Per the ongoing collaboration of a number of homeschooling households from Christ Church of Livingston County (http://www.christkirkmi.com), Deo Gloria School is returning!

Springing from the experience of earlier efforts, this fall will see the voluntary collaboration of area homeschooling parents for a zero-cost, once a week co-operative specifically geared towards community-orientated educational subjects. This curriculum will likely include:

• Music
• Humanities (history and literature)
• Etiquette and Feasting
• Group Games and Recreation

We are excited about the supplemental benefit this social opportunity will add to the independent household programs, and are excited at the prospect of seeing our merry band grow!!

If you think your household, or someone you know, could benefit from Deo Gloria, please consider joining us Friday, June 24th for a “Day on the Farm“!  The event will be hosted by the Irish family on their property (Sylvanshire) north of Howell at 4205 Faussett Rd. The agenda will be as follows:

• 3:30pm: Meet and Greet
• 4:00pm: Nature Walk and Farm Tour (see details below)
• 5:15pm: Snacks and/or Potluck(? – see below)
• 5:45pm: Parent Discussion on Fall 2011 curriculum, teachers, and meeting logistics.

• Springs, Streams, Streams, and continental water flow
• Michigan Wildlife
• Michigan Trees
• Michigan Agriculture
• Geothermal and thermal currents
• Farm Life and Animals: Pigs (piglets arriving soon!!) and Chickens.

• Some have suggested taking opportunity to have a fellowship meal together after the tour. If interested, please RSVP with a proposed dish to bring by Wednesday, June 22nd. The Irish family is willing to provide burgers.

• An adjacent playground area is available for the kids during the parent meeting.

If the chance of rain reaches 60% percent or greater, the event will be postponed. Explore this site for more information on Deo Gloria. Possible updates will be posted here as applicable.

Look forward to having fun with you all!

Regards,

Jordan Irish

– Proverbs 22:6

As any Green Thumb knows, early spring is the time for pruning.  All plants, whether for beauty or consumption, require pruning in order to grow optimally. Indeed, it seems that the more valuable a particular specimen is to us, the more timely, studied, and sometimes severe pruning we apply to it. A couple weeks ago I had the pleasure of harnessing the tremendous efficiency and dramatic effect of an excavator to prune the dead branches from the pine forest behind our yard. While Caterpillar may be proud, pruning the treasured apple trees nearer the house this last week with hydraulically powered steel boom and bucket wasn’t an option.  For this, more careful, manual efforts were required. In each instance, the pruning effort promises to keep the tree healthy, promote better growth, and (in the case of the apple trees) produce a higher yield of fruit.

Despite how natural this grooming of nature seems, it is striking how differently our culture at large perceives our own youth. These “saplings”, like ourselves, find their being within the sin-laden soil of this middle earth. The result is a nature prone to spiritual disease and wayward growth, equal in reality to the rotting death we cut out of the apple trees over the weekend. If left unattended, these ailing limbs would have destroyed the whole plant. But modern parenting philosophy is making a high stakes gamble with the minimalistic “hand-off” approach. “Don’t squelch their self-expression,” the talking heads warn, “or you’ll harm their sense of individual self-worth.” Along these same lines, a friend of Chesterton’s once said that what mankind needed what more people who believed in themselves. Another rendition of this is the political juggernaut “Yes, We Can!” Different words, but each reflect the same intrinsic confidence in the preeminent power and goodness of man. Chesterton’s response to his friend was that there were plenty of people already who believed in themselves…and most of them were in the insane asylum.

In a world made of corruptible stuff, reasonable self-doubt is only a beginning. We should expect serious pruning – first in ourselves, then in our children. And make no mistake, pruning can hurt, especially if it’s been left undone for a while. While we don’t plan on snipping off appendages, the effect that removing misguided convictions and attitudes can have on our ego can be an insurmountable ordeal for many season old timbers. This reveals what a mercy then it is to our children to receive this faithful tending while they are still young, malleable, and resilient. Far from letting the “terrible twos” stay terrible,  our well-considered and carefully applied pruning though out their young lives promises a happy harvest of bountiful, good fruit.

“He who spares the [pruning shears] hates his son, but he who loves him is diligent to discipline him.”

