America's future depends on your child's education, says Stephen McDowell
>> Stephen McDowell: Welcome to America's Providential History Podcast, where we talk about the real story of America and explore the hand of God in our history. Now, here's your host, Steven McDowell. Hello. I'm glad you're joining us for this edition of America's Providential History Podcast. Today we will be looking at Educated for Liberty and present to you a new film that we produced at the Providence foundation and how you can view it for free online. After all, America's future depends on your child's education. President Ronald Reagan insightfully said, freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected and handed on for them to do the same. Or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it was once like in the United States where men were free. You know, it is difficult to live free. Freedom is not the default state of sinful man. If you leave man to himself, he's not going to progress toward more and more liberty, but he will spiral downward into more and more, bondage. You know, Scripture warns us not to be taken captive by worldly philosophies and reminds us that Christian ideas bring liberty. In Colossians 2, 8, see to it that no one takes you captive through philosophy and empty deception, according to the tradition of men rather than according to Christ. And so biblical ideas bring liberty. Christian ideas produce liberty, and liberty produces flourishing, personal flourishing, flourishing in our families and our economic systems, in our governmental systems, in our culture. In every area of life. History affirms, what the Bible teaches, that liberty produces prosperity. But more importantly, we learn from history that Christianity produces liberty. The source of a people being able to live in liberty has come from biblical Christianity being planted within that, culture. Founders of America embraced the truths that freedom comes from God, not government, and that freedom is the product of Christian education. So they came, seeking to give birth to a free nation, a new nation such the world had not seen before, and to pass on to posterity, the fruit that they had labored their whole life to produce. And they recognized that Christian education is key to transmitting liberty, to transmitting a way of life, a flourishing life. See, understanding these important ideas reveals why America became the most free and prosperous nation in history and also why we've been losing our liberties. Education in early America was thoroughly Christian, home centered. Biblical education produced this free nation of America because Christian education prepared citizens to love their neighbor, to govern themselves, to think biblically, and to pass on to posterity the character and worldview necessary to live free. Again, you leave man to himself, he will not progress toward more and more freedom. The opposite will occur. Our founders understood that and so they then planted the American Christian republic, upon the principles of Christianity. And they sought to pass it on through, biblical education that was centered in the home first, but then in their churches and their schools and their colleges as they began to start over the years that they recognized these educational institutions. Wherever education takes place, we must use this to communicate, the Christian faith and Christian character, because that is what is essential to building a free society. So that's what America was based upon. That's what made us the most free and prosperous nation the world has ever seen. However, the rise of government controlled schools and secular education has produced a decline of moral and academic excellence where which has led to a loss of liberty. See, schools, especially in our lifetime, in these recent, decades have become progressively dangerous. In fact, some of the most negative influences young Americans can face today are found in our public schools. Exposure to drugs, assault, rape and murder are becoming more and more common. Added to this you have radical transgender and homosexual ideology being promoted in the classrooms, and reinforced by biological males having access to girls restrooms and being allowed to compete in girls sports. And so all kinds of physical dangers, are brought to bear upon our children when they go to these government schools. But in addition to physical danger, they're also facing ideological danger in the classroom. You know, secular humanism has replaced Christianity as the underlying tenet of public schools. Again, our schools in America were thoroughly founded on a biblical Christian foundation. But over time that Christianity was replaced by a different ideology, really, a different religion, religion of secular humanism. And this is the view that man is his own God. Man is the ultimate source of what's right and wrong and what's moral or immoral. Man will choose, all of these things. And so as we gradually shifted, kicked out Christianity and shifted to a new religion, academics performance has declined over the decades. And a lot of different authors, educators have written about the problems that have existed in the public schools in recent generations. And titles of books such as why Johnny Can't Read, why Johnny Can't Think, why Johnny Can't Tell right from wrong. they point out the many problems that have arisen in the government government schools. And so the educrats