Dr. Clay Nuttall, The Secularization of Christian Education
The term “secular”
is most often used as a contrast to that which is spiritual, so that the world
is divided into those two parts. That is actually a liberal concept.
Believers often divide the work of the local church into those two parts,
too. The problem is that, in the believer's life, there is no such thing
as secular or “non-spiritual”. The truth is that, for us, everything is a
spiritual responsibility, right down to our very thoughts.
Casting
down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the
knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of
Christ. (II
Corinthians 10:5)
In the local
church, we have made a false dichotomy because that allows us the freedom to do
it our own way. This is exactly what has been done in our personal lives
as well. Where did this human-based idea come from? This dangerous
insertion is the way of the world. It is rebellious man wanting to live
his life without spiritual intervention, to feel that he is in charge of his
world, the “captain” of his soul. Human government has used this to
strangle spiritual influence, and it is everywhere in the world around us.
Why did this
false idea spread so rapidly? One of the major reasons is that it has
been a centerpiece of our education systems, allowing man to answer the major
questions of life rather than following the plain, clear teaching of God’s
Word. From such areas as the source of life, to life after death, man has
forced his definitions on us. The most tragic issue is that so-called
Christian education has followed this concept blindly so that it would appear
to be intellectual.
THE
RECORD IS CLEAR
There is no
question that many of our great educational institutions began with worthy
spiritual goals. It’s not that they were perfect or had the same
beginning; they moved from preparing preachers to creating scholars who despise
the concept of a sovereign God with absolutes. The sad thing is that many
current Christian institutions are neck- deep in this journey of the
secularization of Christian education. This is a difficult thing for us
to admit, but our very beliefs and the way we approach the Scripture is tainted
by the concept that we have a better idea than God.
The question
is why and how did this happen? It is as simple as reviewing the history
of Israel. They determined that God as their king was not enough; they
wanted to be like the other nations around them with a king they could see and
touch. (I Samuel 8) So God gave them Saul, who was the epitome of
“independent man,” who could live life the way he determined and yet have one
foot in the religious world. This is clearly demonstrated in I Samuel 15.
Saul, the secular/religious man, was actually the judgment of God on a
nation who wanted to have it both ways. This is exactly what Paul
describes with the “religious sinner” in Romans 2:17-29. You can’t have
it both ways and still have it God’s way.
HUMANISTIC
EDUCATION AT ITS WORST
In all
honesty, state or federal schools are not public. They do not represent
the general public; they reflect the view of the elite, who continue to
experiment on unsuspecting people. Humanistic education will claim that
it is free-thinking and intellectual, but the truth is that state schools
function by “indoctrination”. That is exactly why, since the 1030’s,
socialism has blossomed into the entitlement society we live in today.
Please don’t
use the old lame excuse of there still being some good Christian teachers and
administration in the system. Looking at the whole, their number is so
small they barely appear on the charts. Talk about believers bailing out
of the educational system is also poorly thought through. When schools
were local and community-oriented, our presence was effective; but today the
ACLU has more influence on the schools than all of us put together!
THE
TRAGIC INFLUENCE ON US
Christian
education has been unduly influenced by the humanist agenda. We were
taught to think like they do. This liberal mindset is neck-deep in our
own schools. We copied so many of their errors in an effort to be
intellectual that now we not only think like the world, but also act like the
world. A couple of illustrations from the pool of thousands will suffice.
We were the people of absolutes and truth, with God and His Word as a
standard; now we think that all views are right, and you cannot say that other
people are wrong. People do have a right to their own views, but there is
only one truth. We need to be kind and polite, but that doesn’t extend to our
giving credence to error. All of this has affected our theology, too.
There is only one right interpretation of a Bible text, but we act like
we are not really sure, and they just may be right. Instead of being a
matter of black and white, truth has turned gray.
We wanted to
be approved by them, and in doing so we became like them. The demise of
the Bible college movement is a result of this terrible compromise. What
do the intellectual heathen know about what God wants our academic standard to
be? Herein is the great failure. In Christian education, we have
divided life into secular and spiritual. That is our excuse for allowing
men and women who hate our God and us to tell us how education is best
accomplished. Of course, most every one of us reading this was trained to
think with a liberal mindset, and that is why Christian education has become secularized.
We act, think, talk, and smell like our culture rather than having the
sweet smell of truth and holiness.
Shepherd’s
Staff is prepared by Clay Nuttall, D. Min