-Proverbs 13:24

God thus commands His people to build up succeeding generations in  knowledge, understanding, and wisdom of Him. To add another layer of living stones to the Holy Temple of His Church, thus edifying the body of believers and extending His kingdom and glory among the peoples of the earth.

In Deuteronomy 6:6,7 we see a description of potent education: formal teaching and also informal conversation. To a child’s ear, one without the other can come across as either quaint, nonsensical stories or groundless moralism. Thus, we are shown that education goes on all the time, in all settings.  Parents are instructed not only to see to their children’s direct spiritual instruction, but must also show and explain to their children how to live day-to-day in the fear of the Lord.

At stake is nothing less than eternity for our children, as well as the future of the culture at large. Obedience brings blessings to individuals, families, communities, and even nations, whereas individual or cultural disobedience brings curses. It is no coincidence that the warnings against disobedience begin immediately in Deuteronomy after 6:6-9;  in the Old Testament we see story after story of individual and communal victories or defeats, glories or devastation in accordance to obedience or disobedience. So established was the earthly kingdom of Israel, as well as its destruction.

The responsibility of preparing our children for Christian life in today’s world can seem overwhelming. However, as we are in Christ, He promises, “…My yoke is easy and My burden is light” (Mat. 11:30). When we approach our God-ordained responsibilities as parents with humility, dying to ourselves so that we may serve our children in obedience to our Father, we find the task of education to be light–even joyful.  (Do we preach “cheerful obedience” to our kids, but begrudge teaching that math or English lesson when there are so many other things that need to be done?)

Individuals gifted in teaching truly love it. When they teach, they not only communicate a lesson, but also an attitude of joyful service. In their calling as teachers, they glorify God in their work and also enjoy serving Him.

A school, whether it is a home school or a day school, should have both aspects of education: the formal instruction and also the informal teaching of how to live out faith. If the process of learning itself is not joyful, if the relationship of teacher to student does not foster love, then the lessons will be little more than a series of joyless, pointless exercises.

A truly Christian school strives to produce graduates ready to shape their culture (at work, family, church, community, etc.) and to take their place in a Christian culture. At Deo Gloria we strive to intentionally glorify God not only in the lessons we teach, but in the very the process of learning, and in the relationships within our school. It is a training ground for the world, in which children learn the sweetness of fearing the Lord and loving one another through the little, daily tasks of life.

Admittedly, this Easter reflection is distinctly American. As such, the passage pulls the curtain on a number of our cultural assumptions. The foremost is the challenge it poses to the sloppy generalizations we often make when assuming that democracy is an intrinsically good thing, and that (naturally) the United States is a democracy.  Though many would like to sterilize the two subjects into two separate and independent compartments, this passage, in revealing our political generalizations, inescapably states something about our underlying theology as well. Many will balk at this, and still more will suddenly grow shy and uneasy, but the unavoidable truth of reality is that, as one talented writer put it, your theology is what comes out of your fingertips. It is inescapable, regardless if you are an atheist, deist, agnostic, Muslim, or Hutaree “Christian”; What you believe about the ultimate nature of Right, Wrong, and it’s relation to the Universe will eventually (or at least should, if you’re living consistently) make its way to the surface of your daily thoughts and actions. In this case regarding America’s unchecked confidence in democracy, what is revealed is an unqualified faith in human nature.

This confidence in the basic goodness of man manifests itself all around us, and Easter weekend was no exception, as one friend described. He and his young family went to a public Easter Egg hunt which was open to children ages 2 through 15. At the outset, the coordinators of the event used a megaphone to clearly communicate to the participants the reasonable regulations in place, including a quantity limit as well as a special hunt area set exclusively aside for the younger ages. What followed was a complete thwarting of equity, as the older kids rampaged the field with unblinking self-interest leaving the younger children with precious little. Apparently, many parents were noticeably shocked, expounding upon various expressions of “I can’t believe this.” So much for these Innocents “trailing clouds of glory,” as the poet wrote.

These cultural assumptions regarding the intrinsic value of democracy and the basically good nature of man are not only out of step with the founding principles of this nation, but they pose a serious hazard to its future that can only be remedied by a cultural recovery of careful distinctions. As best outlined in a brief history lesson, the tried and true means to this recovery must necessary be a holistic, culture-building education.

