College or not--part 2

I think we may have hit on a hot-button issue here. Often, when I have wanted to become "controversial" the Lord has told me to keep it sweet--but this time I have the go-ahead, and I can tell that my fingers are not my own as I type. This does not mean that everything I am saying is inspired, just that there must be something here, when you filter through the mess in my own brain, that God wants to speak to us.

Of course there are folks that I appreciate every day that have been through the "system"--but most of them would agree with my premise. Those that don't just haven't realized how much they have been touched by the whole machine yet.

There was a time in our history (as late as the 50's) when doctors and nurses didn't have to go the university route to become licensed--they could learn by apprenticing and taking a board examination--just like CPA's. There were a lot of fine doctors and nurses that came out of that era (I am related to one). That was when they still had common sense.

But I digress...

...we were discussing the underlying intent of modern education--the godless indoctrination of mankind--and attempting to contrast it with true education.

First of all, learning and educating are very different things. Educating is something done to someone, an impersonal attempt to direct someone else, while learning is personal and starts with volition--I choose to accept and make an idea my own.

Funny, but the Bible does not address "education" in our current definition. God addresses us as individuals and begs us to take in His ideas and direction, but He never gives the impression that the lecturing of a few facts will make any difference whatsoever. The issue is the heart, not the head. As far as having skill, God gives skill to people to know all sorts of things--no university necessary--just as He did for those building the tabernacle in the desert. In Biblical terms, the intellect is a means, not an end.

"Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding." (Proverbs 3:13)

But this is the Hebrew way of thinking--that God is all and in all. Our country, unfortunately, is not full of Hebrews, but of Greeks. Greeks have always elevated the intellect above all things. If your brain can prove it, then it is right. There is no transcendence in Greek understanding; the physical and intellectual are all.

Then there is the pragmatist aspect of our society. If it works, then it is right. It doesn't matter if it entails the slaughter of innocents and the helpless or ignorance of the Holy One who created and holds the rights to the universe, if it works for us (or if it "makes sense"), then it is moral.

And so we come to realize why our educational system, at least from the Judeo-Christian perspective, is cracked from its very foundations.

But our schools have not failed--they are corrupt and bankrupt of learning for the most part, but they are not failed.

Schools in America are wildly successful! This last election proves that what the founding fathers of American public education set out to do has been done--the citizens of the United States of America have finally been convinced that the government is their greatest friend--that they should not be trusted with their own destinies, their own values or their own money; that someone else is more qualified to decide what to do with them all, and it has even been twisted to sound religious. This is the way most tyranny begins--I could site volumes here.

When we were growing up our first set of children, we were not too sure of ourselves. We had inklings that things were not quite right, but we were not convinced enough to be drastic in our decisions. Just homeschooling and having a large family seemed pretty drastic to us at the time, and already we were feeling the sting of being on the periphery of "good sense", even, and sometimes especially, among our Christian friends.

For us, sending our children to college was a way of proving that we were not complete wackos; that even homeschooling children in large families have brains. But we were so wrong. We had nothing to prove to anyone, as long as we were following God. Yes, we were people of good will who had swallowed a lie.

Our older children had been allowed to pursue that which God had placed in them already--we just cooperated. Then we purposely placed them into an environment that was utterly foreign; where they were supposed to subjugate themselves in the name of "higher education" at the hands of a system with the agenda to erase all of what made them persons and use them for the "higher good".

Ironically, our children were better in their field than most of their instructors. It was a common occurrence for our children to be called in after class to help the professors understand the material so that they could teach it!

One of the biggest problems that plagued our children in college was that they took it all too seriously! On their own, if they started a project, they pulled all their resources together and focused on bringing it to perfection--because they had personal interest and pride in what they were accomplishing.

But factory schools aren't meant to be places for this type of dedication. Mediocrity is expected.

Most of us have never even thought to ask ourselves these questions, because we have never known what it would mean to live a truly integral life. I know that I learned early on to give the overseers the very minimum they required and lived a secret life in places they couldn't touch. And our children, as they have taken jobs, have realized that this is part of survival for them--but their personal life is so much larger and better than mine ever will be. Their hearing is much more acute to discern what is pea-brained and what is important.

The next batch of children are starting out small--they are working menial jobs--but we do not see this as a negative. Everyone starts somewhere--and anyone who is duped into thinking that fluffing around for four years will end them in a cushy job somehow is grossly misinformed (I wonder if anyone has studied just how many people are working at low-paying jobs while holding degrees? I'm predicting there would be plenty). Jesus said that those who are faithful in little will be made faithful in much--and this is where we put our trust. Opportunities will arise in their lives as they put their whole heart into what God has for them in the moment. We fully believe that God is the One who promotes--that sheepskins mean little or nothing if they are not gained under His direction.

So simple, yet so profound. Are we truly Christians who trust God implicitly, or do we trust Him and...

Sherry