse is so often true, and that so many of them are being lost to the Church, when the education they receive in Church, home, and Sabbath School is being undermined by that which they receive in the day school? And is it any wonder that the salt has lost its savour, and that the Church itself has ceased to make an impact on the world? It is very easy for those of us who are over 40, remembering our own school days – in which morning Assemblies and Bible teaching (as distinct from mere Religious Education) played a prominent part, and in which discipline was a fact of life – to think that things are much the same today as then. Nothing, however, could be further from the truth. We need to wake up to the fact that our children are being educated in a totally different country from the one in which we grew up, even although the geographical and political boundaries may be the same. I also believe that the Evangelical Churches need to wake up to the fact that the State which is educating their children today is in many respects “light years removed” from the one to which they handed over their schools last century. (In this respect, perhaps the Roman Catholic Church is to be commended for having refused to hand over its schools.) Our Government has long since “pitched its tent towards Sodom,” and we as Christians find ourselves, like Lot of old, dwelling in Sodom. That being the case, I believe the need to reclaim our covenant children for Christ is more urgent now than it has ever been. After all, no army would send its soldiers to the enemy to be trained – except, it seems, the Lord's army! And most of them will readily appeal to our Lord's words in Matthew 5:13 & 14 as their (supposed) Biblical authority for doing so! Much time could be spent discussing why the salt has lost its savour, and many reasons could, no doubt, be given. My own view is that the Churches, and individual Christians, have to bear part, at least, of the responsibility for having abandoned their God-given obligations in relation to the education of their covenant children. (Perhaps if believers were agreed on the answer to this important question, they might well take their responsibilities more seriously.) “The State in which we live today is no longer merely a secular State, as it may have been in the past; it has become increasingly atheistic, humanistic, pluralistic, and actively immoral.”The question I wish to address here, however, is not: “Why has the salt lost its savour?” but: “Wherewith shall it be seasoned?” (Luke 13:34) Will it be seasoned by those whose minds have been poisoned by the pagan philosophy of the world, and whose moral standards and values have been derived from, and their mind-set influenced by, the world? Or will it be seasoned by those who have received a broad, Bible-based education, and whose moral standards and values have been derived from, and their mind-set influenced by, the Word of God? Or, to put the question another way: who will be best equipped to function as salt and light in the world? Will it be those who may be confused because the education they receive in the day school contradicts and undermines what they are taught in Church, at home, and in Sabbath School? Or will it be those who are well-grounded in the truth, because their education in the day school complements and supplements what they are taught in Church, at home, and in Sabbath School? If, in the 1970's and 1980's, Christian parents had sent their children to Christian schools, even if it meant establishing and running these schools themselves, think of the possible influence which these children, now grown to adulthood, might have had (humanly speaking) on our society, as the social workers, politicians, administrators, educationalists, etc., of today. (Who knows, they might even have halted the downward slide into immorality and ungodliness, instead of, as we noted earlier, being lost to the Church, or, at best, marginalised.) If Christian parents were to face up to their responsibilities even now, at this late stage, and insist on a Christian education for their children, who knows what influence might be exerted on the next generation? And we ought not to stop at Christian schools; I believe there is a desperate need for Christian Colleges of Education and Christian Universities, so that future generations of Christian young people can be fully equipped to carry out their proper function as salt and light in their day. Furthermore, government, at all levels, commerce and the media are so corrupt that an equally convincing case could be made for the establishment of one or more Christian political parties, Christian newspapers, and Christian radio and TV companies, which could bring the salt and light of the Christian gospel to bear on all aspects of our society. But let us at least begin by repairing the foundations, and fully equipping the rising generation for these tasks, by the establishment of Christian schools. One final point: if the repeal of Section 28 finally wakes up individual Christians, and Churches, to set up Christian schools in order to educate their covenant children, it may yet prove to be a blessing in disguise. Donald J Mackay Edinburgh June 2000 |