Shocking as it may be to some, the United States is not (or was not meant to be) a democracy. It was distinctly crafted by the Founders as a constitutional Republic. “What form of government have we?” asked one Philadelphia women upon Benjamin Franklin’s exit of the Constitutional Convention in 1787. “A Republic,” he stated (and then added ominously “if you can keep it!”). In the writing of John Adams, there is “no good government but what is republican…the very definition of a republic is ‘an empire of laws, and not of men.’” This quote is found within Thoughts of Government (1776), which became part of an influential Adamsian “handbook” of sorts for the sovereign states as they crafted their new constitutions in the wake of the Declaration of Independence. These state constitutions in turn had a direct and pervasive affect on the thinking behind the construction of the subsequent Articles of Confederation and Constitution. Despite the ten dollar word it is today, in the time of this nation’s founding the word “democracy” had distinctly negative connotations, conjuring all sorts of historical examples of chaos and mob tyranny in the minds of our classically educated Founders. The effect may have been something near to the reaction of most Americans today given the word “socialism”. Adams’ provides the rationale for this that was common at the time:

“If a majority are capable of preferring their own private interest, or that of their families, counties, and party, to that of the nation collectively, some provision must be made in the constitution, in favor of justice, to compel all to respect the common right, the public good, the universal law, in preference to all private and partial considerations… And that the desires of the majority of the people are often for injustice and inhumanity against the minority, is demonstrated by every page of history… To remedy the dangers attendant upon the arbitrary use of power, checks, however multiplied, will scarcely avail without an explicit admission some limitation of the right of the majority to exercise sovereign authority over the individual citizen… In popular governments [democracies], minorities [individuals] constantly run much greater risk of suffering from arbitrary power than in absolute monarchies…” On Government, (1778).

Thomas Jefferson summarized the same more succintly: “Democracy is nothing more than mob rule, where fifty-one percent of the people may take away the rights of the other forty nine.” Even George Washington, who was not formally trained in the classical studies like most of his counterparts, gleaned enough from the company he kept to disparagingly distinguish the French Revolutionaries as “democrats” in a letter to Jefferson while sparring over the merits between the English and French models of government.

This is not to undermine the equally common conviction of the day that Lawful government essentially rested upon the consent of the governed, and that power remained vested in the people to establish and modify that government as needed. The Founders, being wise to the examples of history and accurately understanding the corruptible nature of man, charted a route of both and versus either or. They were not stumped by the simplistic dichotomy historical precedent may have pressed upon them: Monarchy, Oligarchy, or Democracy? No, they forged a middle way, retaining the strengths of each while crafting a system of checks and balances that would help safeguard the country from the common evils of each. Powers were divided, systematic accountability established, and representation was balanced between the people in the House and the states in the Senate.  This unprecedented achievement was only possible because they, generally speaking, were the products of a culture whose educational norm was broad enough to produce a robust intellectual fabric capable of careful distinctions and circumspect, qualitative evaluations. Indeed, in reading these early debates a modern reader can sometimes grow weary of the intense debate that often attended even the most seemingly trifle issues.

As referenced earlier, the French Revolution, which ran on the heels of the American War for Independence, merited recognition as the true democracy. Initially, the two new governments shared a sort of sisterhood, sharing, at first glance, various Enlightenment ideals surrounding the intrinsic rights if man. Many French fought within the colonial ranks even before France’s formal entry into the American Revolution. Later, Bostonians reciprocated their moral support by donning red caps and greeting each other as “Citizen So-and-So” during the onset of France’s revolutionary upheaval. But it soon became apparent that the two new countries were headed in very different directions.

The French Revolution sprang directly from the overlapping French Enlightenment philosophies of Meslier, Voltaire, and Diderot, all of whom stated (with slight variations) that utopia could be had only by strangling the last king with the entrails of the last priest. Removed of these obsolete authorities, mankind was entering the “Age of Reason” (at one point described as the Cult of Reason), a secular philosophy placing a primary confidence in the moral potential and prowess of man. Such ideology produced the aspiring Robespierre, nicknamed “the Incorruptible” for his ascetic dedication to his ideals, who served as a leader in the early days of the Revolution. As the atrocities of mob rule erupted in what became known as the Reign of Terror, Robespierre justified the anarchy, stating that “Terror is nothing else than swift, severe, indomitable justice; it flows, then, from virtue.” How ironic that shortly after this statement Robespierre himself fell prey to this lawless “virtue” beneath the blade of the guillotine.

