By Natasha Crain
This is going to be a very long post, so I’ll cut to the chase:
My husband and I decided back in January that we were going to begin homeschooling our twins for middle school this fall…weeks before we had any idea that the coronavirus existed and that it would lead to everyone schooling at home this spring!
I guess we were unintentionally ahead of the “curve” on this. (Get it? Curve? Coronavirus? Hello?)
This decision was the product of a long period of consideration, during which I did a ton of research, thinking, and learning about educational choices. I came to the conclusion that far more Christian parents should consider homeschooling if they would be able to do it.
Note that I said consider. This is not a black and white subject, and there are many, many family-specific factors involved in an educational choice. I do not think homeschooling is the best for every family. I also realize many parents are not in a position to do it due to health, finances, or other issues. But if it’s at least a possibility, I think every Christian parent should give thought to it.
With the pandemic suddenly sending your kids home, there’s no time like the present to spend time thinking about your educational choices before the fall. Many families will decide to continue homeschooling, and if it’s a possibility for you, I hope this post will provide helpful points to ponder. (If you’re not interested in my personal decision, just skip the first two sections.)
My Family’s Educational Backstory
When it was time for my twins to attend preschool, I spent many hours researching all the programs in the area to find the one I thought sounded “best” based on a host of factors I had researched. It turned out to be a fine little program, but by the end of the year, I felt like there was so much more I wanted them to learn before they went to Kindergarten. I decided to homeschool them for pre-K in order to give them a better academic boost.
For a year, we had a wonderful time of flexible days filled with fun learning experiences and rapid learning. We finished Kindergarten, first grade, and second-grade reading curricula in just a few months—while schooling very minimally each day and leaving much more time for play than in traditional school.
I loved it.
They loved it.
Yet, it never occurred to me to consider homeschooling for their “real” learning years (I saw pre-K as totally different since it was optional). After all, traditional school was what I believed to be “normal.” It was what I knew. It was what I experienced growing up. Most importantly, it was what I expected their lives to look like.
We enrolled the twins in a local private Christian school that was warm and inviting, known for solid academics, and taught from a distinctly Christian worldview. They have now attended that school for six years, and we have genuinely cherished our experience there.
At the same time, as they entered 5th grade this year, I was struck by the realization that they would be starting middle school next year—and this milestone made me really reflect on our educational choices to date and for the future.
Looking back on their elementary years, which are quickly coming to a close, I felt a certain sadness. At first, I thought those feelings were the normal feelings of a mom seeing her kids close a sweet chapter in their lives.
But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that I lamented a certain loss of time with them.
Every day, my kids have spent 6+ hours at school, where someone else was getting to see them bloom in their understanding of the world and who they were becoming as people. Sure, I had them in the morning briefly and then from 3 PM until bedtime (8:30 PM), but that amounted to about half of their weekday lives being spent somewhere else. Once they started sports, we were driving around in the evenings to baseball and soccer fields, and we had even less time together. I’m an extremely intentional parent, and I’ve always been cognizant of making the most of our togetherness, but when the opportunities for togetherness became the nooks and crannies of the average day rather than the focus, something in my thinking began to shift.
More specifically, I felt regret that I hadn’t given more consideration to homeschooling from the beginning.
Note that I didn’t say I regretted not homeschooling. There have been many wonderful things about my kids’ educational experience at their private school—some of which would not have been replicated if I had homeschooled. But I wondered if I would have chosen a different path had I not so simply seen traditional school as the default option when there wasn’t some kind of special reason to do something else.
This realization made me decide that I would give serious thought to both continued private school and homeschooling as my twins approached a natural transition point with middle school—I didn’t want the same kind of regret in 3 years. And after months of very deep consideration, I decided in January that I would become a homeschooler this fall.
Be Mindful of What You Default To
Perhaps my most important take away from months of research, talking with other parents, and thinking about educational choices is that many Christian parents—myself included until now—don’t give enough consideration to the decision of public school vs. private school vs. homeschool. We tend to have our “default” path in mind and go with it. But there are a lot of reasons why our default idea may not be what’s best for our kids.
For me personally, some of the top reasons I’m choosing homeschool over private Christian school (aside from regaining precious time with my kids) include:
- I want to optimize my kids’ academic pace: One of my twins longs to move faster in school and is continually bored by the pace. The other gets things very quickly when I explain it but gets distracted easily in the classroom setting. I am confident both of them will flourish when I set the pace for their individual needs.
- I want to pick the curricula best for my kids’ learning: There are SO MANY curriculum options for homeschoolers. It’s overwhelming, but at the same time, it’s a beautiful thing to have this kind of freedom to customize your child’s learning experience. Additionally, you can choose curricula produced from a Christian worldview where desired.
- I want my son to regain a love of learning: My son, frankly, has come to hate school. At the same time, he loves to learn at home when it’s something he cares about. This is very common with boys, especially, from what I’ve read. With homeschool, we can tailor his projects to areas of his passion so he can love learning again (an outcome that’s hugely important to me) without the “baggage” of what he hated about school.
- I want to reclaim my kids’ free time: Homeschooling takes less time than traditional schooling because so many of the classroom inefficiencies are removed (in middle school, that’s often 2+ hours per day less than in traditional school). If you reclaim 2 hours per day for your child to enjoy play and pursuits of passion, that’s 10 hours per week and 520 hours per year! That’s a meaningful difference in a child’s life.
- I want to pour into my kids spiritually throughout the school day: With homeschool, you can easily integrate a Christian worldview throughout all of your child’s subjects, and at a far deeper level than happens in Christian schools. I’ve created my own subject that my twins and I have named BLAW: Bible, Logic, Apologetics, and Worldview. Each day we’ll focus on one letter from the acronym. (I’m super excited to use Talking with Your Kids about Jesus for our first apologetics curriculum!) Yes, our family has had these conversations for years before our homeschool decision. But the opportunity to make this part of their whole education delights me.
There are many other benefits of homeschooling that I’m not listing here. These are simply the ones that have driven my own decision. But it’s not just the benefits of homeschooling that lead me to say other Christian parents should at least give it great thought. It’s also concerns around both public and private schools. The following are four of the most significant ones I see for each.
4 Considerations for Public Schools Families
- Living in a “great school district” means little.
This is perhaps the most common reason I’ve seen Christian parents give for keeping kids in public school. I’ve heard it from friends who have left our private school (we live in one of those “great” school districts), and I’ve seen it in many online conversations between parents. But here’s the question we need to ask: What, exactly, makes a public school district “great”? And are those factors the ones that should drive our educational choices?
For most parents, the “great school district” factor means that there are strong academics, typically as measured by test scores, as well as abundant additional offerings (music, art, etc.). But this doesn’t take into account the daily impact of a secular curriculum.
Make no mistake: Curriculum is rarely worldview neutral.
Chances are, you’ll find the math curriculum to not have overtones of any particular worldview (though I’ve seen examples where a math book has questionable word problems).
But history? Here in California, the history books are literally being rewritten to frame the past in terms of the progressive agenda. This is happening across the country as well. Your child’s whole view of history will look different than what you might expect. Here’s a picture from a 1st grade history book in California. [Of course, there is no critical thinking about the definition of rights, where rights ultimately would come from, why we should celebrate these rights but not the rights of people to marry multiple partners, etc. It’s all just assumed.]
Science? The naturalistic assumptions of an undirected, purposeless universe flow through to every science subject (Earth science, astronomy, life sciences, and physical sciences).
Literature? Most schools are replacing the classics with reading material aimed at indoctrinating kids in a progressive agenda. The recommended reading lists are often filled with books you would never choose for your own kids if you had the opportunity to read them—profanity, adult themes, and progressive views are commonplace. Yes, you could see that as a teaching opportunity to some degree, but that requires you to read everything your kids read and set aside the time to have those conversations consistently. Most parents I know don’t do that. And if you don’t, your child will just hear whatever the teacher and other students say.
Health? I’ll talk about this in my next point.
I could write a whole book on all the ways the secular curriculum teaches a child every day to see the universe differently than you do as a Christian family. These are just a few quick points. If your child remains in public school, it is crucial to be HIGHLY involved in reading what your kids read so you can proactively have conversations about a Christian worldview relative to what they are learning.
- The problems are not just with sex ed, and therefore, you can’t just opt-out of subjects you don’t want your kids to hear about.
It’s a giant misconception that the only thing Christian parents really need to battle in a public school is the sex-ed program, as should be clear from my prior point. But let’s talk about the sex stuff specifically. Many parents think they can just opt out of the graphic sexual education happening at younger and younger ages in schools, and their kids won’t be exposed to it. While there may be parts you can opt-out of, schools have strategically moved much content into the “health” subject, which is required. It’s the ultimate switcheroo! If schools can’t force all they want into the optional subject, they’ll just move it into a related required one. And what they are teaching at each age is frankly shocking.
One parent shared the following in a group of concerned families I’m part of online (edited for typos):
My daughter is in 7th grade and she is attending a health class which is one of required classes at school. I expected that she could learn basic reproductive body system, symptoms, signs of adolescent, and important health issues thru the health class. However, I was so shocked after listening to my daughter regarding the health class. The health class includes sex education and several guest speakers were invited and teaching the students. The guest speakers are still visiting the health class. My daughter asked me, “Mom, what is oral sex?” I got shocked…the guest speaker explained that oral sex is mouth to penis, mouth to vagina, but my daughter could not imagine or understand why the words “mouth” and “penis” are connected. And, the guest speaker brought some strange stuff. It looks like rubber latex, and then the speaker explained that sex partners put the latex into their private parts and then they can kiss or lick it…and the latex has flavor and scent to make their sex more excited. One of male students asked the speaker, “If I am allergic to the flavor, what can I do?” The guest speaker replied, “You can get other flavors, such as at Target. There are many different kinds flavors there.
