Worldview: What is your Goal?

I recently heard a christian school in our area advertising on the radio. The punch line for their advertisement was that they would help you as the parent to "raise morally and ethically responsible children." By their own admission the difference between their educational facilities and the states educational facilities is that they are committed to moral and ethical behavior.

This is tragic. As Christian parents, it should not be our goal to raise "moral " or "ethical" children. Scripture does not command us to teach the children to do the right thing. Scripture commands us to teach Christ crucified! A moral and ethical person without God is condemned to hell! Without Christ NOTHING that we do is "good". What we should be teaching is what Jesus himself taught; the greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with your whole heart, soul and mind! Secondly we are to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. (Mathew 22:37-39) The only reason we exist, the only reason our children exist is to glorify God! (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14) To do everything for the Glory of God! (1 Corinthians 10:31)

R.C. Sproul defines the three G's of education instead of the 3 R's. We should teach our children to be able to answer these three questions.
1. Who is God?
2. What has God done in the past and what is He doing today?
3. What does require from us?
Wisdom begins with and comes from God! To educate moral people to do what society sees as right and wrong is to do a terrible disservice to the child. Dennis Wilson said, "It is in your hands to do them the greatest kindness or cruelty in all the world: help them to know God and to be saved, and you do more for them than if you helped them to be Lords or Princes; If you neglect their souls, and breed them in ignorance, worldliness, ungodliness, and sin, you betray them to the devil, the enemy of souls even as truly as if you sold them to him; you sell them to be slaves to Satan; you betray them to him that will deceive them and abuse them in this life and torment them in the next." We do not educate our children so that they can be successful people in this world. If that is our only goal we have failed our children miserably! Our goal should be to educate them to know God so that they can make war with this world!

A better motto would; helping your child to know Christ and walk in His way! “But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 3:14-15).