The American Revolution, in contrast, was marked from its beginning by unwelcome British troops accused with the Boston “Massacre” being acquitted by a colonial jury dissuaded from prejudice through the talented efforts of a Boston lawyer (and future president) committed to the unimpassioned rule of Law. Whereas the French Revolution attempted to bear only upon “Natural Law” the Founders of America at large embraced Enlightenment Ideals rooted within the Reformation before it, thus “the Law of Nature and Nature’s God.” The French, in their exultation of godless Reason, reaped a moral and social insanity. The Americans, broadly speaking, sowed Enlightenment Ideals submitted to Reformation truths and applied with a rigorous classical methodology to produce a country of freedom, peace, and affluence for the common man that became the envy of the world. While not asserting that every founder was a devout Christian parishioner (though most were), this politically realized hierarchy reflects the pervasively Protestant culture of America at that time. This perspective identified man’s nature as depraved and continually suspect of evil, requiring various checks and balances of accountability, and only finding happiness when in submission to the Reason and Law of God. This was a recognizable culture, carefully maintained and prolonged by a comprehensive system of belief and thought. In this enculturation, their Theology interconnected with their evaluation of History, which in turn influenced their Politics. This “turn-key” education provided the philosophic foundation necessary to avoid the naivety (and rampant bloodshed) of the French courtship with goddess Reason and her democracy.

It is no wonder then, that the Founders placed such an importance on education: “Religion, Morality,and Knowledge being necessary for good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and all means of education shall forever be encouraged.” (Northwest Ordinance, 1787). It is striking to recognize that it was within the schools that they naturally expected “Religion, Morality, and Knowledge” to be necessarily taught! This approach to education is broad reaching, bearing a profoundly centrality to the culture at large. What a striking contrast to the morally-paralyzed and limp-wristed public school curriculum we have today! We moderns, for various reasons, have dismembered the comprehensive educational approach typical to the Reformation-based cultures of the past. The result is an anemic and dissected system of belief only affordable because a more robust culture before it paved the way for the current blessing of comfortable and tolerant living. As Dorothy Sayers identified in her essay The Lost Tools of Learning, the great defect of our education today is that “although we often succeed in teaching our pupils ‘subjects,’ we fail lamentably on the whole in teaching them how to think: they learn everything, except for the art of learning.” In referencing the Greek word choice of Ephesians 6:4, Doug Wilson identifies this holistic approach as The Paideia of God, recognizing that the pervasive enculturation indicated in “paideia” bears profound ramifications for our response to St. Paul’s admonishment to “train up your children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord,” (Eph 6:4).

This broader vision for building sound culture through education is a monumental task. It cannot be understood or applied beneath the guise of “neutrality” found within the State schools. This has left the work to us, and thousands like us, who are willing to recover our rightful responsibility for the all-encompassing education of our children. In submitting all things to the Wisdom of God in Christ, we will be building a well-fitted culture that may once again draw the careful distinctions between democracy and republicanism, and between the Cult of (Postmodern) Reason and the happy fruit of Biblical Obedience.

These early days of Spring are wonderful. The warming days gently wake the earth from her winter slumber. The grass starts standing a bit more spry, and the sounds of the many returning birds calling out their vernal greetings fill the air. Of all the equinoctial wonders, my favorite is the water; the frost loosens it’s icy clutch and the small brooks start to sing, splishing and splashing, dancing away to the sea. As the Psalmist sings, they run “down into the valleys, to the place you assigned for them,” (Psalm 104:8).

I think it is this “assignment” of the springs that has always intrigued me. We have two swamps on our property that possess artesian wells that bubble up out of the ground. These two swamps are completely independent of each other, being divided by a continuous ridge of high ground. One of these swamps drains into a little creek to the east which then bends south. The other drains straight north. As I’ve ventured my way through the swamp grasses following the little paths of water it seems amazing to me that these two modest trickles, though apparently independent and heading in opposite directions, travel varied courses only to finally end up meeting several miles north at Indian Lake. From their they unite in a small stream which pours into the Shiawassee River, meeting many other tributaries along their way to the mighty Lake Huron. And from there it continues! The Huron goes to Lake St. Clair, then to the St Lawrence River, and on to the Atlantic Ocean and the Seven Seas!