who've overseeing this decline, they're not really working too hard to correct the problem, because they are the source of the problem. They're working Even to keep parents in the dark about what's going on in the schools. And when parents attempt to speak out, they often ignore them, even arrest them. We've had some notable examples of that in recent years. When parents in Northern Virginia, for example, found out that they've, had their children assaulted by males, claiming to be females. And the school board secretly moved this one guy from one school to another, didn't tell the parents, and when he moved to the new school, he was assaulted again. And then when the father spoke out to the school board that you've kept us in the dark, you've lied to us, and you're allowing this to happen, he was the one that was arrested for this, instead of the school board being arrested, which, they needed to be. But our modern government schools are built upon the pagan idea that the state is the ultimate authority in the earth. And everything comes under its domain, especially the education of children. This is the philosophy that has existed in most of the nations throughout most of recorded history. Whether you have a Caesar or Pharaoh or a king or whatever title they have, that the ultimate authority in the earth is man via the state. the state is overseas and in charge of everything, and especially the education, of our children. And so throughout history, kings and rulers have sought to govern all aspects of education. But the Bible teaches education, according to Christ, is outside the control of government. That is, it is parents who have the right and responsibility to govern the education of their children. See, Scripture teaches that the fear of the Lord and knowledge of truth is the foundation of an education that brings liberty. And so the solution to our loss of liberty and our loss of societal flourishing today is to restore the biblical education upon which America was built or to prepare citizens who are educated to live in liberty. Again, it's difficult to live free. It's difficult to live in liberty. people must be prepared in their character and in their thinking, their worldview to know how to live in liberty. And so these are some of the ideas that are covered in a new film that we produced at the Providence foundation along with Create Studios, entitled Educated for Liberty. because it explores. This film explores the characteristics, the model fruit and societal impact of biblical education, as well as the role of the family and the church in educating future generations. So in the film, we tell numerous stories of how God had called individuals, families and individuals to assume the responsibility to educate their children, starting to home school others who've started Christian schools as a means of, transmitting truth, to the next generation. So we have numerous stories that we tell in the film. We interview about 20 leading Christian educators and Christian leaders in different fields. School administrators, teachers, pastors, parents. Because through the film we seek to encourage families, to govern the education of their children. See, parents have the right and responsibility to govern the education of their children. It's primarily the family's responsibility, not civil government. And so one primary idea that we communicate is that, and secondarily we also want to communicate and inspire pastors and leaders in the church to become actively involved in education, thereby assisting the families and parents to fulfilling their mission to educate their, children. So this film, seeks to encourage and inspire parents to see they have a primary responsibility, pastors and churches to assist parents in this. We communicate this important, truth that for a people to live free, they must, have biblical education. And to transmit this truth to the next generations, they must be prepared as well. And that wherever education takes place in the home, schools and churches and marketplace of ideas, if a people want to live in liberty, it's vital that we impart biblical education, Christian education in that system. I hosted and I written and hosted the film Educated for Liberty. Dale Robinson of Create Studios was the directed, filmed and edited a film, did a marvelous job. And this film is 100 minutes long. It can be seen for free at the website educated for liberty.com educated for liberty.com you can also go to the Providence Foundation's website, providencefoundation.com our homepage. And we have a panel about the film that links to educatedforliberty.com and as I said, it's 20 or so leading educators and Christian leaders were interviewed and helped tell this very important story. Story including individuals like George Barna, he's a professor and author. David Barton, founder of Wall Builders Micah Ferris, founder of Patrick Henry College and Aslda Dave Brad, a former congressman and vice president, Liberty University. Alex Newman, author and journalist Abraham Hamilton, he's an American family radio host. Carol Swinning, professor at Vanderbilt and other universities. Lee Borton, the founder of classical conversations Alex McFarland, author and American Family radio host Jeff Keaton, president of Renewanation a Nation Tim Barton, president of Wall Builders Ray Moore of Exodus Mandate, actress Sam Sorbo, Carol Adams, the president of the foundation for American Christian Education.