The guest speaker went on to say that there is no age limit to get an abortion, so if any students want one, they can get a pill to do it without a parent’s consent.
Again, there would be NO WAY to opt-out of this. The parents weren’t even informed in advance. Similar stories happen every day throughout the US.
- Making educational choices based on experiences with individual teachers or schools is not a good long term strategy.
When I’ve had conversations with people about the impact of the curriculum in public schools, one common reply is that they are lucky because the teachers at their school are Christians, or that their teachers would never teach this stuff, or that their school hasn’t gone off the deep end. This is not a good reason to stay where you are. Teachers and administrators turn over all the time, and you could easily end up with someone who won’t be the buffer you hoped would be there. Additionally, a Christian teacher teaching a secular curriculum with the types of issues I already outlined can only do so much to compensate.
- Chances are, your kids are not able to be the “salt and light” you would hope them to be.
Many families feel that if all Christians pull out of public schools, there won’t be anyone left to be “salt and light.” Given the breadth and depth of challenges, however, I personally think it’s unreasonable to think that any kid can publicly counter the secular thinking pervasive across subjects. Sure, they can invite friends to church, share the Gospel, and behave in a way that glorifies God, …and those things are all very important. But every family must weigh the reality and extent of those opportunities happening with the reality of how the curricula and peer influences are affecting them.
4 Considerations for Private Christian School Families
Given all that I just said about public school issues for Christians, it would be tempting to suggest that everyone should run to a Christian school if they can afford it. But I wouldn’t necessarily say that. Here are four things to consider.
- Christian schools vary greatly in quality, both academically and spiritually.
Just as two people who both call themselves Christians can have very different understandings of what that means, two schools that call themselves Christian can as well. There are Christian schools that are weak academically but strong in teaching the Christian worldview. There are others that are strong academically but could hardly be called Christian. Some are weak in both areas, and some are strong in both areas.
Never pick a Christian school just because it’s an alternative to public school.
It’s critical to really evaluate what the school offers to see if it’s strong both academically and spiritually. If you find a good one that you can afford, you may avoid some of the most serious issues around public schools, and that is absolutely worth doing. (Read on for why I say may avoid.)
- Many Christian schools use a secular curriculum.
In many Christian schools, the “Christian” part reflects the fact that teachers sign a statement of faith, there is a weekly chapel, teachers pray with the kids, and there’s a Bible class. Teachers also work to make “faith connections” to the subjects taught. These are all very wonderful things, and I’ve appreciated every aspect of them while having our kids at a Christian school. But parents should be aware of the curriculum choices a Christian school makes, especially for middle and high school. In many cases, they use secular textbooks and expect teachers to compensate in the class by talking about the subject from a Christian perspective. Many teachers are simply not equipped themselves with this kind of understanding in order to fully counter what secular curricula teaches. You end up with a tug of war between worldviews of the text and teacher. This could be beneficial to the student if done very well, but that completely depends on the teacher’s knowledge and motivation.
If you’re considering a Christian school, ask many questions about curriculum choices at the various grade levels.
- Teachers vary greatly in how they incorporate faith into the classroom.
We’ve had teachers who prayed multiple times with the kids throughout the day and teachers who didn’t at all. We’ve had teachers who naturally brought up great connections to the Bible across subjects and some who only talked about faith during Bible time. We’ve had teachers who explained the historical and literary context of monthly Bible verses and some who just asked the kids to come up with a skit for whatever they thought it meant. You get the idea. In most Christian schools, there is little standardization across the classrooms because the teachers all come from such different places in their own spiritual life (even if they’re all Christians, they’ve been Christians for different amounts of time and are at different places in their knowledge and walk).
In short, if you send your kids to a Christian school, don’t think for a minute that that education will replace what you should be doing for discipleship. It won’t, and it shouldn’t.
- Kids at Christian schools are often not that different from kids at public schools.
Sometimes parents think that they’ll get rid of the worst peer influences from public school if they go private, and sometimes that is correct. But it’s important to know that people send their kids to a Christian school for all kinds of reasons, and it’s often not because they’re passionate about their kids having a Christian worldview. Sometimes they just want a smaller class size. Sometimes their kids had trouble socially in one school and needed an alternative. Sometimes it’s just the closest school. The kids in Christian schools won’t all be committed Christians because the families won’t all be. But even if the families were, kids will be kids. There will be plenty of mean kids, cliques, kids who watch stuff you wouldn’t allow, and so on. Don’t assume private school is a catch-all solution for negative peer influences.
While I think homeschool is a vastly under-considered choice for Christian parents, there are many families for whom public or Christian school will be the best decision. My purpose here was certainly not to convince everyone to homeschool. But whatever you decide for the fall, be thoughtful about it. Don’t default. Our kids’ education is too important to just do whatever we assumed we always would. The world has changed too much.
Recommended resources related to the topic:
Talking with Your Kids about God: 30 Conversations Every Christian Parent Must Have by Natasha Crain (Book)
Keeping Your Kids on God’s Side: 40 Conversations to Help Them Build a Lasting Faith by Natasha Crain (Book)
Courageous Parenting by Jack and Deb Graham (Book)
Proverbs: Making Your Paths Straight Complete 9-part Series by Frank Turek DVD and Download
Forensic Faith for Kids by J. Warner Wallace and Susie Wallace (Book)
God’s Crime Scene for Kids by J. Warner Wallace and Susie Wallace (Book)
Natasha Crain is a blogger, author, and national speaker who is passionate about equipping Christian parents to raise their kids with an understanding of how to make a case for and defend their faith in an increasingly secular world. She is the author of two apologetics books for parents: Talking with Your Kids about God (2017) and Keeping Your Kids on God’s Side (2016). Natasha has an MBA in marketing and statistics from UCLA and a certificate in Christian apologetics from Biola University. A former marketing executive and adjunct professor, she lives in Southern California with her husband and three children.
Original Blog Source: https://bit.ly/2SO0iwa
The Cure for Racism
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Frank and J. Warner Wallace address the racism issue head-on by answering:
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Did Israelites ever live in Egypt?
4. Is the NT True?, Theology and Christian ApologeticsBy Mikel Del Rosario
Engaging Skeptical Challenges to the Exodus
When I was growing up, a lot of people I knew believed the Biblical narrative of the Exodus was at least based on a true story. Even skeptics accepted basic details like the Hebrews being enslaved in Egypt.
Today, not so much. Skeptics now challenge the possibility of the Exodus even happening. And since many people get their views on the Bible from popular articles that try to undermine the truth of Scripture, there’s a big question mark in some people’s minds when it comes to even the basic details of the Old Testament: Did the Israelites really live in ancient Egypt?
Shlomo Sand’s book, The Invention of the Jewish People, is one that challenges the historicity of the Exodus. He says Egyptian records don’t mention Israelites ever living in Egypt in all (p. 118). But should we really expect to find ancient Egyptian texts saying there was a huge Hebrew presence in Egypt? Would Egyptian scribes want to preserve any memories of the Exodus?
In this post, I’ll share one reason why clear evidence for Israelites in Egypt is tough to find and what one little-known piece of data suggests about the possibility that Hebrews ever lived in Egypt.
Egyptian Scribes Wrote to Serve the King
Some skeptics say we should have overwhelming evidence of Israelites living in Egypt if they really ever lived there. Why? Because, supposedly, Egyptians kept detailed records of everything. But the rest of the story is that Egyptian scribes weren’t historians trying to document everything for posterity. In fact, they were royal scribes who worked for the king. What was the point of their job? To make the king look good!
So they weren’t trying to document absolutely everything that went on in Egypt. A lot of their time was spent bragging about Pharaoh’s victories. They put inscriptions about the great things that he did on temples and other public buildings where everyone could see them. Recording his failures, defeats, or most embarrassing stories wasn’t part of their job description!
The point of their job was to record the Pharaoh’s victories. Some of the reports were probably spun for the public. Some of the reports were outright propaganda. Why expect the Egyptian records to mention the Exodus? It’s no surprise we haven’t discovered texts or inscriptions that talk about Pharaoh losing a huge number of Hebrew slaves. No one gets paid to make their boss look bad!
Egyptians rarely mentioned other groups by name
Most ancient Egyptian texts seem to tell us there was a lot of racial pride going on. A lot of them looked down on non-Egyptians. In fact, ancient Egyptians called themselves “the humans!” No joke. And they called everyone else “tent-dwellers” or “foot-walkers.” The fact that Egyptian texts don’t mention the Israelites as a people group isn’t a surprise because they don’t mention Canaanites, Israelites, Syrians, or nomads, or anyone else by name either.
But interestingly, some Egyptian texts have been found that actually do mention slaves in Egypt who seems to have Hebrew-sounding names. Could these people be Israelites living in Egypt? I invited Gordon Johnston to talk about this and other historical issues for a chapel at Dallas Theological Seminary. He explained what we can learn from the discovery of a list of runaway slaves, now called the Papyrus Brooklyn 35.1446:
“We’ve got a papyrus from the northeast delta region of Egypt, where the Hebrews would’ve been. It dates to 1700 BC around the time that Joseph came down to Egypt, the time that the Hebrews would’ve been in Egypt. This papyrus has a list of 95 names of runaway household slaves. The Egyptians had foreign slaves, and when they ran away, they put their names out there on the docket to try to find them. Of those 95 names, 45 are Semitic names… 10 of these names are Hebrew names or Hebrew-like names. So we’ve got the right [people] in the right place: You’ve got the feminine form of Jacob, ’Aqoba…the feminine form of Asher, ’Ashera…the feminine form of Job, ’Ayuvung. And you have the compound name for David…Dawidi-huat.”
