Success and Failure Blog

Personally, I think that current state of Christian Education in our nation today is very poor. It is true that an individual’s Christian education should start at the home. Unfortunately, in this day and age most kids come from broken homes and they are not taught the fundamentals of the Christian faith. When the father is not present in the home there is something wrong. When parents do not make there children go to Sunday School there is something wrong. Christian Education begins at the home and unless America has a revival in their homes then Christian Education will suffer. It is much harder for churches to reach young people when they come from broken homes and when they hear in school that they are a product of primordial ooze that evolved over millions of years into what they are today. We as Christian Educators need to get back to the basics and teach young people and new converts how to walk and talk like a Christian. That was the whole purpose of Horace Bushnell. We need some more Horace Bushnell’s today. We need some people who will challenge the way things are done in society and make an impact for the Kingdom of God. We need some godly parents who will set examples for their children and then we will see revival unlike ever before in our homes and in Christian Education.

When I compare the present state of Christian education to how it was practiced in previous eras (even the form of religious education in the Old Testament), there are some elements or traits that we have lost that must be rediscovered. First of all, as I have stated before, we have lost the importance of the family. The family is essential for Christian education. Without the family, Christian education cannot be effective because education starts at the home. Furthermore, we have lost or greatly under-valued the authority of the Bible. It is true that the Bible is the most sold book in history yet it is the least read. Simply put, we need some educators who will teach the Word of God line by line, precept upon precept in order to impact the next generation, and those who are considered Biblically illiterate.

One of the main problems we have in our educational framework is existentialism! Although there are many things that existentialist’s and Christian’s have in common, there are some things that Christians and existentialists would disagree on. First, existentialists question the authority of Scripture. The Word of God says that all Scripture is inspired and is profitable for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness. In other words, Scripture has all the authority. Scripture is not only authoritative, but it is sufficient. Secondly existentialist’ attack a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ. John 14:6 says I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no man cometh to the Father except by me. These two things alone makes existentialist’ wrong. However, what could be good for Christian educators is to understand the importance of critical thinking which was advocated by existentialist’. So there are some things that are good about existentialism. But it’s ideas on the authority of Scripture and a personal relationship with Jesus Christ is heretical. The most logical thing to do for Education in our country is to use the principles that coincide with Scripture and to shun those ideas that are contrary to Scripture.