Early Americans understood that education is discipleship
Rhonda Thomas, Truth in Education Meeke and Will Addison, Culture Proof. Carl Broge, pastor, Max Lyons of the Biblical Thinker. Kerry Gordon, Pastor Walker Wildmon, American Family association vice president and others. You can see that the film is full of excellent individuals who've been involved in education in different capacities for years and years and years. So they help tell this very, important story. Again, you can watch this for [email protected] now it's 100 minutes long, but on our website we divide it into six different segments so that you making it very easy for you to go through this in 15 to 20 minute sections or to show it as a class. Show it to your small group, your home group, so it in a church setting. Show it to parents who are becoming interested how can I provide Christian education for my children? Show it to those maybe you're interested in starting a school so you can go through and look at the film and discuss it. We also have lists of books and resource materials on the website educatedforliberty.com and so in each of these sections we then explore those ideas. One of those sections is Education is discipleship. Education is discipleship. You know that Jesus gave us the commission, go and make disciples of all the nations. And certainly the first people that we need to disciple are our children. they're the, our first mission field. Before we go to our neighbor or go to another country, we need to make sure we're discipling our children. And education, whatever way that it occurs and in all the ways that it occur formally in schools, informally at home, at the churches and through the marketplace of ideas through education, we're discipling people in that. See early Americans understood that education is discipleship. The most important reason for education is revealed in an original rule of Harvard College. Now Harvard was started by the Puritans in Massachusetts in 1636. Reason they started it, they said in order to advance learning and perpetuate it to posterity, dreading to leave an illiterate ministry to the churches when our present minister shall lie in the dust. So one reason they started Harvard because they needed to train godly leaders in the church. Godly pastors they recognized if the leaders in the church are blind, they're going to be like the blind leading the blind into the pit as Jesus warned us about. So you say we can't have that. They thought the greatest curse that could come upon the land would there be ignorant, impotent clergy raise its head in the land. So we can't have that. So they started colleges for one reason. Then one of its original rules reveals its solid Christian foundation. It states, let every student be plainly instructed and earnestly pressed to consider well, the main end of his life and studies is to know God and Jesus Christ, which is eternal life and therefore to lay Christ in the bottom as the only foundation of all sound knowledge and learning. And this was typical of all the early colleges that were Harvard, Yale, William and Mary, Brown, Princeton, Rutgers, Dartmouth, you name it. They are started by and for the Christian church. We've explored some of this in previous, podcasts. So the reason for colleges being started certainly reveal that the founders understood education is discipleship. We're training our children in how to, to walk in accordance with God's truth, which, by the way, Massachusetts enacted education laws in the 1640s, which reveal the importance of transmitting truth. The preamble to the school laws says it being one chief project or that old eluder Satan, to keep men from the knowledge of the Scriptures. See, Satan wants to keep people ignorant, and if he keeps them ignorant, he can keep them in bondage. So they say, we can't have this. These early founders of Massachusetts, they said everybody needs to have knowledge of the truth which is found in the scriptures themselves, so that they'll know how to live, know how to build this new, new, colony in this new nation, and know how to please God by having access to truth in the scriptures. So they said, so make sure everyone. We're going to. If you have 50 families in a community, they need to hire a teacher to make sure everyone, even the orphan child or if there's a widow, had children that may not be able to provide education at home, for whatever reason, someone may not be receiving this truth, at home. That these schools were started in order to provide this for everyone. For, our founders, the primary purpose of education was to come to know God and to know his truth. And so students were to learn truth primarily through the Bible, but also through all the subjects that they learned in school, because God's word speaks to all of life. So in segment one, we explore this education as discipleship. Then in segment two, we look at, the seed principle, how bad seeds produce bad fruit. Because education is like a seed. And the Bible has a whole lot to say about the seed principles. The seeds are ideas you plant determine the fruit or results that are produced. So education is a transfer of a way of life. Education determines culture. The culture of liberty in early America grew from the seeds of a biblical worldview. And so the founders planted seeds of truth through the educational institutions, first in the home and in the schools and colleges and in the churches. And those seeds grew and produced a great flourishing society. So education is not neutral. All education imparts a worldview, and it's all education is really religious because it imparts what a people consider to be ultimate, to be, to be right and true. And so the problems we are seeing today in our nation are the fruit of a secular worldview which has gradually taken over education during the past hundred or so years. Years, for the first few centuries of American history, education was thoroughly Christian. However, in the 19th century, contrary secular ideas began to be sown. 1830s and 40s, the father of public education, Horace Manny, pushed Massachusetts to adopt a status model of education that he had seen while he's over in Prussia in Europe. Over the next hundred years, other states followed suit and began to centralize the control of schools through state finance, state directed and ultimately state controlled and state mandated education that superseded local control. And so the establishment of this centralized top down model made it a whole lot easier for secular progressive educators to hijack schools from the parental control and from their biblical foundations. And to make matters even worse, in the past half century the national government has increasingly usurped state and local control of education. And so education over time shifted from Bible as the central text to the Bible can't even be found here. Now the Bible, harsh man didn't kick out the Bible. he knew the importance of the Bible and he didn't even suggest let's get rid of the Bible. But over time from becoming the central text, the Bible became one of many texts. But then when you have rulings of the supreme court in the 1960s, they began to say, well, you can't have Bible study anymore and you can't have prayer in the school room. And so eventually the Bible is completely removed from many. In fact most of our government's schools today. Centralized secular education has not produced better outcomes, but rather has led to a rapid decline of moral and academic excellence. So modern government schools are built upon the idea that the state is the ultimate authority over all things. And so bad seeds produce bad fruit. And so over the last hundred plus years we have begun to plant many bad seeds in our educational system. And those bad seeds have produced, especially in our lifetime, much bad fruit that we are impacted by today. And so we then have that section of bad seeds produce bad fruit.