Some skeptics insist that Egyptian records don’t mention Hebrews in Egypt. But in light of the fact that ancient Egyptians didn’t usually refer to foreigners with specific ethnic designations, it isn’t surprising that we don’t find explicit mention of the Hebrews in Egyptian texts. It’s also unlikely that Egyptian scribes would want to preserve embarrassing memories like the Exodus event. But the evidence shows that some slaves at least had names that sounded like Hebrew names. That makes it tough to insist that no Israelites were ever enslaved in Egypt.
Note: This conversation also included a discussion of potentially positive evidence for the Exodus. Watch this cultural engagement chapel hosted by the Hendricks Center at Dallas Theological Seminary.
Conclusion
Today, historical skepticism has cast doubt not only the general reliability of the Bible but even on the plausibility of ordinary details surrounding biblical stories. While some interpretations of the historical data can seem to challenge the details of the Old Testament, knowing about some of these discoveries can help us see the plausibility of the story. The data fits what Scripture says even if we haven’t found conclusive proof of Hebrew slaves in ancient Egypt. The evidence suggesting the presence of Hebrew-like names in ancient Egypt are only the beginning.
We, as Christian apologists, must help believers better understand and respond to these kinds of public square issues in order to engage the culture as ambassadors of Christ. Knowing some things about the background and cultural context of the Old Testament can help us deal with many skeptical challenges that people hear. Keeping in touch with some of these archaeological findings can also help the church in encouraging faith in the Scriptures.
Recommended resources related to the topic:
The New Testament: Too Embarrassing to Be False by Frank Turek (DVD, Mp3, and Mp4)
Why We Know the New Testament Writers Told the Truth by Frank Turek (DVD, Mp3 and Mp4)
The Top Ten Reasons We Know the NT Writers Told the Truth by Frank Turek (Mp3)
Cold-Case Christianity: A Homicide Detective Investigates the Claims of the Gospels by J. Warner Wallace (Book)
Mikel Del Rosario helps Christians explain their faith with courage and compassion. He is a doctoral student in the New Testament department at Dallas Theological Seminary. Mikel teaches Christian Apologetics and World Religion at William Jessup University. He is the author of Accessible Apologetics and has published over 20 journal articles on apologetics and cultural engagement with his mentor, Dr. Darrell Bock. Mikel holds an M.A. in Christian Apologetics with highest honors from Biola University and a Master of Theology (Th.M) from Dallas Theological Seminary, where he serves as Cultural Engagement Manager at the Hendricks Center and a host of the Table Podcast. Visit his Web site at ApologeticsGuy.com.
Original Blog Source: https://bit.ly/2TmnhyQ
Is The Coronavirus A Sign Of The End Times?
Theology and Christian ApologeticsBy Jason Jimenez
In the pages of prophetic Scripture, many signs point to the end of the age. Now, we must first understand that ever since Jesus ascended to heaven—we, the church, have been living in the end times. So, a pandemic like a coronavirus isn’t necessarily leading or ushering us into the end of the age. Instead, pandemics are merely escalating things until (at some point) Christ returns for His church. And at some point thereafter—the Antichrist (or the son of perdition) signs a peace treaty with Israel and launches into the seven years of tribulation (Dan. 9:26-27).
The sad but honest truth is the world will continue to see an uptick of pandemics like the Coronavirus, like Ebola, like SARS, and the Spanish Flu, which the world suffered greatly when over 100 million people throughout Europe and the United States died terrible deaths. Think back to the Black Plague in the 14th century that killed off anywhere from 40-60 percent of the population in Europe.
So, the plague known as Covid-19 is no doubt a birth pang mentioned by Jesus in the opening of the Olivet Discourse, found in Matt. 24:4-8: “Jesus answered: “Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah,’ and will deceive many. You will hear of wars and rumors of wars but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains.”
And then in Matthew 24:9-14, Jesus gives further descriptions of even greater turmoil that will occur in the first half of the Tribulation period mentioned in greater detail in Revelation 6-9.
Taking a closer look at Matthew 24:4-14, you see that Jesus lays out nine distinctive features that will continue to progress until His sudden return: (1) the growing deception of false teachers and teachings, (2) wars and conflict between rival nations, (3) the increase of famines, (4) plagues, (5) earthquakes, (6) persecution and martyrs, (7) false prophets, (8) increase in wickedness, and (9) the worldwide advancement of the gospel. These are all signs or indicators that things are coming to an end, not signs that we are at the end.
Which makes you wonder? What good can come from something like the Coronavirus? I mean, when so many people are infected, dying, and millions of people are out of work, how can I find good amid all this craziness and sadness?
Well, 1 Corinthians 15:21, we are reminded that from Adam came death, but through the death of Jesus Christ, we have life because He rose from the dead. So, even amid pain and suffering, God can work things out for His good pleasure because He is absolutely Good.
The fact is God is omnibenevolent and will one day put an end to sin, evil, and suffering from the world.
God and God alone knows the finality of evil and has His reasons for allowing it to run its course, but (in the process) will make use of the infectious diseases like Coronavirus to bring about the greater good. Take, for instance, when Joseph told His brothers, “You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good” (Genesis 50:20).
Take notice of some of the good things that are coming out of this pandemic.
2. People are turning from idols and sexual immorality.
3. People are forgiving one another and giving generously to those in need.
I hope that gives you some biblical perspective on what we are seeing in the world right now, and as you live your life in faith to God—be sure to stand strong and look up, for your salvation draws near.
Recommended resources related to the topic:
If God, Why Evil? (DVD Set), (MP3 Set), and (mp4 Download Set) by Frank Turek
If God Why Evil. Why Natural Disasters (PowerPoint download) by Frank Turek
Why Doesn’t God Intervene More? (DVD Set), (MP3 Set), and (mp4 Download Set) by Frank Turek
Why does God allow Bad Things to Happen to Good People? (DVD) and (mp4 Download) by Frank Turek
Jason Jimenez is the founder of STAND STRONG Ministries and faculty member at Summit Ministries. He is a pastor, apologist, and national speaker who has ministered to families for over twenty years. In his extensive ministry career, Jason has been a Children’s, Student, and College Pastor, and he has authored close to 10 books on topics related to apologetics, theology, and parenting.
Original Blog Source: https://bit.ly/36hIYVO
Jumping Into the Deep End of Divine Sovereignty
Theology and Christian ApologeticsBy Brian Chilton
I have never been a great swimmer. Quite honestly, I swim like a rock—I sink to the bottom and do not resurface. My parents signed me up for swimming lessons when I was a kid. The swimming instructor asked all the kids to jump into his arms while treading in the deep end of the pool. One by one, each child jumped into the instructor’s arms. One by one, the instructor would help the child swim to safety out of the deep waters. When it came to my turn, I was unable to accomplish the task. On the one hand, I was afraid of deep water. On the other hand, I had not known the instructor long enough to build trust in him.
In Christian and religious circles, the term faith is frequently used. But what does faith mean? Biblically speaking, the term faith is used to describe a trust that a person had in another person or being. In the case of one’s faith toward God, it is meant that a person trusts God to do the right thing.
Concerning this conversation, another term is of immense value—the term sovereignty. While Calvinists employ the term more frequently, the sovereignty of God holds tremendous applications for Christians from all walks. The term sovereignty denotes that a person or a being holds supreme and complete control or authority over a group or locale. The Bible relays three areas in which God is sovereign.
God is sovereign over creation.
God is the Creator and Sustainer of all that exists. Without God, nothing would exist that exists. The prologue to John’s Gospel notes this well, saying, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. All things were created through him, and apart from him, not one thing was created that has been created” (John 1:1–3).[1] The New Testament also describes the sustaining power of God as he sustains “all things by his powerful word” (Heb. 1:3).
When a person understands the scope of God’s sovereign power over creation, then worries and anxieties tend to depart. No pandemic is greater than God’s power. No disease, distress, or trouble is beyond the power of God to control. The One who spoke creation into existence still rules from on high.
God is sovereign over history.
Scripture indicates God’s sovereign power over history. Romans 8:28 holds that God constructs the events of history to work in favor of his children. Paul writes, “We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God, who are called according to his purpose” (Rom. 8:28). At the command of God, nations rise and fall (Ps. 22:8; Hab. 1:6). If God controls the direction of history, then why are we so fretful over political issues? God is still in control.
God is sovereign over redemption.
As noted earlier, people hold various conclusions concerning election, free will, and salvation. All orthodox Christians should still believe that God is the One who saves and is sovereign over the redemptive process. People cannot save themselves. Rather, salvation is fully a work of God. Paul writes, “He has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began. This has now been made evident through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who has abolished death and has brought life and immortality to light through the gospel” (2 Tim. 1:9–10). If God saved us, then we do not have to worry about obtaining his approval. We already have it.
I am honestly amazed at the amount of hostile and critical posts that Christians have made during the COVID-19 pandemic. While our world has been divided for quite some time, the level of anxiety that is demonstrable in our posts and interactions illustrates the lack of faith that we as modern Christians have in God’s sovereign rule. One day, our soul will be called. When we step into the portal of death, we will have no choice but to trust God’s sovereign power. Do we trust him to catch us? If God were in the deep end of the pool, would we have the faith to trust him to catch us?
