The following header and open letter to
Dr. Dobson has been forwarded to many Christian
publications, radio, etc. Perhaps
it's time for Christians to begin holding ourselves and our "leaders"
accountable for the education issue.
Roxanne Sitler
The Christian and Education
Dear Fellow
Christian:
Am sending this to all Christian
publications and ministries I can think of. The reason is that, while I constantly
worry that I do not always express an adequate measure of Christian charity or
humility and am perhaps too judgmental, this is an issue in the church today
that truly breaks my heart and one for which I carry a deep burden. The following are letters to Dr. Dobson
and Mrs. Fuller, author of, Rebuilding Hope for the Public Schools,
which appeared in the August 1999 issue of Focus on the Family. I dare say there is no
"battle" for the hearts and minds of American's Christian youth
– we willingly turn over our "soldiers" to the other side of
the cultural war.
In Him,
Colville, WA
August 8, 1999
Dr. James C. Dobson
Focus on the Family
Colorado Springs, CO 80995
Dear Mr. Dobson:
Please remove us from your mailing list
for the Focus on the Family Magazine. We have been receiving your magazine for
a number of years but after receiving the last issue with the article, Rebuilding
Hope for Public Schools, we have concluded that we no longer desire to
have this kind of "milktoast" Christianity
coming into our home. The article
on Charter schools was equally offensive to the informed. You have done a disservice to all by
holding out to your readers a false sense of hope that public schools can be
"rebuilt".
Mr. Dobson, when is the church in
America going to wake up and realize that we are sending our children off to a
pagan institution which is steeped in humanism and espouses a total worldview
which is the very antithesis of Christianity? We are so far removed from a Christian
understanding of education that we justify this public school
"choice" as simply a matter of Christian liberty – as if
education could ever be considered neutral territory. What ever happened to, "he who is
not for me is against me", and "do all to the glory of God", and
"bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ"?
The church dares to preach to the world
about the state of our ungodly culture.
Christianity, today, seems blind to the fact that we participate in
building that ungodly culture by justifying participation in its main
indoctrination center. We
contribute our most precious possessions to the ungodly (in this case, the
State – to which God never gave the duty nor the
authority to educate. This is not
the civil magistrate's job).
We need more Elijahs
today – those who are courageous enough to call God's people back to
Him. "How long will you falter
between two opinions? If the Lord
is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow him". In the area of education, the Church has
indulged in syncretism at best – we have followed after other gods
thinking we could mix it up with the true God. And, we are reaping the consequences THE
God has always promised for such behavior.
The Littleton tragedy seldom prompted
the question, "What are they teaching our children?" As Christians, we ought to know what it
is that they are NOT teaching our children – we ought to know, as the
founders of Harvard did, that Christ is to be laid at the foundation of all
knowledge and wisdom – all else dishonors Him. We cannot claim to follow Him and then
go chasing after our own false gods.
With the advent of education reform and
the continued bankruptcy of government education, I have patiently waited to
see if you would take a stand. You
have not. Enough is enough –
we want more from our Christian publications – especially those whose
focus is the family. Thankfully,
there are more and more Christian publications who are
once again teaching and espousing doctrine and an application of God's Word to
ALL of life and living – including education. The Lord is raising
up Christian leaders who are refusing to compromise – a few Elijahs. Amen.
Praying,
Dave & Roxanne Sitler
(address on
file)
P.S. I have invested over six years in
researching the government school system, Goals 2000, STW
etc., and have been very politically active in the local level and the state
legislature; written legislation and reports; done public awareness through
radio, seminars, lectures, published articles etc. Public education is bankrupt –
rebuilding (?) is a wrongheaded idea – please encourage Christians to
protect their children by getting them OUT – encourage the Christian
community to develop a truly biblical philosophy of education! R.S.
Dear Mrs. Fuller:
I am forwarding you a letter sent to Dr.
Dobson regarding the August 1999 issue of Focus on the Family which included
your article, Rebuilding Hope for Public Schools. Am attaching the letter as a Word file
but have also included it at the end of this note just in case you cannot open
Word files. The second attachment
is a letter I did on
Littleton which is also relevant to the issue.
Mrs. Fuller, as Christians we need to
grapple with the seriousness of this issue. As a Christian, I am more than just a
little burdened for our children and have myself been
very involved in the civil sphere.