Education in early America was Bible centered Christian education
But then in the next section of the film we look at how good seeds produce good fruit. In fact, it was education in early America that was Bible centered Christian education. This was good seed that produced the flourishing nation of America. This year we're celebrating the 250th anniversary of the birth of the United States of America, unique nation in history, A nation built upon Christian self government, Christian liberty. But it was biblical Christian education that gave birth to America in the first place is 170 years of biblical education in homes, churches and schools. From the planning the first colony in Jamestown in 1607 until we declared independence in 1776, it was good seeds from good education that was centered in the Bible produced a flourishing free, nation. And so we then, in the film, in that, third section, we, we look at this, we look at the good seed. We look at how, this good seed was planted and produced good fruit. It's evidenced in our homes, it's evidence in the churches. It's evidence in the reason the early settlers started colleges. It's the reason we started the first common schools in America. Nothing like our public, schools today. You can see the same thing seed reflected in the type of books that we use. The Bible is the central text, but from the NewSong England Primer to the Blueback speller to the McGuffey's readers and so many others is thoroughly Christian. In previous podcasts we've explored some of that. And in our film Educated for Liberty, we give an overview of the planting of the good seed and the fruit of the good seed. This is what produced the exceptional nation of America, because as someone once said, the philosophy of the school, schoolroom in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next. So education determines the philosophy of law, business, economics, politics, all of life. Education determines what culture will be. So biblical education produced the flourishing nation of America. You know Alexis de Tocqueville, that French political philosopher? We've mentioned him in previous podcasts. In his book Democracy in America, published in the 1830s, he observed that the position of the Americans is therefore quite exceptional. And it may be believed that no democratic people will ever be placed in a similar one. So as I said earlier, it's difficult to live free. it's not the default state of sinful man to live free. So you must prepare yourself and transmit truth. Plant good seeds. And this good seed, rooted in biblical Christianity, is what produced the exceptional nation of the United States of America. So we explore this in the film as well. And then in another section, the fourth section, we look at the concept of parent controlled education. Parents have the right and responsibility to govern the education of their children. Now, they can delegate aspects of this to others, but it shouldn't include the civil government. Nowhere in the Bible do we see civil government given the authority or the right or responsibility to provide education for their citizens. It's outside the jurisdiction of civil government's purpose. It has a very limited purpose to protect our life, liberty and property. It's protect us, provide peace and security for us so we can fulfill our duties, which includes providing health, education and welfare for our children. See, little freedom exists where parents cannot govern the education of their children. Theologian John Gresham Machen, he taught at Princeton University. And they became so, secularized he had to leave and he started a seminary. But he said that if liberty is not maintained with regard to education, there's no use trying to maintain it in any other sphere. If you give the bureaucrats the children, you might just as well give them everything else. So, and that's exactly what's happened, that over generations we've bought into this false concept that the state needs to take control of education, that your average parent can't do that, that they don't have enough education or knowledge, they're not professionally trained to know how to teach your children. So turn it over to the professionals. And as we've done that professionals who by the way have been educated in secular, humanistic, anti Christian ideas, they've taken these bad ideas and planted them in our children, which has produced bad fruit and has impacted negatively our society in so many different ways. And so we've been surrendering more and more of our rights and liberties and money to the state. And in turn our children have been corrupted by vain and immoral ideologies. And so families, the good news is, can take action and turn this around. And so they need to begin to, okay, let me assume my responsibility. And in the film, in the last segment, we actually look at many different ways that parents can do that. Now it's important as we explore in the film as well, that the church, is the primary mechanism to help families fulfill their biblical duty