As simple as this little wonder may seem, it offers a striking and tangible example of small beginnings destined to greatness. “You may seem harmless, now, little Spring, but wait until you are thundering with your fellows over the banks of the Niagara!” In this modern world it often seems the Christian Church is heading in opposite directions, small, divided, and harmless. But the Lord, who with a Word made and governs all, who declares the end from the beginning, has declared “the Kingdom is at hand!” He described it as the smallest of seeds, the mustard seed, which falls to the ground and seems lost, but grows to be the Greatest of All the trees in the garden. He has declared that “the Earth WILL be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea,” (Isaiah 11:9). As we labor in our small, sometimes feeble and hidden, efforts to build the kingdom, we should be encouraged that our works, like the modest springs, have “a place…assigned for them.” This destination is great and wonderful and incontrovertible. We may or may not see it with our own eyes, but like the springs, our faithful work has the Lord’s promise of Life upon it, that in His time it will be “vast and spacious, teeming with creatures beyond number – living things both large and small,” (Psalm 104:25).  This is a “hope, a future, and an expected end” that not even a red dawn on the second Rome can subvert.

Labor with Hope, Saints. The Lord calls you to Glory.

At that, a single question begs to be asked: “Is this a Good change?” Or, maybe better phrased given the subject at hand, “Is this a Healthy Change?”

Much debate can and should be had on whether this bill is a Lawful and Moral act of government. Historically-informed  and principled voices, such as that of Congressman Ron Paul on Health Care Reform (as currently featured on Campaign for Liberty‘s website) or Douglas Wilson’s 21 Principles Every Christian Must Know in the Age of Obama give a striking contrast to the broader cultural current. Straining through the clamor to accurately determine if initiatives like this were the intent of the Founders when they described the Federal government’s responsibility of “general welfare” has never been of more importance.

Yet current politics aside, our casual, cacophonic use of the words “Change,” “Health,” and “Reform”  demand examination. Given how frequently such terms are thrown about while assuming some intrinsic value and priorty, a foreigner might reasonably imply that we share a common and unified understanding of these ideas. But do we? All confess the need, but the solution remains unclear: Is what we need a messianic political ruler? Sweeping legislation and more regulation? More money? More Tea Parties with an extra dose of fervor? (Please pass the Red-bull and my poster kit!)

All these things are the proverbial band-aid for a shotgun wound, damned to cycles of contention and futlity if not backed by a deeper, stonger cultural fiber. What will truly recover the healthy American society that once was the envy of the world?

“I sought for the key to the greatness and genius of America in her harbors…; in her fertile fields and boundless forests; in her rich mines and vast world commerce; in her public school system and institutions of learning. I sought for it in her democratic Congress and in her matchless Constitution. Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits flame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power. America is great because America is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great.”

-Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy In America, 1835.

A vast body of historical evidence reflects that the Founders explicitly understood this. Contrary to our nauseating “Believe in Yourself” mantra of modernity, the Founders (almost to a man were astute students of history) that were highly suspicious of the nature of man and the masses and found confidence for their argument only in the “Laws of Nature and Nature’s God.” Even the staunchest political opponents, like the federalist James Madison and the anti-federalist Patrick Henry, both affirmed the nation’s social foundation in clear, unmistakable, and unified commonality:

“We have staked the whole future of American civilization, not upon the power of government, far from it. We have stake the future of all our political institutions upon the capacity of mankind for self-government; upon the capacity of each and all of us govern ourselves, to control ourselves, to sustain ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God.”

-James Madison, Chief Architect of the Constitution

“It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. For this very reason peoples of other faiths have been afforded asylum, prosperity, and freedom of worship here.”

-Patrick Henry

While capable of distinguishing between ecclesiastical institutionalism and the manifest, recognizable, and appropriate effect that Christianity naturally exerts on the world, these individual confessions had no blush of conscience unifying within a corporate, institutional voice as well. Consider the Northwest Ordinance in 1787, arguably the most significant  legislative work of the early Confederation Congress save the Declaration of Independence itself :

“Religion, morality, and knowledge being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall forever be encouraged.” – Northwest Ordinance 1787

Unfortunately, this answer is one that most of us don’t want to here. The clarity with which religion (and it’s fruits: morlaity, knowledge) is identified as necessary for societal happiness and prescribed to the realm of the schools is impossible to miss unless we’re trying to miss it. If it isn’t an outright defiance of Biblical authority, then it’s the more sophisticated-sounding objections of “that’s too simple” or “yeah, but this is the 21st century,” or any other of a great number of tactics that would make the Artful Dodger jealous.

