A few weeks back, I had the opportunity to chat with a couple of very nice “education advocates”.
Here in Tennessee, momentum has been building against Common Core’s use in State-controlled education systems. As part of a push from the pro-CC side, lobbyists and activists of all sorts and stripes have been dispatched to convince and/or assure citizens (and legislators) as to the value of, among other things, maintaining the “college and career ready standards” brought our way via Common Core.
“College and career ready standards” has become something of a slogan or chant line used by those advocating things like Common Core as the next step down the path charted by a State/Corporate system of “education” that views the masses as, first and foremost, malleable resources to be exploited for the needs of the Corporate State as effectively as possible. In this Corporatist/Statist worldview, children are not first (or necessarily at all) image bearers of God who must be trained with His Word as the centerpiece of their understanding of art, math, science, history and the like. No, in this worldview – a worldview that so dominates American thought that even most professing Christian Americans embrace it wholeheartedly – children are cattle to be groomed, guided and cultivated for maximum benefit not to God, but to the State and its masters’ corporate interests.
This present reality in America makes for some interesting opportunities and conversations, to be sure!
Speaking of which, the two “education advocates” that I mentioned earlier were both kind and articulate as we talked. In no time at all, they were able to get out a handful of key (and oft repeated) points that they believed spoke quite well of the value of Common Core in particular and State controlled children’s education in general. It was obvious that they were well rehearsed on the subject.
I listened. We got along just fine.
Then I asked a few questions of my own about the nature of education. This is where it got kinda weird and kinda sad.
After listening to a long list of tried, true, and generally unquestioned (in our culture, anyway) points as to the successful pursuit of better jobs, more money, more money, better jobs, and more money (not necessarily in that order, but you get the picture) being the standard by which all things education related are to be measured, I asked a couple of questions:
What if money or a better job isn’t the most important thing in life?
What if the greatest purpose of education doesn’t center on money?
It was as though a switch had been flipped.
They both just stood there, with their sweet little faces staring at me as though I’d just grown a third eye or a second head.
Several seconds of silence passed. And then they began to – nicely, if clumsily – express their confusion.
“Well, what could be more important than that?” they wondered aloud.
And they are not alone.
They are quite the majority, actually.
The overwhelming majority…even (and especially) in many “conservative Christian” churches.
Don’t believe me?
Try this: Suggest – seriously suggest – that the first and most important purpose of all children’s education is to better know, glorify, and submit to the Lord.
Do this one simple little thing and you too will more often than not be seen as something of a lunatic or an unhinged zealot by the armies of well-programmed, know-it-all “professionals”, “experts”, and “education advocates” parading around the cultural landscape, including the professing Christian sub-cultural landscape, of course. The next step down the Corporatist/Statist path to serfdom and slavery for your children and mine is even now being happily and enthusiastically advanced by the very masses that it is designed to (further) enslave.
Why?
Well, there are many reasons, but chief among them is the professing church’s open abandonment of the Gospel-fueled Great Commission.
Our understanding of the pursuit of knowledge in general (aka “education”) is now openly satanic. (See: Genesis 3). As a result, our pursuit of knowledge in each specific realm – like economics, business, arts, science, etc. – is now assumed to be safe as it rests upon that satanic foundation. The thought of repenting and rebuilding upon any other foundation is utterly foreign to the point of absurdity to even most professing conservative Christians in America.
Hence, the lunatic/zealot treatment of those who would dare even begin to seriously shine the light of Truth on the sacred idols (educational foundations) of the culture.
And hence the rapid descent of our culture into oblivion.
In our proud land, success is now openly and proudly defined by the standards of materialism. Consequently, we are able to be sold (and we eagerly buy into) the notion that the most important goal of education is the acquisition of more money and better jobs.
Thus, we can feed and fuel our Corporate and State masters more and more effectively on many levels, all while (of necessity) removing Christ as the essential core of education and knowledge.
Just as the Serpent first advised in Eden.
Lord willing, His people will shake themselves free from the satanic/secular assumptions that drive and define our modern American Dream and culture, repent of those Christ-dismissing beliefs, and take up the true Gospel – the Gospel that touches, informs, and transforms every aspect of life, culture, and civilization….one supernatural act of salvation and obedience at a time.
May we each seek His will and seize every opportunity to that end right here and right now…while there is yet time…
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You can also help support the Fire Breathing Christian mission by checking out these books:
Stupid Elephant Tricks – The Other Progressive Party’s War on Christianity takes a painful but much needed look at how Christ-less “conservatism” has captivated Christians and co-opted them into helping march the culture ever deeper into darkness:
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The Beginning of Knowledge: Christ as Truth in Apologetics is an approachable, easy to read introduction to Christ-centered apologetics:
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Apathetic Christianity: The Zombie Religion of American Churchianity explores the tragic true horror story of all-American dead religion masquerading as Christianity:
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On Education is a compilation of some of the most provocative and compelling Fire Breathing Christian articles on the subject of children’s education:
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There Is No “God-Given Right” To Worship False Gods is a compilation of some of the most provocative Fire Breathing Christian articles on the subject of America’s embrace of a satanic approach to religious liberty:
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Fire Breathing Christians – The Common Believer’s Call to Reformation, Revival, and Revolution is the book that first presented the FBC mission to apply the Gospel-fueled Great Commission in every realm of God’s creation:
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An alternate white cover version of Fire Breathing Christians is available:
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There is also an alternate black cover version of Fire Breathing Christians:
Finally, here are a few good intro/reminder links for those of you who are new to Fire Breathing Christian and curious about exactly what’s goin’ on ’round here:
What are you, some kind of [insert label here] or something?!
What’s with that shark-fishie graphic thing?
Intro to Fire: The Power and Purpose of the Common Believer
When the Bible gets hairy. (Or: Is it right for men to have long hair?)
And especially this one: Never forget that apart from God’s grace you and I are complete morons.