Recommended resources related to the topic:
What is God Really Like? A View from the Parables by Dr. Frank Turek (DVD, Mp3, and Mp4)
What is God Like? Look to the Heavens by Dr. Frank Turek (DVD and Mp4)
How Philosophy Can Help Your Theology by Richard Howe (DVD Set, Mp3, and Mp4)
Brian G. Chilton is the founder of BellatorChristi.com, the host of The Bellator Christi Podcast, and the author of the Layman’s Manual on Christian Apologetics. He received his Master of Divinity in Theology from Liberty University (with high distinction); his Bachelor of Science in Religious Studies and Philosophy from Gardner-Webb University (with honors); and received certification in Christian Apologetics from Biola University. Brian is enrolled in the Ph.D. program in Theology and Apologetics at Liberty University and is a member of the Evangelical Theological Society and the Evangelical Philosophical Society. Brian has been in the ministry for nearly 20 years and serves as the Senior Pastor of Westfield Baptist Church in northwestern North Carolina.
Original Blog Source: https://bit.ly/3bUTgN2
The COVID-19 War
Legislating Morality, Culture & PoliticsBy Dr. Dan Eichenberger
The United States incurred an unprovoked attack, and the enemy (COVID-19) has inflicted casualties. The President declared war and already invoked the Defense Production Act, essentially forcing private companies into the production of what the government demands. Since the war has been declared, the expectation is there will be casualties, both of those on the front lines and the innocent. No realistic individual can believe wars come without lives lost. Yet the war strategy is marred with ill-defined goals and no clearly defined end-game. The strategists of this war appear to be politicians, epidemiologists, scientists, and actuaries. The President declared war; however, he is not relying on the general principles of warfare necessary to win. Wars are never won by near-complete withdraw and a shutdown of a country’s economy, limiting the financial strength to continue the fight. History confirms that withdraw comes with consequences usually in favor of the victor.
The way to defeat this enemy is through immunity. The two methods for immunity are active immunity and passive immunity, both helpful in promoting herd immunity. Passive immunity through immunizations is likely months away, and this war cannot wait for its development. Active immunization must occur and will only happen through the exposure of the disease and supporting the individual until resolution. The quicker herd immunity occurs, the fewer hosts/victims will be available for infectivity. This war, as all wars in the past, can and will be won on the backs of the fighters. There will be losses, and there will be sacrifices. However, the longer we wait to truly enter the battlefield, the more untoward consequences our passivity will create. We are held hostage by bureaucrats and activists who intend to utilize this crisis for their underlying agendas. We are already losing liberties with our first and second amendments in many states by government fiat. We are social shaming and virtue-signaling across all social media platforms as well as mainstream media. We are federalizing more financial agencies to redistribute wealth and socialize more of our free-market.
The economic devastation of shutting down a vast amount of the country increases financial devastation for the most vulnerable in our country. The realities of this include increase in bankruptcies, businesses shutdowns, unemployment numbers skyrocketing, increases in domestic violence, increases in suicides, considerable increases in homelessness, leading to less access to adequate nutrition and healthcare. When forced to choose between paying rent, buying food for a family, or paying for medicine or healthcare, most individuals choose to rent and food and forego the healthcare needs. This leads to increased morbidity and mortality down the road. The 2008 recession provided ample support of these conclusions, including the British Medical Journal (BMJ 2013;347:f5239, https://www.bmj.com/content/347/bmj.f5239 ) attributing 10,000 suicide deaths to the economic recession.
The media portrays this war in a biased fashion utilizing data and statistics which support their narrative and promote their underlying agenda. They routinely use numbers and metrics in absolute terms without providing a reference to a standard population base or another comparable metric. They regularly state the worst-case scenarios rather than the more conservative numbers and rarely, if ever, report the underlying bias, assumptions, or deficiencies of the modeling. A perfect example of this is hospital beds and ventilators. The only scenario in which the United States wouldn’t have enough ventilators or beds is if COVID-19 infected everyone at virtually the same time across the country, which is unrealistic and virtually impossible.
This war is mostly a logistics problem. We will continue to see hotspots (battles) around the country, and the biggest challenge is getting the right people, the right equipment, in the right amounts to the right place at the right time. The majority of patients, other than the critically ill, are no more challenging to treat than other patients. The limiting factor in treating these patients is the time, energy, and additional supplies required every time you walk in the room. This is the limiting factor and is a logistic problem more than anything else. Many hospitals are furloughing employees because their censuses are so low. We are still learning about the disease in the critically ill and making some inroads; however, many of these critically ill patients will die no matter what medical advances are made. This is not only the nature of war; it is the natural consequence of life.
This war needs to be managed differently; otherwise, the long-term effects will be worse than the current disease. The economy needs to be selectively reopened immediately based on a risk analysis for each company. The legislatures need to restrict and/or limit any litigation related to a private company wishing to reopen. Individuals need to take personal responsibility related to their individual actions. Society needs to assist in protecting the most vulnerable, which includes the elderly and infirmed. We need to recognize and acknowledge there will continue to be hotspots around the country, and we will continue to see deaths. Every community needs to have strategies and plans in place to logistically and effectively manage each new battle.
Herd immunity is the solution to win the war. The sooner war strategies are implemented to reach this goal, the sooner we win.
Recommended resources related to the topic:
Science Doesn’t Say Anything, Scientists Do by Dr. Frank Turek (DVD, Mp3, and Mp4)
Economics, Environment, Political Culture CD by Kerby Anderson
Government Ethics CD by Kerby Anderson
Dr. Dan Eichenberger is an Indiana native with 25+ years’ experience as a Physician Executive and Healthcare Consultant. Blending mission-driven, transparent leadership and broad clinical experience to elevate performance and improve quality of care, he successfully led Floyd Memorial Hospital and Health Services’ merger with Baptist Health, securing long-term financial benefit to the county. He earned his B.A. Chemistry from Indiana University, his M.D. from the University of Louisville specializing in both adult Internal Medicine and Pediatrics and his MBA from Indiana Wesleyan University. He was named to Business First’s “20 People to Know in Healthcare” in the Louisville Metro Area in 2018. He was the Indiana University Southeast “Chancellors’ Medallion,” Recipient, and the One Southern Indiana “Professional of the Year 2015.” He has been married to his wife Stephanie for 36 years and enjoys teaching, hunting, fishing, and snow skiing. He and Stephanie have four children and multiple grandchildren. His mission is to provide leadership experience and consulting services, grounded in strong Christian principles, to organizations around the country. He and Stephanie have a passion for Christian Apologetics and love to teach, share, and expand apologetics around the community.
Original Blog Source: https://bit.ly/2zFuWku
Does The Cambrian Explosion Disprove Darwinism?
2. Does God Exist?, Philosophy of ScienceBy Ryan Leasure
In The Origin of Species, Charles Darwin argued that “all the organic beings which have ever lived on this earth have descended from someone primordial form.”1 Darwin suggested that this primordial life form gradually developed into new life forms, which subsequently developed more life forms, eventually producing all the complex life forms we see today.
In short, Darwin asserted that all life descended from a common ancestor. And starting from that original ancestor, he believed nature selected the fittest species which would survive, reproduce, and last for generations. At the same time, nature would sift out the weaker species.
Darwin famously pictured the history of life as a tree. The first life form was the trunk, and all subsequent life forms are the branches. He was certain that the progression of life takes no sudden leaps, but evolves gradually with small-scale variations.
There was one small problem, though. When Darwin proposed his theory, some of the leading paleontologists rejected his theory based on the fossil record. More specifically, they didn’t believe Darwin’s theory could be reconciled with the Cambrian Explosion.
The Cambrian Explosion
The Cambrian Explosion refers to the abrupt appearance of animal life forms in the geological strata without any trace of prior transitional fossils. During this phenomenon, most of the major animal phyla appear in the strata in a geological blink of an eye.
Darwin was aware of the Cambrian Explosion. He noted, “If my theory be true, it is indisputable that before the lowest [Cambrian] stratum was deposited, long periods elapsed, as long as, or probably far longer than, the whole interval from the [Cambrian] age to the present day; and that during these vast, yet quite unknown, periods of time, the world swarmed with living creatures.”2 Meaning, if he’s right, we should find not just a few missing links, but innumerable links preceding the Cambrian era.
After all, Darwin adamantly declared that his theory could take no sudden leaps. He knew that large-scale variations inevitably resulted in deformity or death. Louis Agassiz, the leading paleontologist of Darwin’s day, put it this way: “It is a matter of fact that extreme variations finally degenerate or become sterile; like monstrosities, they die out.”3
Yet these Cambrian animals seemingly came out of nowhere. Of our twenty-seven different phyla — or macro-level animal classifications — at least twenty of them appear in the geological strata suddenly, not gradually as Darwin’s theory demands.4 Hence the name “Cambrian Explosion.”
So how did Darwin respond to this dilemma? He acknowledged, “To the question why we do not find rich fossiliferous deposits belonging to these assumed earliest periods prior to the Cambrian system, I can give no satisfactory answer… The case at present must maintain inexplicable, and may be truly urged as a valid argument against the views here entertained.”5
Darwin, however, was confident that future discoveries would vindicate his theory. Future geological discoveries have since come. Yet these discoveries continue to present fatal objections to his theory.
The Tree Turned Upside Down
Darwin’s tree of life suggests that small-scale differences among species would precede large-scale differences, eventually resulting in different phyla categories altogether. That is to say, as time progressed, and the branches formed, wholesale diversity would result among living species. Phyla categories would only emerge after lower classifications of animals — like species, orders, and families — evolved so much as to warrant macro-level distinctions.
Richard Dawkins put it this way: “What had been distinct species within one genus become, in the fullness of time, distinct genera within one family. Later, families will be found to have diverged to the point where taxonomists prefer to call them orders, then classes, then phyla.”6
Yet, the Cambrian Explosion turns this pattern on its head. Instead of species leading to families, orders, and eventually phyla, the Cambrian Explosion presents phyla first, followed by lower-level diversifications (microevolution).