But the broad consensus of this country’s Founding Fathers, one who counted himself the least of which because he only spoke  seven different languages (instead of eleven) and could only write with both hands at the same time in the same language (versus two different languages), devoutly recognized the primacy of the Christian Scriptures within a free, peaceful, and affluent society. How is it that we modern Netflix junkies have superior credentials to dismiss such concerns?

Despite how simple the antidote of Scripture to “Learn and Live” might seem (and may be) to our stubborn, expensive, and consternated ”live and learn” preferences, we as a people still have a steep climb ahead just with the basics of Exodus 20. Though none are optional, the delivery order of the 10 commandments reveals a divinely ordained prioritization and potency, each building upon the one before it: 

1. First and foremost, 1 through 4 teach us how to relate to God. This is, in a word, worship. We of the American church may our contemporay crowd-producing methodologies are pretty clever, but we have fooled ourselves if we truly believe that replacing joyful obedience and gratitude for dry Victorian moralism, reverent worship for rock concerts, and Good for Nice will efficaciously produce a Biblical culture. Look at the fruit: We have basically the same statistics on the big quantifiables like divorce and out-of-wedlock pregnancy, not to mention the more pesky pervasion of spiritually impotent lives. Think like the World = Act like the World. We’re using the same seed and (naturally) are getting the same rotten fruit. As the divinely prescribed “cultural hub” for the people of God, the Church’s health is primary. She leads, even if it’s poorly. 
2. Of secondary importance, commandment 5 affirms sound  government and responsibility within the Family, the basic building block of society. With parental respect in the home their is actually a chance for teaching and enforcing what is preached on Sunday. This parental authority should be earned by honorable living, must it must also be faithfully enforced. ”He who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is careful to discipline him,” Proverbs 13:24. 
3. With the above in place, we would actually have some chance at meeting the Social commands 6 through 10. As it is, we’re beating the air in our modern efforts, looking for the Fruit without ever cultivating the Root. “Thou shalt not murder” may seem simple enough, but we’ve failed miserably at this within our pre-natal clinics at home and the deserts abroad. ”Thou shalt not steal” also seems clear as a bell, but we’ve institutionalized thievery at the highest level of government and haven’t the imaginations for what honest self-reliance would look like. And “Thou shall not commit adultery” – well, that topic requires another day.

The point is that without a submission to Christ and His instructions for life here on earth, we’re doomed to building castles in the sky. True Change for the Good is impossible without this authoritative Foundation, and no amount of “Traditional Values” can circumvent this. To quote Peter Marshall, “The choice before us is plain: Christ or Chaos; conviction or compromise, discipline or disintegration…The time is come – it is now – when we ought to hear about the duties and responsibilities of our citizenship. America’s future depends on her accepting and demonstrating God’s government.”

Recognizing this, there is no neutral ground: We must labor to sow the Good Seed of the Word or suffer the encroaching wilderness. We are condition to a modern diet of McSpirit, so it may be difficult to stomach at first, but an reformative adherence to the Word of God within our churches, our families, our schools, and our politics is the only sure prescription for genuinely “healthy” change.   

“Therefore whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock. But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.”  Matthew 7:24-27

We are, in fact, trying to grow the kingdom of God in the hearts and minds of men. If we adhere to Biblical truth (and we do), then we know that growing the Lord’s kingdom not only rightly honors Him, but it also is the only place creation finds true happiness. In as much as we compromise our submission to God’s Word delivered in mercy to us, we compromise our own good. Consequently, we have good reason to labor obediently at building the kingdom, starting this endeavor, naturally and faithfully, with ourselves and our children. We cannot get rich & juicy watermelon by planting weed seeds. In fact, we can’t get the joy of watermelon by doing nothing, either. Our world is one where weeds grow aggressively and will dominate unless we diligently hoe the row. Thus, there is really no such thing as sending our children off to “neutral” public schools. If we think like the world, we will bear the “fruit” of the world. Weeds will take over, and we will watch dumbfounded as our young people lose their faith, our marriages suffer the same statistical failure as those of non-believers, and the Church continues to spin in its impotent, “feel good” social bubble. “All this,” you say, “because we don’t teach our children that Christ made 2 + 2?” You betcha! Math–and our minds, as well as the ability to learn, understand, and apply mathematical principles–were all created ultimately to enjoy and glorify the Triune God. If Christ is left out of the teaching of mathematics, then our children are learning that Christ is irrelevant to mathematics–same goes for history, science, literature, etc. As St. Augustine stated, “All Truth is God’s Truth.” For us to live as if this is not the case (by subsidizing an agnostic perspective of the world through our enrollment in secular schools) is self-delusion of the grandest order. If this is the seed one chooses to sow, then there can be no grounds for complaint when chomping on tares at harvest is the only option. Few would dispute that we as a culture have started to sample this entree’ even now. In our humble opinion, hoeing the row is worth it not only because weeds don’t taste good, but even more so because nothing beats the savory sweetness of watermelon.