to educate their children. It's the parents duty. But the church exists to support the family in that mission. They can help coordinate, coordinate families and help provide facilities, help bring people together to start a Christian school perhaps that meets in their church or to encourage homeschooling families in their churches. How they can have co op classes or work together and help provide resources, scholarship funds and so many other different things. And so in the, the fifth section of this film we look at, all right, how can we restore biblical education? What can we do as parents to assume that responsibility? What can we do? Suppose as grandparents or just as members of a church, and we have young families and children in our church, what can we do to help assist through tutoring or scholarship programs, or assisting in starting a school, or assisting local, local, local, families who want to homeschool their children. So we look at various things in the film as well. And so biblical education built the free nation of America. Modern public education is a primary reason for the decline of the American republic. You know, the psalmist asked, if the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do? Well, we can rebuild the foundations. And so alternatives to government schools are essential. And we explore various alternatives in this field. And so as we seek to restore biblical education and biblical model of education, we kind of summarize a lot of the ideas that those that we interview put forth. And there's at least these five components that we present. One, education is primarily the responsibility of, of the family, with aspects being delegated to others. And the church should help families in this. Two, schools are an extension of family education. So schools are a way to help families fulfill their mission, but they don't replace the family. It's just, families working together along with the church can start new schools to provide an education for liberty. Third, component of biblical education is education should equip young people to fulfill their biblical calling. Because education transfers away a life. And education prepares us, to fulfill the mission God has for us. And God calls us to all kinds of different things, to be productive, to provide needy goods and services, to show our fellow man we want to bless them and love them. And so we need education, good character and good thinking, good worldview, good ideas so that we can be most, productive. And then a fourth component, biblical education. All aspects of education should be biblical, including the philosophy, the methodology, the curriculum and the model. And, then a fifth component of biblical education is that biblical education will advance God's kingdom with good fruit. It will produce in advance liberty. And so in the film we discuss these very important ideas and concepts. We give a vision, to parents, pastors, churches and Christian leaders that you need to take action to educate children with a biblical worldview so as to transform this generation and transform America. And so we must fulfill our educational duties. And so we want to inspire through this film everyone, all first, all Christians in America and other nations, but others as well. that we have duties. And if we want to live free, if we want to continue to have 250 years of an exceptional nation, we must understand the importance of providing an education for liberty. John Quincy Adams, our sixth president, said, duty is ours. The results are the Lord's. And so in this film we present, we have duties. We have a duty to God, a duty to our fellow man, a duty to the nation. We need to perform our duty and do the part that we can. And when we do, we plant those good seeds. God will bring an increase.
Thanks to generous supporters, we're able to offer this film for free
He will bring the results. He will bring forth. great, great fruit. So I want to encourage you to take a look educated for liberty.com see the film for free. Share it with everybody that you know. You know, thanks to, generous supporters, we're able to offer this film for free. We do have it on DVD as well for minimal cost. You can buy the dvd. If you'd like a copy of that, just contact, go Visit our store, providencefoundation.com but look at the film, educated for how to Restore biblical [email protected] because the future of America depends upon how children are educated, today. Well, I hope you enjoy the film. When you watch it. Be sure to share it with many others. Glad you joined us on this, podcast and, remind you you can listen to past podcasts as well. They're all@afr uh.net podcast. Want to invite you to visit our [email protected] you can pick up a copy of the DVD and other materials regarding education as well as many other books and materials that we offer. Well, thanks for joining us, this week. Again, I want to remind you, take advantage of this film, this free film, share it with others and, hope to have you back with us next week. God bless.
