Can Christian High-School Students Survive Public School? | The Institute for Creation Research

 
Can Christian High-School Students Survive Public School?

By now it should be obvious to every parent that the public school system does not exist to deepen the spiritual life of the Christian young person. While many individual teachers and the occasional local school board and administration are sympathetic, the national and state teachers' organizations and curriculum writers all have an aggressive and very liberal political agenda. Abortion, "self-esteem," values clarification, new age, sex education, condom distribution, and on and on, are quite welcome, while good education in the basics takes a back seat. Christian values are not only ignored, they are taught against, and the rights of individual Christian students and teachers are denied. We wonder how Christian students can survive with a viable Christian worldview intact.

Let me now introduce Mr. Bill Jack, a former high-school teacher and now a staff worker with the Caleb Campaign, a ministry primarily geared to high school students. He teaches students how to survive the evolutionary brainwashing in their schools by asking four questions. They are instructed to ask respectfully and knowledgeably, not confrontationally or in a disruptive manner. The questions are designed to expose the weaknesses in false thinking, and to encourage other students. They can be amplified as appropriate and should be in the student's own words:

(1) "What do you mean by that?"
(2) "How do you know that to be true?"
(3) "What difference does it make?"
(4) "What happens if you're wrong?"

Let me illustrate the use of these questions with a hypothetical—but likely—scenario. Evolutionists teach that whales evolved from a land mammal. Question 1: "But what do you mean by that? Do you mean that a four-footed mammal was the ancestor of the whales?"

Answer: "Yes. We used to think something like a cow or buffalo habitually ventured into the water eating seaweed. Through many generations of mutation and natural selection, it gradually lost its legs and gained the ability to swim. We now think it was probably a carnivorous animal, something like a wolf, which descended into the whales."

Question No. 1 continued as appropriate: "Do you mean that through small point mutations, it not only modified its legs to become a strong swimmer, but it also gained extra vertebrae, an oil-covered skin just right for life in the water, a respiratory system allowing the animal to hold its breath for extended periods, an excessively large bulk with insulation to protect it from continual exposure to the cold ocean temperatures, the ability to give birth and nurse underwater–all from changes in a wolf-like animal?"

Answer: "I guess that's what we do think."

Question No. 2: "How do you know this to be true? Is there evidence to support this theory?"

Answer: "Well, the textbook shows a series of sketches, but, now that you mention it, these are hypothetical forms. I remember reading an article in the newspaper which said scientists had found a long, snake-like whale fossil with legs somewhat like a sea lion; but you know, that's not really wolf-like ... I don't know. How should I know? I'm just required to teach this stuff."

Mr. Jack tells me that question number two is "the killer question," and that seldom does a discussion ever get to questions three and four. But if it does get that far, it exposes evolution as the philosophical worldview that it is. Other students, who are blindly taking notes and memorizing answers, will never forget that evolution is not well supported by the evidence.

In summary, I feel that adversarial public school education is a viable choice for Christian young people who are strong in their faith, but they must be supported by Christian parents who continual oversee and are involved in their child's education–deprogramming where necessary. But these questions can turn an attempt to brainwash into a time of learning and growth.''

*Dr. John Morris is the President of ICR.

Cite this article: John D. Morris, Ph.D. 1994. Can Christian High-School Students Survive Public School?. Acts & Facts. 23 (8).

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