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CHRISTIAN
EDUCATION RESOLUTION
Submitted Jointly by T.C. Pinckney and Bruce N. Shortt
To The 2004 Annual Meeting Of The Southern Baptist
Convention (Urges removing Baptist children from government schools)
April 26, 2004
Whereas, the Bible commands that fathers are to bring
up their children in the training and admonition of the
Lord (Eph. 6:4), and all parents have an obligation to
strive by all means to bring up their children in the
nurture and admonition of the Lord, and
Whereas, all authority in heaven and on earth belongs
to Jesus, and He has commanded us to make disciples of
our children and teach them to observe everything He
has commanded (Mt. 28:19-20), and
Whereas, teaching our children everything that Jesus
commanded involves their learning to think biblically
about all the spheres of human thought, activity, and
life (Dt. 6:4-9) so that they take every thought into
captivity to the obedience of Christ (2 Cor. 10:5), and
Whereas, our thinking is not to be conformed to this
world's way of thinking, but our minds are to be
renewed and sanctified by the truth of God's Word (Rom.
12:2; Jn. 17:17), and
Whereas, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of
knowledge (Pr. 1:7) and in Christ are hidden all the
treasures of wisdom and knowledge (Col. 2:3), any
instruction that does not begin with the fear of the
Lord, teaching the centrality of Jesus Christ for
understanding all of life cannot properly be said to
impart wisdom or knowledge to children, and
Whereas, Jesus said, "He who is not with Me is against
Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters" (Lk.
11:23), the government school system that claims to be
"neutral" with regard to Christ is actually
anti-Christian, so that children taught in the
government schools are receiving an anti-Christian
education, and
Whereas, the government schools are by their own
confession humanistic and secular in their instruction,
the education offered by the government schools is
officially Godless, and
Whereas, the government schools are adopting curricula
and policies teaching that the homosexual lifestyle is
acceptable, and
Whereas, homosexual organizations are present as
approved student "clubs" in thousands of government
schools and are spreading rapidly, and
Whereas, the Bible says, children are like arrows in
the hand of a warrior (Ps. 127:3-5), we must understand
that children are weapons (arrows) to be aimed for the
greatest impact in the kingdom of God. Just as it would
be foolish for the warrior to give his arrows to his
enemies, it is foolish for Christians to give their
children to be trained in schools run by the enemies of
God, and
Whereas, training to be a faithful witness should be a
vital part of a Christian child's education, and
Whereas, hundreds of thousands of parents who are
members of churches associated with the Southern
Baptist Convention send their children to the
government schools, and
Whereas, the children of those parents are receiving a
Godless, anti-Christian education, and
Whereas, the millions of children in government schools
spend 7 hours a day, 180 days a year being taught that
God is irrelevant to every area of life, and
Whereas, many Christian children in government schools
are converted to an anti-Christian worldview rather
than evangelizing their schoolmates, and
Whereas, the Nehemiah Institute has discovered through
its extensive surveys of student attitudes and beliefs
that acceptance of a secular humanist worldview by
Christian children attending government schools has
increased dramatically over the last fifteen years, and
Whereas, the Southern Baptist Council on Family Life
reported to the 2002 Annual Meeting of the Southern
Baptist Convention that 88 percent of the children
raised in evangelical homes leave church at the age of
18, never to return; and
Whereas, it is anti-intellectual to artificially
divorce God from his creation, and many excellent
curricula are available that demonstrate the beauty and
working of God throughout His creation, and experience
has proven the superior intellectual accomplishments of
children educated in such curricula, and
Whereas, the Bible teaches that the companion of fools
will be destroyed (Pr. 13:20), and that people are
prone to be deceived into thinking that evil company
will not corrupt them (1Cor. 15:33), it is incumbent
upon ministers of the gospel to warn God's people that
their children are being corrupted by spending half of
their waking hours instructed by teachers who are
required by law to inculcate a Godless education, and
Whereas, many adult members of our congregations teach
in government schools, this resolution should not be
construed to discourage adult believers who labor as
missionaries to unbelieving colleagues and students;
rather, they should be commended and encouraged to be
salt and light in a dark and decaying government school
system:
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the 2004 Annual
Meeting of the Southern Baptist Convention encourages
all officers and members of the Southern Baptist
Convention and the churches associated with it to
remove their children from the government schools and
see to it that they receive a thoroughly Christian
education, for the glory of God, the good of Christ's
church, and the strength of their own commitment to
Jesus, and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the 2004 Annual Meeting of
the Southern Baptist Convention encourages all churches
associated with the Southern Baptist Convention to work
energetically to counsel parents regarding their
obligation to provide their children with a Christian
education, and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the 2004 Annual Meeting of
the Southern Baptist Convention encourages all churches
associated with the Southern Baptist Convention to
provide all of their children with Christian
alternatives to government school education, either
through home schooling or thoroughly Christian private
schools.
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