Culture is religion externalized. If you want to see the true religion that any society practices, then examine its culture. Everything that the Israelites were supposed to do and teach reflected in their culture. Their architecture was ruled by it; think only of the tabernacle and later the temple. There literature was dominated by it; think only of the Bible itself. Their yearly calendar was ordered by it; think only of the annual celebrations they gathered together for. The form and content of their teaching was molded by it; think only of 2 Timothy 3:16. If you want to see the religion of any nation or group of people look only at its culture. The reason that our nation is abandoning the classical Christianity of our forefathers is primarily, though not completely, due to the fact that we as well as our children have been educated into a religion that seeks to eliminate God (the God of the Bible) from all discourse at worst, or seeks to make him merely one option among many at best. The former is atheism and the latter is relativism, which is just at its core idolatry. While there may be many professing believers who send their children to government schools, the de facto religion is either of the two aforementioned.

Education as it is presented in the Bible must be seen as an inherently religious endeavor. All education, by its very nature, seeks to impart truth to those who are being educated. But whose truth? Is it the truth of Marx and his interpretation of history and economics? Is it the truth of Darwin and his interpretation of science? Is it Freud and his interpretation of psychology? Is it the truth of Derrida and his interpretation of literature? Or, is it the truth of Jesus the Messiah, or more accurately, is Jesus Messiah the truth and what He says is? So, it would seem, that the fundamental question is not whether truth will be imparted, but who's truth.

Now it must be stated at the start that "the truths" of Marx, Darwin, Freud, Derrida, et al are not truths at all, but merely parodies of the real truth, namely Jesus Christ, the Son of God. They set themselves up against the knowledge of God, men who are wise in their own eyes, but we are to "demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and [to] take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ" (2 Cor. 10:4-6).

Education necessarily involves being taught by someone whether Marxist or Christian (who has a certain set of beliefs) about something (that is based on a certain set of presuppositions). There is no such thing as true objectivity. All men have beliefs and agendas; no one is neutral. Jesus said, "he who is not with me is against me" (Matt. 12:30). It cannot be any more non-neutral than that. To see further how education is religious, we need only consult a few passages of Scripture.

 The Parthenon (the embossed image of the building with LCS logo glasses over it) is an appropriate metaphor for Christian education today. For approximately 500 years it served as a pagan temple to the goddess Athena. What many do not know is that it was converted to a Christian church and remained such for about 1000 years! The Parthenon is in ruins today, though not completely destroyed. The same can be said for the state of education today under the control of the state that has removed God and Jesus Messiah from its corridors. Moreover, in many cases the government schools are openly hostile to the proclamation of the gospel. We at Levelland Christian School and the countless other Christian schools around the nation are seeking to rebuild the ruins of education in our country today and to once again convert the pagan temples into the temples of God.

This essay is meant to be only a brief defense of Christian education. While much more could be said, it is my belief that it should not take a mammoth treatise, or even a short book to defend that which I hope is obvious to all: Christian education is the only option for those in the covenant of God.

Having stated that; let me also say that it is neither my intention nor my desire to cause division among the people of God. But it is necessary to stand firmly on the word of God as the primary means of determining truth. If Jesus Christ is truth, and he is knowable because he has revealed himself by taking the form of a man to the disciples of old, and revealing himself to us today by his word through his Holy Spirit, then truth itself is knowable, contrary to many beliefs today.

Furthermore, since we come to Christ by faith and believe in him by faith, then also we believe the truths set forth in the Holy Scriptures by faith. Reason itself is grounded in faith. So, in pursuit of truth and the proclamation of that truth, reasoned from Scripture grounded in faith we now turn to the issue of education.

 Before we look at specific passages, though, a brief word must be said about the overall structure of the Bible. Einstein's great passion after his Special and General theories of Relativity was to find one grand unifying theory of all of physics: between the seemingly separate worlds of quantum mechanics and celestial mechanics, which was what his theory of relativity pertained to; between the very small and the very large. A similar task can be applied to the Bible, but without the futility of not actually finding a grand unifying theme. A thread (and there are others) that ties all of Scripture together is simply "the Covenant." I say "simply" because once you know that it is the primary unifier, you will be amazed that you didn't see it all along. And further, I say "simply" because the concept of covenant is not overly complicated, best left to theologians and systematicians to sort out the intricacies of in their ivory towers. The definition of "covenant" that we will be working with is as follows: a relationship sovereignly administered by God with man, which has attendant blessings for obedience, curses for disobedience, promise(s) to be believed, and a means of propagating the covenant through children.