The Burgess Shale, located along the Canadian Rockies and perhaps the most significant Cambrian dig in North America with more than a hundred thousand fossil discoveries, confirms this upside-down model. Stephen Meyer notes, “the large differences in form between the first animals appeared suddenly in the Burgess Shale, and the appearance of such disparity arose before, not after, the diversification of many representatives of lower taxonomic categories within each higher category, designating a new body plan.”7
Additionally, the Maotianshan Shale of southern China further confirms the upside-down model. Again, this site does not show the gradual emergence of species progressing toward the diversity of phyla. Rather, it shows full-scale diversity of phyla with subsequent diversification among the species.8
The Common Objection By Darwinists
Darwinists typically respond by suggesting that the older, Pre-Cambrian layers could not have preserved the transitional fossils. And they usually suggest one of two reasons. Either the fossils themselves were too small or soft to have fossilized, or the quality of the sedimentary rock was not conducive for preserving fossils.
Neither of these claims, though, holds muster. First, it has been repeatedly demonstrated that older sedimentary rocks have fossilized both small and soft organisms. In several places around the world, Pre-Cambrian rocks have fossilized single-celled algae and other eukaryotes.9 Further discoveries in Western Australia show Pre-Cambrian rocks preserved fossilized bacteria of various kinds.
The Maotianshan Shale also preserved a great variety of Pre-Cambrian soft-bodied organism. Archeologist J. Y. Chen found several animals lacking exoskeletons, including corals, sponges, jellyfish, and worms. Chen and his colleague Paul Chien even discovered sponge embryos.
If the sedimentary rock can preserve soft-celled embryos, surely it could preserve the ancestors of the Cambrian animals. It should also be noted that many paleontologists call into question the claim that the ancestors of these hard-shelled animals would have been soft since the hard parts are necessary to protect their soft parts. In other words, the ancestors of these hard-shelled animals would have required a hard-shell to survive in nature. So, the soft-bodied hypothesis is far from certain. Be that as it may, the data still suggests that soft-bodied animals should have fossilized.
Conclusions From The Cambrian Explosion
Darwinism still dominates the biological landscape. But I believe the Cambrian Explosion gives us reason to pump the breaks.
As I’ve studied the Darwinian model, it seems to me that the strongest argument in favor of it is the similarity of genetic information across all living species. Meaning, the closeness of DNA and RNA suggests we all share a common ancestor. While this could be true, it’s also true that similarities in genes could suggest a common designer. For example, when one purchases a set of pots and pans, they all look similar despite their different sizes and shapes. The similarities of the handles and types of metal demonstrate not that they evolved from a common ancestor but that they share a common designer.
Meaning, the genetic similarities among living species is up for interpretation. It’s speculation at best. But the fossil record — especially the Cambrian Explosion — presents us with hard data that is difficult to square with Darwinism. Instead of slow, gradual variations, we see sudden leaps of full-bodied animals without any trace of transitional fossils below.
Darwin knew the Cambrian Explosion didn’t support his theory. But he hoped that future geological discoveries would vindicate him. The Burgess and Maotianshan Shale discoveries, however, create an even larger problem than he realized. For these reasons, I believe we have good grounds to doubt Darwinian evolution.
Recommended resources related to the topic:
Science Doesn’t Say Anything, Scientists Do by Dr. Frank Turek (DVD, Mp3, and Mp4)
Oh, Why Didn’t I Say That? Does Science Disprove God? by Dr. Frank Turek (DVD and Mp4)
Stealing From God by Dr. Frank Turek (Book)
Defending Creation vs. Evolution (mp3) by Richard Howe
Exposing Naturalistic Presuppositions of Evolution (mp3) by Phillip Johnson
Macro Evolution? I Don’t Have Enough Faith to be a Darwinist (DVD Set) (MP3 Set) and (mp4 Download Set) by Dr. Frank Turek.
Darwin’s Dilemma (DVD) by Stephen Meyer and others
Inroad into the Scientific Academic Community (mp3) by Phillip Johnson
Public Schools / Intelligent Design (mp3) by Francis Beckwith
Answering Stephen Hawking & Other Atheists MP3 and DVD by Dr. Frank Turek
Ryan Leasure holds a Master of Arts from Furman University and a Masters of Divinity from the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. Currently, he’s a Doctor of Ministry candidate at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He also serves as a pastor at Grace Bible Church in Moore, SC.
Original Blog Source: https://bit.ly/2WtntOz
Jeff Hester Debates William Lane Craig On The Topic “Is Belief In God Rational In A Scientific Age?”
2. Does God Exist?, Theology and Christian ApologeticsBy Wintery Knight
I was very excited to see a recent debate by Christian philosopher William Lane Craig against atheist astronomer Jeff Hester. When I summarize a debate, I do a fair, objective summary if the atheist is intelligent and informed, as with Peter Millican, Walter Sinnott-Armstrong, or Austin Dacey. But the following summary is rated VS for Very Snarky, and you’ll soon see why.
The debate itself starts at 29 minutes:
The audio is very poor.
Dr. Craig’s opening speech
Dr. Craig went first, and he presented four arguments, as well as the ontological argument, which I won’t summarize or discuss. He later added another argument for theism from the existence of the universe that does not require an origin of the universe.
A1. Counter-examples
Theists who are elite scientists cannot be “irrational,” for example Allan Sandage, Gustav Tammann, George Ellis, Don Page, Christopher Isham
A2. Kalam cosmological argument
A3. Fine-tuning of the universe to permit complex, intelligent life
A4. Moral argument
Dr. Hester’s opening speech
Dr. Hester went second and presented two arguments, which both committed the genetic fallacy, a logical fallacy that makes the arguments have no force.
Hester starts his opening speech by asserting that Albert Einstein was irrational because he denied quantum mechanics.
Hester explains that he became an atheist at 15. This would have been before the evidence for the origin of the universe became widespread before we had very many examples of fine-tuning before the discovery that the origin of life problem is a problem of the origin of complex, specified information, etc. What kind of reasons can a 15-year-old child have for becoming an atheist? It’s hard to say, but I would suspect that they were psychological. Children often desire autonomy from moral authorities. They want to be free to pursue pleasure. They don’t want to be thought of as superstitious and morally straight by their non-religious peers.
Later on in the debate, Hester volunteers that he hated his father because his father professed to be a Christian, but he was focused on his career and making money. In the absence of any arguments for atheism, it’s reasonable to speculate that Hester became an atheist for psychological reasons. And as we’ll see, just like the typical 15-year-old child, he has no rational basis for atheism. What’s astonishing is how he continues to hold to the atheism of his teens when it has been falsified over and over by scientific discoveries in the years since.
Dr. Craig’s deductive arguments do have premises that reach a conclusion through the laws of logic. On the contrary, he just asserts that God exists as his conclusion, and then says that this assertion is the best explanation of a gap in our scientific knowledge. Some of the gaps in our scientific knowledge he uses in his arguments are: 1) he doesn’t understand why the Sun moves through the sky, so God exists, 2) he doesn’t understand why the wind blows, so God exists.
What counts as “rational” are things that have not been disproved. The progress of science has shown that the universe did not need a cause in order to begin to exist, and also there is no cosmic fine-tuning.
A1. The success of evolution in the software industry proves that there is no God.
All hardware and software are developed using genetic algorithms that exactly match Darwinian processes. All the major computer companies like Google, Microsoft, Amazon, Apple, etc. are just generating products using mutation and selection to evolve products over long periods of time. If you look over a typical software engineering degree, it’s all about Darwinian evolution, and nothing about design patterns, object-oriented design, etc.
This widespread use of evolution in the software industry undermines all of the arguments for God’s existence. Evolution caused the origin of the universe. Evolution explains why the universe is fine-tuned for life. Evolution, which requires replication already be in place in order to work, explains the origin of the first self-replicating organism.
A2. Theist’s view of the world is just a result of peer pressure from their tribes.
All of Dr. Craig’s logical arguments supported by scientific evidence don’t matter, because he got them from a primitive tribe of Christians that existed 2000 years ago. Everyone gets their view of origins, morality, meaning in life, death, etc. from their tribes. Except for me, I’m getting my beliefs from reason and evidence because I’m a smart atheist. I don’t have an atheist tribe in the university that would sanction me if I disagreed with nonsense like homosexuality is 100% genetic, transgenderism, man-made catastrophic global warming, fully naturalistic evolution, aliens seeded the Earth with life, infanticide is moral, socialism works, overpopulation will cause mass starvation, nuclear winter, etc. Also, my argument isn’t the genetic fallacy at all, because smart atheists don’t commit elementary logical fallacies that even a first-year philosophy student would know.
A3. Our brains evolved, so our rational faculties are unreliable, so God does not exist.
The logical reasoning that Dr. Craig uses to argue for theism are all nonsense, because human minds just have an illusion of consciousness, an illusion of rationality, and an illusion of free will. Everything Dr. Craig says is just deluded nonsense caused by chemicals in his brain. He has cognitive biases the undermine all his logical arguments and scientific evidence. He just invented an imaginary friend with superpowers. Except me, I’m a smart atheist, so I actually have real consciousness, real reasoning powers, and no cognitive biases. Also, my argument isn’t the genetic fallacy at all, because my arguments would not get an F in a first-year philosophy course.
Discussion
I’m not going to summarize everything in the discussion, or the question and answer time. I’m just going to list out some of the more interesting points.
