Sean wants to be a structural engineer. He wants to design buildings with beauty and functionality. However, Sean hates algebra and calculus. He has no interest in math.
Sean also says he wants to be a good person. However, Sean hates the idea of God and moral absolutes. For Sean, the Bible is a collection of outdated myths. But he still believes he can be and is a good person.
More is needed to be a structural engineer than simply desiring to be one. More is also needed to be a good person than self-proclamation. The difference is that being good is much more challenging than being an engineer. Being good requires a heart change.
One of the reasons that math is taught in schools is to provide the opportunity for people like Sean to become engineers. Yet, this same educational system refuses to teach what is necessary for goodness. One might ask is goodness necessary to learn science? In response, I ask do you want skilled scientists who are amoral? In addition, God claims that all things hold together by his power and that he controls the winds, waves, snow and rain. The earth moves and erupts at God’s command. God also says that he has determined the exact places where every human will live and that he gives each person their next breath at his pleasure. God also states that governments will rise and fall as he determines. Without knowing these practical truths one’s education could be said to be incomplete. Students who are not taught the wonder of God will focus on the wonder of man or some created thing.
Can there be good without the knowledge of God? Our educators seem to think so. But when God is dismissed, relativism must rule. What is good for some, is not good for others. This is how “good” becomes a weapon of tyranny. Whomever has the most power defines what is good. So “good” becomes a justification for abortion, sexual preference, for placing women in combat, for giving morning after pills to eleven year olds, for hedging the truth in political campaigns, and for abandoning a biblical worldview.
If the Bible defines what is good, then modern education must oppose biblical truth. This is because modern educational philosophy has abandoned the belief that good is defined by moral absolutes. If educators will not allow the God of the Bible to be taught, then neither can true goodness be taught. The result is educated fools. Psalm 14:1 says:
Only fools say in their hearts, “There is no God.”
They are corrupt, and their actions are evil;
not one of them does good!
Thus, foolishness is not a lack of knowledge but a failure to acknowledge God. Without the God of the Bible, well-educated people with differing world views are in conflict about what is good and what is not. The result is the moral chaos our culture is now experiencing.
Parents, if you are interested in your children being taught what is good, then the Bible must be the centerpiece of their educational and life experience. There is no area of life where God can be ignored, because he demands to be honored in every area of life. It doesn’t matter what educational platform is used. Without God, goodness, like beauty is left to the eye of the beholder. A country that will not tolerate moral absolutes will also not tolerate true goodness or those who believe in such things.
Protect your children. Teach them what is good. Teach them about the God who commands all people everywhere to repent.