The careful use of words, terms, and definitions requires our media saturated and flabby brain to get off the couch for exercise. Initially we start huffing and puffing after just a few blocks. Soon we discover we can make it through a few miles, and eventually we can go much further. Meanwhile, those who continue to indulge in a life of passive thought, junk food terms, and saccharin definitions lean back in their recliners and cruise from one channel to the other. They then plop in front of the computer to facebook everyone about the confused, little, and trivial thoughts that are on their minds.

Terms and definitions are far more important than we may think. You might never engage in a formal debate but you are always engaged in an informal debate of where to spend your time and energy. You are always passing or failing in defining the world and your life with God’s Word. A battle is being waged in your thought life (2 Cor 10:5), and many have unknowingly succumbed to the enemy by refusing to think, define, and act.

We must carefully cultivate our thought-life, then. We need to exercise our minds so that we have the right terms and definitions in our lives, lest we find ourselves stuck in a mental swamp. Richard Mitchell (you should read everything he has written) once said:

Logical discourse requires exactitude. If we do want to teach morality or at least the thoughtful examination of our deeds and their apparent meanings, we can do this only through teaching exactitude. It is no accident that thought, word, and deed keep company together in prayer books. To clarify our values must mean to make fine distinctions. To make fine distinctions means to see how different things are similar and how similar things are different. This calls for many finely tuned words and subtle grammatical devices and the ability to put them all together with precision. The finer the distinctions we can make in words and, therefore, in our thoughts, the finer the judgments we can make about the nature of our deeds. Contrariwise, careless and blunted words conceal the nature of our deeds.

I had read–and I believe it–that the Nazi bureaucracy generated thousands and thousands of pages of routine paperwork related to the business of killing Jews, but in all that paperwork the word ‘killing’ appears nowhere. Those who think that a concern for precision in language is finicky and pedantic should ponder that for a while.

(Less Than Words Can Say, 91-92)

No, that’s not what Bible Grammar at Deo Gloria is all about (though we love these things too). Here’s what we’ve written as course description for the New Testament section of the course:

A year long survey of the New Testament. Students will memorize outlines for each book of the New Testament as well as important themes, facts, key chapters, and verses. Quizzes will be administered weekly, with the majority of class time spent on discussion. Total prep time for each student will vary, depending upon reading and memorization skills, though the average will be 2 hours/week. Parents are highly encouraged to drill their children with flashcards, which benefits children and parents alike!

This is “grammar” in the sense of essential facts and principles of a subject. So, the aim of Bible Grammar is present a comprehensive knowledge of each book of the Bible.  In addition to the requirements outlined in the course description, students are required to read through each book of the New Testament as they are memorizing its grammar. During our class time I lecture on the importance of the facts students have memorized, connecting them with the key literary and theological features in each book as well as the whole Bible. In order to avoid the doldrums, classes tend to run down any interesting rabbit trails spotted by the students. There are few things more enjoyable in this class than emerging from a theological thicket, sleeves slight torn, with a theological coney in hand.

Think about how important this kind of knowledge is. Students are learning to tell you what the book of Jude is all about and name off its key features (can you?). Moreover, they’re learning the details of the Book which has been most influential in the development of Western literature. Most importantly, they’re learning that Scripture is rich, deep, wild, a sweet savor, and the Words of Life. If we want to turn our world upside down, we need to have our heads turned right-side up. Bible Grammar is a big step in that direction.