Dr. Craig asks him how it is that he has managed to escape these biases from tribalism, projection, etc. He talks about how brave and noble atheist rebels are. The moderator asks him the same question. He repeats how brave and noble atheist rebels are.
Dr. Hester is asked whether he affirms a causeless beginning of the universe or an eternal universe. He replies he states that the universe came into being without a cause because causality doesn’t apply to the beginning of the universe. He also asserts with the explanation that Borde, Guth, and Vilenkin have undermined the kalam cosmological argument, mentioning a web site.
Dr. Craig replied to this phantom argument after the debate on Facebook:
Dr. Hester is asked how he explains the evidence for fine-tuning. He literally says that “Life is fine-tuned for the Universe,” i.e., that evolution will create living beings regardless of the laws of physics, constants, etc. For example, he thinks that in a universe with a weaker strong force, which would have only hydrogen atoms, evolution would still evolve life. And in a universe that recollapses in a hot fireball, and never forms stars or planets, evolution would produce life. Physicist Luke Barnes, who was commenting on the YouTube chat for the video, said this:
Hester tries to cite Jeremy England to try to argue for life appearing regardless of what the laws of physics are. Barnes comments:
Hester appealed to the multiverse, which faces numerous theoretical and observational difficulties. For example, the multiverse models have to have some mechanism to spawn different universes, but these mechanisms themselves require fine-tuning, as Robin Collins argues. And the multiverse is falsified observationally by the Boltzmann brain problem. It was so ironic that Hester claimed to be so committed to testing theories. The multiverse theory cannot be tested experimentally and must be accepted on faith.
Dr. Hester is asked how he grounds morality on atheism. He says there are no objective moral values and duties. He instead lists off a bunch of Christian beliefs which he thinks are objectively wrong. Even his statements about these moral issues are misinformed. For example, he asserts that homosexuality is causally determined by biology, but this is contradicted by identical twin studies that have a rate of 20-40% where both twins are gay.
Dr. Hester is asked about free will, which is required in order to make moral choices. He denies the existence of a free will, which undermines his earlier statements about morality. Morality is only possible if humans can make free choices to act in accordance with a moral standard. So, he claims that Christians are immoral, then he claims that they have no freedom to act other than they do.
Dr. Hester also volunteered that his father believed in the prosperity gospel, and tithed in order to be rewarded with money by God. Dr. Craig immediately says, “no wonder you’re in rebellion against Christianity.” Indeed.
Dr. Hester is asked about his view that human beings are unable to unable to perceive the world objectively. How is he able to perceive the world objectively, when all of the rest of us are unable to? His response is that he is just smarter than everyone else because his ideas have never been falsified by testing.
Scoring the debate
Dr. Craig’s five arguments went unrefuted. Hester’s argument about genetic algorithms was ludicrous to anyone who understands software engineering. His arguments about tribalism and unreliable mental faculties were self-refuting and committed the genetic fallacy. At several points, Hester denied mainstream science in favor of untested and untestable speculations. It was the worst defeat of atheism I have ever witnessed. He was uninformed and arrogant. He didn’t know what he was talking about, and he tried to resort to speculative, mystical bullshit to cover up his failure to meet Dr. Craig’s challenge.
Recommended resources related to the topic:
I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist (Paperback), and (Sermon) by Norman Geisler and Frank Turek
Why Science Needs God by Dr. Frank Turek (DVD and Mp4)
Science Doesn’t Say Anything, Scientists Do by Dr. Frank Turek (DVD, Mp3, and Mp4)
Oh, Why Didn’t I Say That? Does Science Disprove God? by Dr. Frank Turek (DVD and Mp4)
Stealing From God by Dr. Frank Turek (Book)
God’s Crime Scene: Cold-Case…Evidence for a Divinely Created Universe (Paperback), (Mp4 Download), and (DVD Set) by J. Warner Wallace
God’s Crime Scene: The Case for God’s Existence from the Appearance of Design (mp4 Download Set) by J. Warner Wallace
God’s Crime Scene: The Case for God’s Existence from the Appearance of Design in Biology DVD Set by J. Warner Wallace
Original Blog Source: https://bit.ly/2ySL4PM
No, Dan Barker. Covid-19 Doesn’t Disprove God
Atheism, Theology and Christian ApologeticsBy Erik Manning
Not one to let a good crisis go to waste, former minister and atheist activist Dan Barker tells us that the coronavirus proves that the Christian God doesn’t exist. Why? Because God promises to answer prayer. People have prayed for COVID-19 to stop. The virus continues to spread and people continue to die. Therefore Christianity must be false. Here’s Barker in his own words:
Barker multiplies many other prayer promises from the Four Gospels. Then he goes on:
Can Prayer Alone Fix Everything?
Barker is right about one thing. No passage in Scripture says ‘yes’ ‘no’ or ‘wait.’ But notice that Barker only emphasizes the ‘whatever you ask’ part in these verses. But he conveniently says nothing about the ‘believe that you receive it’ portions.
According to Barker’s strange reading of these texts, if we ask God for anything, it should immediately be performed. But that’s not how any of this works. Jesus didn’t indiscriminately heal anyone and everyone in the Gospels. We read in Mark 6:1-6 that Jesus could barely heal anyone in his hometown, Nazareth. Why? Mark says it was because of their unbelief. While in Nazareth, he went on to say in Luke 4:23-27 that there were plenty of lepers in Israel during the time of Elisha, but it was only Naaman the Syrian who was healed.
Repeatedly throughout the Gospels, Jesus healed individuals in response to their faith. See Mark 5:34, Luke 17:19, Luke 18:42, Matthew 8:13, Matthew 15:28 for just a few samples. Faith then must play a major factor. No one in the Gospels approached Jesus and said, “Hey Jesus. While you’re healing people, why not heal Israel of all their sicknesses?”
This would’ve convinced the Pharisees, the Sadducees, the High Priest, Pilate, Herod, and so forth. But that’s not the way God chose to operate. It is unlikely to have turned them into true worshipers but opportunists. And he’s not going to override his own word or his own divine nature. He expects people to respond in persistent, heartfelt faith.
It’s interesting that repeatedly in the Gospels, Jesus would command people to not tell of the miracles they experienced. (Mark 7:31-37, 9:2-9, Luke 5:12-15, 8:49-56). He also didn’t perform signs when the Pharisees and scribes demanded one. (Matthew 12:38-41) God gives enough evidence for those who want to believe can, but leaves enough ambiguity for those who want to go their own way can do so.
Barker continues:
Prayer Isn’t A Cure-All And Jesus Never Said That It Was
All this shows is that, at best, the Jesuits, World Vision, the Southern Baptists, etc. are praying unscripturally. Receiving answers to prayer, more often than not, is a matter between the individual and God. There’s nothing wrong with asking God to intervene for others, but I don’t think these leaders are expecting this pandemic to miraculously stop in its tracks, independently from God using people.
I can’t pray for God to keep my entire city free from COVID-19 anymore than I can pray for God to stop every traffic accident, cure every cancer, every heart disease, every stroke, every influenza, and every case of diabetes. You get the idea.
If God allowed that, we would live in a consequence-free world where God was orchestrating tens of thousands of miracles each day. My prayers cannot necessarily sober up every drunk driver, cause every person to make healthy choices, or keep college students from congregating on Florida beaches during spring break, or prevent some Chinese people from eating bats (or acting irresponsibly in a lab) or prevent the World Health Organization from initially advising against closing Chinese borders.
Because we live in a world where natural laws work in predictable ways, diseases can spread, and accidents can happen. Solomon was right when he wrote, “When a man’s folly brings his way to ruin, his heart rages against the LORD.” (Proverbs 19:3)
Is The Coronavirus A Judgment From God?
So is this virus a judgment from God? Barker points out that some Christian ministers have said that it is.
Now, I haven’t looked into Drollinger said in context. But we all have seen ministers get on TV and blame people for disasters. And these Christian leaders are an embarrassment to me and many other believers. Barker would be rightly appalled. Notice that Jesus dealt with a similar situation in the Gospels:
Jesus And The Problem Of Suffering
I’m sure this isn’t going to be popular, but Jesus didn’t say that tragedies befall people because they were worse sinners than anyone. But He said they were sinners nonetheless and unless we repent, we’ll likewise perish. The wages of sin is death, but God’s gift is eternal life for those who trust in Jesus. (Romans 6:23)
DA Carson’s commentary on Luke 13:1-5 is so insightful that I’ll quote it here at length:
Bingo. Barker goes on to say that God is the ‘most unpleasant character in all fiction’ but it seems like Barker is upset that God judges sin. It’s as if Barker thinks God should wink at people living like Canaanites and never punish anyone. But according to Barker, God should prove himself by instantaneously healing every person on the planet on demand, or else we should conclude He isn’t real!
CS Lewis right when he wrote, “What would really satisfy us would be a God who said of anything we happened to like doing, ‘What does it matter so long as they are contented?’ We want, in fact, not so much a Father in Heaven as a grandfather in heaven — a senile benevolence who, as they say, ‘liked to see young people enjoying themselves,’ and whose plan for the universe was simply that it might be truly said at the end of each day, ‘a good time was had by all.”
Jesus Is Still In The Healing Business
No, suffering and death are in the world because of sin. Jesus said disasters are a reminder of this, and unless we repent, we’ll also perish. And yet, Jesus still goes about “doing good and healing all those that are oppressed by the devil” in response to faith. (Acts 10:38) Barker says God isn’t healing anyone during this pandemic. But just ask this Georgia man, who claims God healed him of COVID-19. Or this woman that was given up for dead. Even the doctors remarked that something miraculous happened.
