EVERY THOUGHT CAPTIVE
Considering the Importance of a Christian Education
The following is an article I wrote for Trinity Oaks Christian Academy's (TOCA) quarterly newsletter a number of years ago. It is a brief apologetic on the need for a Christian education. I wanted to let the parents know that they were honoring God, as well as blessing their children, by paying for two educations (they pay for a public-school education through taxes, and for a Christian education through tuition). I also wanted to express my appreciation to the school for teaching the students from a Christian worldview. And, of course, the argument for a Christian school is the same even if that "Christian school" is also called a home school.
If TOCA did not already have an excellent school verse, I might recommend 2 Corinthians 10:5: "We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ." Does this verse sound like it would be more fitting for a military academy? To be sure, the context is that of waging war, but our weapons are spiritual and not of the flesh (vv. 3-4). The strongholds we are commanded to destroy (and, yes, it is a command, not an option) are not physical, made out of bricks and mortar; rather they are ideological, made out of ideas and philosophies – which oppose God or try to marginalize him.
The implication of 2 Cor. 10:5 for the education of our children is undeniable: Establishing Christians schools is not merely something that God allows his people to do, it is something he requires of them. Don't gloss over the simple, yet profound obligation to "take every thought captive to obey Christ." Every thought in mathematics, English, literature, music, history, etc. needs to be conquered so that it yields ultimate allegiance to Christ. The lordship of Jesus Christ is so expansive and exhaustive that it should pervade every thought. Practically, this demands a Christian education, for there is just no other way for such thinking to take place.
Education is fundamentally religious. Let us not succumb to the myth of neutrality. Neutrality is impossible. How can one study music or science or literature or history and not make moral or ethical judgments? The question is not whether morality will be taught, but which morality. If a school should decide that it will just ignore God and not mention him as they teach their various subjects throughout the day they are unwittingly (or not unwittingly) teaching that God is irrelevant and unnecessary. This message is clearly not religious neutrality, but religious hostility. Jesus left no room for neutrality. He said, "Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters" (Matt. 12:30).
The spiritual battle is for the hearts and minds of our young people. And education is near the front lines. Joseph Stalin saw this and said, "Education is a weapon, whose effects depend on who holds it in his hands and at whom it is aimed." If you can capture the minds of kids, their hearts will gladly submit. This is why righteous and rigorous thinking is crucial. Demolishing strongholds presupposes an ability to detect ungodly premises and logical fallacies. We want our children to have this capacity not primarily so they can graduate magna cum laude (although none us would object), but more importantly so they can live magna cum laude – "with great praise." Right living flows largely out of right thinking. As the old saying goes:
Sow a thought reap an action
Sow an action reap a habit
Sow a habit reap a character
Sow a character reap a destiny
And it all begins with thinking. No wonder we're called to take "every thought captive." A single thought, one idea, can send out ripples that reach the shores of heaven or hell.
As a pastor, I want to say that I appreciate the fact that TOCA is teaching the same God-glorifying worldview in the classroom that I labor to preach in the church. And as a parent of a child at TOCA (two next year), it's a comfort to know that the biblical principles my wife and I seek to instill at home are reinforced at school. I pray that all our little acorns at TOCA will mature into mighty, righteous oaks, who out-think and out-live their contemporaries for the glory of God.
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