There are seven covenants in the Bible: the Edenic, Noahic, Abrahamic, Mosaic, Davidic, Restoration, and the New covenant under Christ. In each case God sovereignly administers the covenant and its terms (as indicated in the definition) to the respective covenant head and his descendants.

Without going into a great amount of detail, I would like to single out one aspect of the covenant, namely, the means of propagation through offspring. In every instance where God comes to establish his covenant with his people, it always extends to the children of the one(s) God is addressing. The original covenant God made with Adam extended to his children. We know this because all of Adam's children are under the curse handed out by God because of Adam's disobedience. "Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned" (Romans 5:12). When God made his covenant with Noah after the flood, he said, "I now establish my covenant with you and with your descendants after you" (Genesis 9:8). Similarly, when God established his covenant with Abram he said, "To your offspring I will give this land" (Genesis 12:7) and "I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth" (Genesis 13:16). Even the promise God made to Abram is intimately bound up with the idea of offspring and descendants, "all the peoples on the earth will be blessed through you" (Genesis 12:3). This later becomes the New Covenant means of propagation: it is children of the promise who are considered Abraham's children, not natural children (of Israel, that is). In the covenant made with the nation of Israel, which was established by the giving of the law at Mt. Sinai, Moses tells the people constantly that they are to obey these commands so that they might receive God's blessing, but if they did not, they would receive God's curses for disobedience, and that they were to teach these commands to their children, so that they might walk in obedience after them. It is to these passages of Scripture in Deuteronomy where Moses addresses the people that we now turn.

 First, before looking at specific texts, we'll consider the book as a whole. The book is mainly one long discourse by Moses to the children of the previous generation who had wandered the wilderness due to their unbelief. Moses proceeds to tell them the story of their parents to instruct them (the children) not to do what they had done and to "not forget the things their eyes had seen or let them slip from their hearts as long as they live" (4:9).

Moses, then, exhorts the Israelites to "be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things that your eyes have seen or let them slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them" (4:9). Later in 6: 6-7, Moses says, "These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up." Or to put it another way, at every time and in every place, children were to be instructed in the words and works of the God they served. Moses repeats this same command later in 11:19. As can be seen from these few verses, the educational emphasis is solely upon God himself, the law of God and the acts of God in history, i.e., the focus of education is upon the words, works, and ways of God. That is, the God of Christianity, not of any foreign gods, which would certainly include the humanistic gods of current government education. As we can see, one of the commands itself was to teach the commands to their children. How else was the nation to keep itself distinct from the other nations? How else was Israel to stay under God's blessing if the future generations did not know the law that God had commanded them to live by?

If the people were faithful to obey and to teach their children, then they would "be blessed in the city and blessed in the country... [and] blessed when they came in and blessed when they went out" (Genesis 28:3, 6). If they were not faithful to obey, then they would "be cursed in the city and cursed in the country... [and] cursed when they came in and cursed when they out" (Genesis 28:16, 19). In other words, the teaching that parents were supposed to do sitting at home, walking along the way, when they were lying down, and when they were getting up, would turn into blessings in exactly those places (basically, everywhere), or turn into curses in exactly those places (once again, everywhere) for lack thereof. What might this form of teaching look like, though? Are there any examples of parents teaching their children in the way as commanded by Moses? I propose that there is, and we need look no farther than the book of Proverbs.

