Marketing.
Politics teach us a lot about the mixing of faith and business. For years political candidates have garnered conservative support by advocating the pro-life stance. Ironically, not one of those elected candidates has ever challenged Roe v Wade to overturn the law. The pro-life stance just seems to be a way for a candidate to communicate to the masses the illusion of conservatism, or, worse, the implication that the candidate adheres to Judeo-Chrisitian ethics and values. And yet, election after election, candidates market themselves in such a way so as to gain the approval of conservative religious voters. Marketing religion is just good business.
Biblical Worldview.
I have recently seen private religious schools and educators using the term “biblical worldview” in order to communicate that the school apparently teaches children to live their lives viewing the world through the light of scripture. One reason secularists have a field day with religion is that even though the religious agree that the sacred scriptures call us to higher ethical and moral standards, precious few desire to live their personal lives by those standards, and fewer still want to operate businesses or ministries by those standards. To put it biblically: people of God do not live any differently than the pagan. It would appear that either the pious do not know what the scripture says about how one should live, or there is blatant defiance and disregard to the biblical Law.
I visited a school and had to inform them that our agency would not recognize them because they had handled their employees in a manner that was in violation of IRS code. Sadly, I was not shocked to hear the defiant and arrogant response from the school. Yet, the school prided itself in its biblical worldview: “modeling, teaching, and leading with actions and decisions that are consistent with God’s Word.” So can we disregard the teaching of the Messiah of Christianity to “render unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s?” Can we disregard the Christian scripture that admonishes to “obey the laws of the land?” If we are going to claim adherence to a “biblical worldview” should it not be, at the very least, scriptural?
Sola Scriptura.
It has been said that we cannot impart what we do not possess. If I cannot add or subtract, it will be impossible for me to teach addition and subtraction. If I do not know know Kepler’s laws of planetary motion, I cannot teach Kepler’s laws of planetary motion. If I cannot ride a bicycle, I cannot teach others to ride a bicycle. Likewise, it is simply impossible for individuals who do not yield to the authority of scripture to teach others to yield to the authority of scripture. If schools want to teach children to live with a biblical worldview, they must hire leadership and teachers who adhere to a succinct and defensible biblical worldview.
It is no mistake that the Christian scriptures state that teachers will be judged more harshly by God at judgment day than any others. It is easy to assume that judgement will be most severe for tele-evangelists, or false prophets, or other religious leaders, but James puts the heat squarely on the shoulder of teachers.
May we as educators hold the scripture is such high regard in our personal lives that we at all times yield to the authority of the scriptures, yield to the authority of the church, and point children to willfully submit their lives to God’s governance as He has revealed it in His holy Word.
It is simply impossible for individuals who do not yield to the authority of scripture to teach others to yield to the authority of scripture. If schools want to teach children to live with a biblical worldview, they must hire leadership and teachers who adhere to a succinct and defensible biblical worldview.