I personally know a person in my congregation whose 80-year father was in a nursing home that contracted the disease. Their dad was made completely well within a short time after prayer was made. Or what would Barker say to all the healings documented by Craig Keener’s scholarly two-volume work Miracles: The Credibility of the New Testament Accounts?
So no, Barker is wrong. The coronavirus isn’t “virulent enough to single-handedly kill the Christian God.” As a former pastor, he should know that he is twisting scripture and using the tragedy to stand on his favorite soapbox.
Recommended resources related to the topic:
If God, Why Evil? (DVD Set), (MP3 Set), and (mp4 Download Set) by Frank Turek
If God Why Evil. Why Natural Disasters (PowerPoint download) by Frank Turek
Why Doesn’t God Intervene More? (DVD Set), (MP3 Set), and (mp4 Download Set) by Frank Turek
Why does God allow Bad Things to Happen to Good People? (DVD) and (mp4 Download) by Frank Turek
Erik Manning is a Reasonable Faith Chapter Director located in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He’s a former freelance baseball writer and the co-owner of vintage and handmade decor business with his wife, Dawn. He is passionate about the intersection of apologetics and evangelism.
Original Blog Source: https://bit.ly/2WHnUn8
Agradar a Dios en medio del confinamiento
EspañolIn this writing I would like to share with you some reflections that we can learn from some people in the Bible who went through very difficult times and that we can apply in our days with respect to these moments of confinement and isolation in our homes.*
David’s response to suffering
Let’s see what the following verses in the Psalms say:
We can see that in these verses David is going through very difficult times; he expresses to God that he feels desperate, troubled, tired, distressed and dismayed.
But there is something else regarding David’s attitude in this situation that is revealed to us verses later:
What was David’s response after expressing his deepest feelings to God? What did he say he would do? Did he say he would turn away from God or forget about Him? Of course not, he said he would praise God’s name with songs!
Habakkuk’s response to tribulation
David was not the only one who had a similar reaction. The Bible tells us the story of another who suffered tribulation, and in the midst of his troubles, he praised the name of God with songs:
What did Habakkuk do when he heard this terrible news from God? He composed this beautiful praise in response! Habakkuk is aware that when misfortune after misfortune comes he will fall into grief, a reaction anyone would have. But will he let the pain consume him? Not at all! He promises that he will rejoice in the Lord.
Paul and Silas’ response to confinement
Now let’s see what Paul and Silas did when they were thrown into prison:
I don’t know about you, but if I got beaten up and then put in jail, the last thing I would want to do would be to sing. But notice that despite being in that situation, Paul and Silas prayed and sang to the Lord. Why? I don’t think they did it because they were happy, rather, I think they did it because they knew it would please God.
Our response to suffering and pain
The automatic response for most of us to suffering and pain is to grieve and mope, to feel sorry for ourselves, and to hope for comfort and encouragement from those around us. These people’s reaction was different. And they are a model of how we should respond to times of pain and tribulation in a way that pleases God. When you and I are at our best, when everything is going well, we have no problem praising God. However, praising Him when things are going badly, when everything seems to be going downhill, is not easy at all. The last thing on our minds is probably singing to Him! And yet, that is what pleases God: praising Him, exalting Him, thanking Him in the midst of suffering, that pleases God’s heart. I know it is very difficult to think of praising God because it pleases God, because you might think that He is pleased to see us suffer, but that is not the case. Praising God in the midst of pain shows something about us: that we have faith in Him, and this will open a way for God to work in our lives.
Three ways to please God in the midst of confinement [1]
What to do in times of confinement? Once again David seems to shed some light on this:
The psalmist tells of a time he was living in when God would hide him and protect him from evil. From the context, it seems that David wants to teach us that, in the time of war, in the time when his kingdom was invaded, God would free him from his enemies by placing him in his tabernacle, His temple (Psalm 27: 3).
Now, think about our current situation where we are advised or commanded to stay at home to reduce the spread of the coronavirus. It seems that we can get at least three lessons from verses 3 to 5 of this psalm where David will be hidden in God’s dwelling place and then put him in a higher place where he cannot be reached.
Observe what David will do in the time of confinement, in the time of hiding:
We see that in the midst of the crisis (Psalm 27: 2, 3) David makes only one request: to be in the house of God all the days of his life. The first lesson we can learn here in this time of confinement is to deepen our relationship with God. David’s recommendation is not to invest time in passing entertainment, but to take this time that we are at home to meditate on how we are carrying out our relationship with God. Are we doing what pleases Him? Take David’s example, he says that he will make a plan to be closer to God while he is in hiding. Take some time to read or study the Bible, read books or take a time of prayer.
Verse 4 also tells us that David only wanted to contemplate the beauty of God. This does not mean that we try to “see” God and remain in a kind of trance, but rather to reflect God’s love through our attitude. How do people around you notice when you are in love? Your attitude. Your attitude changes towards others: you become kinder, more caring, more helpful. Who will we reflect this attitude with? With our family. Maybe on normal days you don’t spend time with your family because everyone does some activity that prevents you from relating to them, but nothing prevents you from spending time with your loved ones now that we are in confinement. Spending time with your husband(wife), child(ren), brother(s) can be hard, no doubt, there may be more friction than usual, but David says that this is the best time to manifest God’s love with our loved ones through our attitude. Do not allow boredom, tiredness or annoyance to make you take it out on your family. Take advantage of the time to unify more with the beings you love.
Finally, verse 4 tells us that David desires to inquire in His holy temple. To inquire means to get to know something through questioning. During this time of confinement, we will be tempted to distract ourselves with social media, streaming series , video games, whatever. But how much time will you spend to increase your knowledge? David tells us that when the time of confinement comes, he would use the time to investigate, ask questions, question himself to increase his knowledge. Entertainment at home is not bad, of course, but do not forget to use this valuable time that you may not have again to read the Bible or to study a book by a Christian author.
Grades
[1] I thank Pastor Josafath Izquierdo for his help in this section of the writing.
*You can find the video of this article here: https://youtu.be/julXojCRNAE
Recommended resources in Spanish:
Stealing from God ( Paperback ), ( Teacher Study Guide ), and ( Student Study Guide ) by Dr. Frank Turek
Why I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist ( Complete DVD Series ), ( Teacher’s Workbook ), and ( Student’s Handbook ) by Dr. Frank Turek
Jairo Izquierdo is a member of the Social Media team and an author for the Christian organization Cross Examined . He studies philosophy and theology, with his current focus being classical logic, epistemology, Christian doctrines, and philosophy of language. He is co-founder of Filósofo Cristiano . He is a member of the Christian Apologetics Alliance and a worship director at the Christian Baptist church Cristo es la Respuesta in Puebla, Mexico.
8 Things Christian Parents Should Consider Before Sending Kids Back to Public or Private School This Fall
Apologetics for ParentsBy Natasha Crain
This is going to be a very long post, so I’ll cut to the chase:
My husband and I decided back in January that we were going to begin homeschooling our twins for middle school this fall…weeks before we had any idea that the coronavirus existed and that it would lead to everyone schooling at home this spring!
I guess we were unintentionally ahead of the “curve” on this. (Get it? Curve? Coronavirus? Hello?)
This decision was the product of a long period of consideration, during which I did a ton of research, thinking, and learning about educational choices. I came to the conclusion that far more Christian parents should consider homeschooling if they would be able to do it.
Note that I said consider. This is not a black and white subject, and there are many, many family-specific factors involved in an educational choice. I do not think homeschooling is the best for every family. I also realize many parents are not in a position to do it due to health, finances, or other issues. But if it’s at least a possibility, I think every Christian parent should give thought to it.
With the pandemic suddenly sending your kids home, there’s no time like the present to spend time thinking about your educational choices before the fall. Many families will decide to continue homeschooling, and if it’s a possibility for you, I hope this post will provide helpful points to ponder. (If you’re not interested in my personal decision, just skip the first two sections.)
My Family’s Educational Backstory
When it was time for my twins to attend preschool, I spent many hours researching all the programs in the area to find the one I thought sounded “best” based on a host of factors I had researched. It turned out to be a fine little program, but by the end of the year, I felt like there was so much more I wanted them to learn before they went to Kindergarten. I decided to homeschool them for pre-K in order to give them a better academic boost.
For a year, we had a wonderful time of flexible days filled with fun learning experiences and rapid learning. We finished Kindergarten, first grade, and second-grade reading curricula in just a few months—while schooling very minimally each day and leaving much more time for play than in traditional school.
I loved it.
They loved it.
Yet, it never occurred to me to consider homeschooling for their “real” learning years (I saw pre-K as totally different since it was optional). After all, traditional school was what I believed to be “normal.” It was what I knew. It was what I experienced growing up. Most importantly, it was what I expected their lives to look like.
We enrolled the twins in a local private Christian school that was warm and inviting, known for solid academics, and taught from a distinctly Christian worldview. They have now attended that school for six years, and we have genuinely cherished our experience there.
At the same time, as they entered 5th grade this year, I was struck by the realization that they would be starting middle school next year—and this milestone made me really reflect on our educational choices to date and for the future.
Looking back on their elementary years, which are quickly coming to a close, I felt a certain sadness. At first, I thought those feelings were the normal feelings of a mom seeing her kids close a sweet chapter in their lives.
But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that I lamented a certain loss of time with them.
Every day, my kids have spent 6+ hours at school, where someone else was getting to see them bloom in their understanding of the world and who they were becoming as people. Sure, I had them in the morning briefly and then from 3 PM until bedtime (8:30 PM), but that amounted to about half of their weekday lives being spent somewhere else. Once they started sports, we were driving around in the evenings to baseball and soccer fields, and we had even less time together. I’m an extremely intentional parent, and I’ve always been cognizant of making the most of our togetherness, but when the opportunities for togetherness became the nooks and crannies of the average day rather than the focus, something in my thinking began to shift.
