#4 Aren’t Christian schools like “hot houses,” sheltering kids from harsh or unpleasant experiences?
Many Christian school leaders simply point to the strong advantages of a special plant raised in the nurturing environment of a greenhouse. Such a setting provides the much-needed opportunity for the development of a strong, unshakable root system to be established so that once the plant is placed in a hostile setting, it will be healthy enough to survive. Our children must have an opportunity to be firmly grounded in God’s Word.
There are numerous passages that emphasize this concept including Deuteronomy 6 discussed earlier. Proverbs 22:6 instructs parents to “train children in the way they should go.” At one time, the Hebrew wording for “training” was understood to mean “touch the palate,” because of a possible reference to mouth in the Hebrew phrase “according to”. This was thought to refer to the practice of a Hebrew mother chewing bits of food and placing it on the tongue of her baby. As the baby was fed, he not only received nourishment, but he also developed appetites for foods that were good for him. In the same way, each of us is to lead our children to develop godly appetites as they grow. More recent research in Hebrew scholarship and other contemporary languages in Solomon’s day has more accurately translated the first word as “start” and continues on “start a child in his natural bent.” Also, there is no word ‘should’ in the Hebrew text. That is to say, “Let him find his own way and even when he is old he will not leave it.” (So much for the romanticized view of the noble savage given to us by Rousseau in Emile.) Though this is certainly a startling change from our previous understanding of this verse, it vividly makes a powerful point – How we start training our young children is crucial in their development of right attitudes toward things of the Lord. As we commit ourselves to raising the next generation for Christ, the Holy Spirit will bless our efforts to develop a Christian worldview in the minds and hearts of the children God has entrusted to us.
Psalms 1:1-6 - “Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers. Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. For the LORD watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.”