 Second, in Proverbs, there is much to be said about education. But before we look at specific verses, a word must be said about the overall structure of Proverbs. Dr. George Grant has suggested that this book is properly the teaching of a father to his son over the course of the son's life from a young boy (v. 1:7-8) to a young married husband (31:10). The father is constantly telling his son to fear God, which is the beginning of wisdom, and to listen to the instruction of both his mother and father (1:7-8; 3:1; 4:1; 6:20). It is no mistake that wisdom is personified as a woman for she is the wife that the young man ultimately chooses (31) (over against the adulteress who calls out to the foolish 1:20; 2:16). Solomon says numerous times to his son to gain knowledge, understanding, and wisdom, and that all these are firmly rooted in fearing God. If we take education to mean in its broadest sense knowledge, understanding, and wisdom, then education has, at its foundation, the fear of the Lord. Once again, the Lord who is the center of our religion. Education is religious.

It is in Proverbs that we see the teaching talked about by Moses in Deuteronomy. The father instructs his son in regards to the city: "The woman Folly is loud; she is undisciplined and without knowledge. She sits at the door of her house, on a seat at the highest point of the city, calling out to those who pass by, who go straight on their way. 'Let all who are simple come in here!' she says to those who lack judgment. 'Stolen water is sweet; food eaten in secret is delicious!' But little do they know that the dead are there, that her guests are in the depths of the grave" (9:13-18). In regards to the country: "A sluggard does not plow in season; so at harvest time he looks but finds nothing" (20:4). In regards to coming in: "Drink water from your own cistern, running water from your own well" (5:15). In regards to going out: "Do not withhold good from those who deserve it, when it is in your power to act. Do not say to your neighbor, 'Come back later; I'll give it tomorrow'--when you now have it with you" (3:27-28). Proverbs provides us with a model for educating our children, which takes Moses' commands seriously. This model is not utilized in our government schools because the very book that would teach us this model is not allowed within its walls.

 Third, Matthew 28:19-20, "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you." Here we see that true discipleship is about teaching the disciple to obey Jesus the Risen Lord. What is biblical education? It is actually the discipleship of the children of God.

The Great Commission teaches us that teaching should necessarily be of the nations. Therefore any nation that claims to be Christian and doesn't teach its inhabitants to obey everything that Jesus has commanded us is in a state of disobedience. Does this situation sound familiar? Furthermore, any system of national education should be interpreted as the particular "Great Commission" of that nation, and insofar as that "Great Commission" differs from the one Jesus instituted, it should also be interpreted as a false gospel and therefore thoroughly rejected by all who believe.

 Next, we will look at 2 Timothy 3:16-17, which is commonly known, "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work." This verse comes right after Paul is exhorting Timothy to continue in what he has learned from infancy, namely the Scriptures, from (more than likely) his grandmother Lois and mother Eunice (1:5) and which he is now convinced of as a grown man. There is one thing that needs to be pointed out from this verse. The word in the Greek for "training" is paideia, which means primarily "the whole training and education of children" (Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon). It must also be pointed out that this education of children is so that "the man (or woman) of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. So, there is a process of learning beliefs and values over the span of childhood to adulthood where the child is being trained up. So, the most fundamental "textbook" of education is the Scriptures, and it defines the scope and limit of what is taught and for how long. It is for lack of fearing God that the Bible is no longer taught in the government schools.

Lastly in Ephesians 6:4 we read, "Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord." The word also in the Greek for "training" is paideia. In the Greek the verb for "bring up" is ektrephete, which is an imperative and therefore a command, not a suggestion. God commands us to bring up our children in a Christian culture, not a godless one.

 So, from this we may conclude the following: 1) education is religious, and it concerns being taught the ways of one's god. For the Christians, the God of the Bible, for Muslims Allah, for humanists man, etc. As a secondary consequence of this, education is not primarily pragmatic, that is, it is not primarily about getting a job. Education is about God, and learning the things needed for a job is subsumed in that. 2) The Scriptures are to be the main "textbook" for education. Any institution or person who would seek to exclude the Bible from education must be thoroughly rejected by those who believe. 3) Education is a process extending from infancy to adulthood (and even beyond) which must be seen through till the end, so that children might become disciple-makers of the nations. We as adults are not to have them fight our battles for us by sending them to public schools and justifying it by calling it evangelism.

Jesus is the Lord of history and economics. Jesus is the Lord of science. Jesus is the Lord of psychology. Jesus is the Lord of literature. Jesus is the truth.