More specifically, I felt regret that I hadn’t given more consideration to homeschooling from the beginning.
Note that I didn’t say I regretted not homeschooling. There have been many wonderful things about my kids’ educational experience at their private school—some of which would not have been replicated if I had homeschooled. But I wondered if I would have chosen a different path had I not so simply seen traditional school as the default option when there wasn’t some kind of special reason to do something else.
This realization made me decide that I would give serious thought to both continued private school and homeschooling as my twins approached a natural transition point with middle school—I didn’t want the same kind of regret in 3 years. And after months of very deep consideration, I decided in January that I would become a homeschooler this fall.
Be Mindful of What You Default To
Perhaps my most important take away from months of research, talking with other parents, and thinking about educational choices is that many Christian parents—myself included until now—don’t give enough consideration to the decision of public school vs. private school vs. homeschool. We tend to have our “default” path in mind and go with it. But there are a lot of reasons why our default idea may not be what’s best for our kids.
For me personally, some of the top reasons I’m choosing homeschool over private Christian school (aside from regaining precious time with my kids) include:
There are many other benefits of homeschooling that I’m not listing here. These are simply the ones that have driven my own decision. But it’s not just the benefits of homeschooling that lead me to say other Christian parents should at least give it great thought. It’s also concerns around both public and private schools. The following are four of the most significant ones I see for each.
4 Considerations for Public Schools Families
This is perhaps the most common reason I’ve seen Christian parents give for keeping kids in public school. I’ve heard it from friends who have left our private school (we live in one of those “great” school districts), and I’ve seen it in many online conversations between parents. But here’s the question we need to ask: What, exactly, makes a public school district “great”? And are those factors the ones that should drive our educational choices?
For most parents, the “great school district” factor means that there are strong academics, typically as measured by test scores, as well as abundant additional offerings (music, art, etc.). But this doesn’t take into account the daily impact of a secular curriculum.
Make no mistake: Curriculum is rarely worldview neutral.
Chances are, you’ll find the math curriculum to not have overtones of any particular worldview (though I’ve seen examples where a math book has questionable word problems).
But history? Here in California, the history books are literally being rewritten to frame the past in terms of the progressive agenda. This is happening across the country as well. Your child’s whole view of history will look different than what you might expect. Here’s a picture from a 1st grade history book in California. [Of course, there is no critical thinking about the definition of rights, where rights ultimately would come from, why we should celebrate these rights but not the rights of people to marry multiple partners, etc. It’s all just assumed.]
Science? The naturalistic assumptions of an undirected, purposeless universe flow through to every science subject (Earth science, astronomy, life sciences, and physical sciences).
Literature? Most schools are replacing the classics with reading material aimed at indoctrinating kids in a progressive agenda. The recommended reading lists are often filled with books you would never choose for your own kids if you had the opportunity to read them—profanity, adult themes, and progressive views are commonplace. Yes, you could see that as a teaching opportunity to some degree, but that requires you to read everything your kids read and set aside the time to have those conversations consistently. Most parents I know don’t do that. And if you don’t, your child will just hear whatever the teacher and other students say.
Health? I’ll talk about this in my next point.
I could write a whole book on all the ways the secular curriculum teaches a child every day to see the universe differently than you do as a Christian family. These are just a few quick points. If your child remains in public school, it is crucial to be HIGHLY involved in reading what your kids read so you can proactively have conversations about a Christian worldview relative to what they are learning.
It’s a giant misconception that the only thing Christian parents really need to battle in a public school is the sex-ed program, as should be clear from my prior point. But let’s talk about the sex stuff specifically. Many parents think they can just opt out of the graphic sexual education happening at younger and younger ages in schools, and their kids won’t be exposed to it. While there may be parts you can opt-out of, schools have strategically moved much content into the “health” subject, which is required. It’s the ultimate switcheroo! If schools can’t force all they want into the optional subject, they’ll just move it into a related required one. And what they are teaching at each age is frankly shocking.
One parent shared the following in a group of concerned families I’m part of online (edited for typos):
The guest speaker went on to say that there is no age limit to get an abortion, so if any students want one, they can get a pill to do it without a parent’s consent.
Again, there would be NO WAY to opt-out of this. The parents weren’t even informed in advance. Similar stories happen every day throughout the US.
When I’ve had conversations with people about the impact of the curriculum in public schools, one common reply is that they are lucky because the teachers at their school are Christians, or that their teachers would never teach this stuff, or that their school hasn’t gone off the deep end. This is not a good reason to stay where you are. Teachers and administrators turn over all the time, and you could easily end up with someone who won’t be the buffer you hoped would be there. Additionally, a Christian teacher teaching a secular curriculum with the types of issues I already outlined can only do so much to compensate.
Many families feel that if all Christians pull out of public schools, there won’t be anyone left to be “salt and light.” Given the breadth and depth of challenges, however, I personally think it’s unreasonable to think that any kid can publicly counter the secular thinking pervasive across subjects. Sure, they can invite friends to church, share the Gospel, and behave in a way that glorifies God, …and those things are all very important. But every family must weigh the reality and extent of those opportunities happening with the reality of how the curricula and peer influences are affecting them.
4 Considerations for Private Christian School Families
Given all that I just said about public school issues for Christians, it would be tempting to suggest that everyone should run to a Christian school if they can afford it. But I wouldn’t necessarily say that. Here are four things to consider.
Just as two people who both call themselves Christians can have very different understandings of what that means, two schools that call themselves Christian can as well. There are Christian schools that are weak academically but strong in teaching the Christian worldview. There are others that are strong academically but could hardly be called Christian. Some are weak in both areas, and some are strong in both areas.
Never pick a Christian school just because it’s an alternative to public school.
It’s critical to really evaluate what the school offers to see if it’s strong both academically and spiritually. If you find a good one that you can afford, you may avoid some of the most serious issues around public schools, and that is absolutely worth doing. (Read on for why I say may avoid.)
In many Christian schools, the “Christian” part reflects the fact that teachers sign a statement of faith, there is a weekly chapel, teachers pray with the kids, and there’s a Bible class. Teachers also work to make “faith connections” to the subjects taught. These are all very wonderful things, and I’ve appreciated every aspect of them while having our kids at a Christian school. But parents should be aware of the curriculum choices a Christian school makes, especially for middle and high school. In many cases, they use secular textbooks and expect teachers to compensate in the class by talking about the subject from a Christian perspective. Many teachers are simply not equipped themselves with this kind of understanding in order to fully counter what secular curricula teaches. You end up with a tug of war between worldviews of the text and teacher. This could be beneficial to the student if done very well, but that completely depends on the teacher’s knowledge and motivation.
If you’re considering a Christian school, ask many questions about curriculum choices at the various grade levels.
We’ve had teachers who prayed multiple times with the kids throughout the day and teachers who didn’t at all. We’ve had teachers who naturally brought up great connections to the Bible across subjects and some who only talked about faith during Bible time. We’ve had teachers who explained the historical and literary context of monthly Bible verses and some who just asked the kids to come up with a skit for whatever they thought it meant. You get the idea. In most Christian schools, there is little standardization across the classrooms because the teachers all come from such different places in their own spiritual life (even if they’re all Christians, they’ve been Christians for different amounts of time and are at different places in their knowledge and walk).
In short, if you send your kids to a Christian school, don’t think for a minute that that education will replace what you should be doing for discipleship. It won’t, and it shouldn’t.
Sometimes parents think that they’ll get rid of the worst peer influences from public school if they go private, and sometimes that is correct. But it’s important to know that people send their kids to a Christian school for all kinds of reasons, and it’s often not because they’re passionate about their kids having a Christian worldview. Sometimes they just want a smaller class size. Sometimes their kids had trouble socially in one school and needed an alternative. Sometimes it’s just the closest school. The kids in Christian schools won’t all be committed Christians because the families won’t all be. But even if the families were, kids will be kids. There will be plenty of mean kids, cliques, kids who watch stuff you wouldn’t allow, and so on. Don’t assume private school is a catch-all solution for negative peer influences.
While I think homeschool is a vastly under-considered choice for Christian parents, there are many families for whom public or Christian school will be the best decision. My purpose here was certainly not to convince everyone to homeschool. But whatever you decide for the fall, be thoughtful about it. Don’t default. Our kids’ education is too important to just do whatever we assumed we always would. The world has changed too much.
Recommended resources related to the topic:
Talking with Your Kids about God: 30 Conversations Every Christian Parent Must Have by Natasha Crain (Book)
Keeping Your Kids on God’s Side: 40 Conversations to Help Them Build a Lasting Faith by Natasha Crain (Book)
Courageous Parenting by Jack and Deb Graham (Book)
Proverbs: Making Your Paths Straight Complete 9-part Series by Frank Turek DVD and Download
Forensic Faith for Kids by J. Warner Wallace and Susie Wallace (Book)
God’s Crime Scene for Kids by J. Warner Wallace and Susie Wallace (Book)
Natasha Crain is a blogger, author, and national speaker who is passionate about equipping Christian parents to raise their kids with an understanding of how to make a case for and defend their faith in an increasingly secular world. She is the author of two apologetics books for parents: Talking with Your Kids about God (2017) and Keeping Your Kids on God’s Side (2016). Natasha has an MBA in marketing and statistics from UCLA and a certificate in Christian apologetics from Biola University. A former marketing executive and adjunct professor, she lives in Southern California with her husband and three children.
Original Blog Source: https://bit.ly/2SO0iwa