Even though I homeschooled my children, I
continued to be involved in instructional materials committees, sex ed committees, restructuring committees, etc. and that was
just at the local level. I am still
involved today, but over the last six-seven years of intense researching to
uncover what is wrong with public schools and fighting to change it, God has been
gracious enough to simultaneously show me what a Christian philosophy of
education is. He knew that I not
only needed to understand what was wrong but more importantly, I needed to know
what was right. It has been a steep
learning curve to say the least and through it all I discovered that my own
public education had left me with a worldview that needed much undoing –
I had not been trained to bring every thought captive to Christ. How I wish I could have spent those
years learning how Christ is relevant to ALL knowledge and wisdom and that apart
from Him there is no real "education". I lament over the wasted years that
could have been equipping me so that, "the man of God may be complete,
thoroughly equipped for every good work" (2Timothy 3:17). The public education that I had
"survived" had done its damage and precious time has been lost as a
result.
Until Christians understand the
definition and purpose of education according to God's Word, we will continue
to hold out false hope for government schools. The system is built on all the wrong
foundations and thus is destined to fail – at least according to
Christian standards. The system is
succeeding but it is succeeding in a goal that forms the very antithesis of
Christianity. Most Christians
refuse to come to terms with this truth.
I ask that you consider this quote,
Let every Student
be plainly instructed, and earnestly pressed to consider well, the main end of
his life and studies is, to know God and Jesus Christ which is eternal life,
John 17:3 and therefore to lay Christ in the bottom, as the only foundation of
all sound knowledge and Learning.
Harvard University
Rules and Precepts 1642.
In Christ,
Roxanne received the following response
to her letter to Dr Dobson, from a ministry which shall remain nameless. Following that response is her response
to them.
Dear Roxanne:
(Excerpts) I want you to know that we
received your letter and I have read every word of it. I appreciate you sharing your concerns
and convictions in this matter.
(Name omitted), as a ministry, does not take a stand either way, but
firmly believes that schooling is a personal decision that each family must
base on how God is leading them.
Sincerely,
(name omitted)
Dear Mr. ???:
Thank you for your response and for
taking precious time to consider my letter. In the spirit of a loving challenge, and
with the utmost respect for your ministry, I would like to offer the following
for your consideration.
You wrote,
(name
omitted), as a ministry, does not take a stand either way, but firmly
believes that schooling is a personal decision that each family must base on
how God is leading them.
Should that statement not read,
…schooling
is a personal decision that each family must make based on what scripture
teaches?
It would seem that the position you
have taken comes down to the argument/position that this is primarily an issue
of Christian liberty and one for which the parents are ultimately responsible
to their Creator for making. While
I agree with the latter, that God has given the responsibility to parents and
that He will indeed hold them accountable for their obedience in this area, I
cannot agree, any longer, that this is simply an issue of Christian
liberty. Using this logic, it would
be perfectly acceptable for a Christian to send their children to any other
religious faith's church youth group.
And if this was a parent's "choice", and one they felt God was
leading them to, would the church feel that this too would be an issue to which
they could not address a warning, correction or at least some education? Today, we tend to separate the secular
from the "religious" and justify secular schooling while we are opposed
to anti-Christian "religious" training. We are appalled at the idea of teaching
"false doctrine", and many Christians object to sending their
children off to religious schools of other denominations and/or faiths because
of that objection. Yet, we embrace
the humanistic, anti-Christian worldview of the government schools as somehow
benign and acceptable. Humanism
effects many doctrines does it not? It is my premise that all
"education" is in fact religious in nature – it cannot be
neutral – neutrality is a premise that defies the laws of logic. For example, consider these disciplines:
I could go on and on, but the point I
am making is that THE God is the beginning of ALL wisdom and knowledge –
anything that excludes Him is therefore against Him.
The main point of my letter was to
prompt the church and its ministries to study this issue further and to get out
of our comfortable fence sitting positions. The purpose is not to go around trying
to be every parent's Holy Spirit, but that we begin to lovingly teach a
Christian philosophy of education, encourage Christians towards obedience, encourage
a vision and help the church to see the need and value of a Christian
education. Too many Christian
children do not have a biblical worldview concerning all of life and living
– I believe it's mostly because we have an attitude that developing a biblical
view of history, science, art, music, law, family, government, etc., is really
just not all that important to the Christian community. We believe in our hearts that our
precious children will somehow "survive" the system – we really
have accepted the fact that it is ok for others to pay for educating our
children while we adamantly reject the idea that others should accept the
responsibility for feeding and clothing them. And, we are secure with the idea that
their minds can and will reject all false doctrine being imparted to them.
I pray that you will accept this note
in the spirit with which it is given – I believe this is an issue which
requires charity and humility as we work through the issue.
We need to refresh our memories by a
re-reading of I Kings 18:18-39 and Deut. Ch. 8. We are more often double-minded than
not. And, I am still praying and
calling for more Elijahs in our day.
In Christ
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