My crusade against children’s entertainment continues. Always. I’ve always seemed to focus on how children’s entertainment sexualizes children far too quickly. And, in the process, gives girls a poor sense of self and boys a poor sense of chivalry—or whatever the corresponding idea of today might be.

But this presents something I hadn’t considered. Most of us know that entertainment’s portrayal of love has helped lead to a void of romantic satisfaction among millions of Americans. What I hadn’t considered, however, is how early those ideas are being fed to our children.

A couple weeks ago, I was speaking with someone and we asked each other the question, “If you could go back and meet the 12 year old version of yourself and give them some piece of advice, what would it be?”. This wasn’t my answer, but after having some time to mull around the question in my head, I think this answer may by on the list of things I’d want to say.

Proverbs 1:8-9:

Hear, my son, your father’s instruction,
   and forsake not your mother’s teaching,
for they are a graceful garland for your head
   and pendants for your neck.

If I could meet the 12 year old version of myself and remind him of something, or advise him in some way, I would want to tell him that his parents are on his side. That his parents are on his team, so to speak.

As a kid (and in some ways, as a parent too), it’s easy to feel like the adult authority in your life is an opposing force. That it needs to be circumvented to really enjoy the things you want to enjoy. Kind of how a lot of people have a similar view of the police. This force isn’t benevolent, or acting in your best interest. But rather a challenging ‘obstacle’ in the grand game of life.

This isn’t so, but it’s not something we typically learn until we’re older. But, as Solomon teaches, it is wisdom and prudence to learn this young. To appreciate this ‘pendant for your neck’, rather than resist it.

Here are a few Christian tract and literature examples that I came across on StumbleUpon (originally found here). Christians have a history of being painfully disconnected from the culture, and to make things worse, lacking empathy and tact. It makes me nauseous to think about the unfortunate people who thought this was what Jesus’ face looks like.

I have recently been provoked to reassess my convictions on various things. This is good. Introspection and reconsideration are good. Willingness to be proven wrong are good. We either come out the other side more attuned to our convictions, or realizing that we were in error.

This is where I am, although I will not dive into specifics. At least not right now.

But at the same time as I am seeking the scriptures to better understand the way I ought or ought not live, I am also being challenge not to allow myself to read more into scripture than is really there. Personally, when I am thoroughly challenged in my conviction (particularly by a respected brother or sister), I will have the tendency to either produce the fault in myself and so win back their approval. Or, for my own conceit, find the justification for my conviction in scripture, whether it’s there to be found or not.

But reading in 1 Corinthians today, I’m challenged particularly by what Paul writes, using Apollos and himself as an example for the church.

1 Corinthians 4:3-5:

“But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by any human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself. For I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me. Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God.”

Paul has established that in spite of what others might say about him, his conscience is clean—however, that is not evidence enough in itself to to ‘acquit’ him of guilt. Rather, he explains that it is God who is the only one who can truly judge. For us this means God’s Word.

I find myself in a similar position to the one Paul describes here. Although I have a clean conscience, I cannot be confident on that alone. When I am challenged by a brother, I must accept that perhaps I have misunderstood, misread, or misinterpreted the only right foundation for a clean conscience.

But it’s in Paul’s next words that I’m particularly struck.

1 Corinthians 4:6:

“I have applied all these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, brothers, that you may learn by us not to go beyond what is written, that none of you may be puffed up in favor of one against another.”

Whether in vindicating myself, or in seeking another’s approval, I should be especially careful “not to go beyond what is written”. I must allow no part of myself to be sacred. Instead, faithfully seek God’s word to establish a right conviction—whether it find me affirmed in the area I was challenged, or find me convicted and repentant of some sin.

But all the while, I rest assure that God’s grace in the blood of Jesus Christ is greater than all and he will guide me to truth, eventually. And in that there will be glory and satisfaction.

The puritan, Ralph Venning (also the author of one of my all-time favorite books, The Sinfulness of Sin) wrote about the grandness of even the smallest sins committed by our leaders. I thought his phrasing was poignant and worth sharing tonight.

“We may occasion other man’s sins by example, and the more eminent the example, the more infectious it is. Great men cannot sin at a low rate because they are examples; the sins of commanders are commanding sins; the sins of rulers are ruling sins; the sins of teachers are teaching sins.”

I gather that Venning’s thought here is also, in part, why “not many” of us should “presume” to be teachers.

But for us in America, I don’t think the most obvious sins are the ones that are transmitted from leaders to congregations. No, those sins we recognize and usually scorn. It’s the more subtle, insidious ones that make it through. Failure to love. Failure to forgive. Failure to steward wisely, and others.

When our church leaders fail to uphold the ultimate worth of Jesus by their lifestyles and their public and private choices, they expand their guilt by permitting their congregations to do the same. Our elders approve the installation of a $10,000 decorative fountain in the atrium of the new church building; the congregation learns that there is no shame in a $40,000 mid-sized sedan, when a $12,000 used sedan would be more than sufficient.

A couple days ago I started reading a book by photographer Dane Sanders called Fast Track Photographer. The book attempts to help photographers better grasp the current climate of the photography industry.

While discussing education, especially as it applies to photography, he had this to say:

“In the era that’s quickly vanishing in our rear-view mirror, most of us defined professionalism based largely on time—how much time you spent paying your dues (historical time) and how much time you currently spend working [as a professional] (present time). Time was the defining element, and time used to be a reasonable measuring stick. But it isn’t anymore. Again, learning curves have flattened, due to new [technology] new software and new learning opportunities, among other things. It doesn’t take as long to go pro as it used to.”

Of course, Sanders is talking about going from amateur to professional photographer. As he describes, what it takes to become a professional is not what it used to be. Not necessarily less, just different.

But photography is based heavily on technology. It becomes an industry right on the edge of change. Among industries that change dramatically with technology, photography is high on that list. But as history has shown us, there is virtually no industry that is untouched by the technological advances of the last 30-40 years.

This has all gotten me thinking about the state of education and employment in general.

Photography, an industry that remains close to the cutting edge, has already almost completed an important shift: a photography degree doesn’t do too much for you as a pro. Many pros have no formal education at all. Learning mostly from the wealth of information on the internet, and their own hands-on experience.

The shift is starting to happen in other industries also. Hollywood has more “untrained” people than ever before. It’s also more more common for people to get hired as computer techs with no degree than it ever was before. Marketing, politics, sales, even religion, have an uncanny number of folk-professionals working in them.

It makes me wonder if the same shift that has happened in the photographic industry will happen in most other industries. In order to be hired, will mechanics need to go to trade school, or simply demonstrate the competency they gained from private learning? And, if things do pan out that way, what will that mean for our higher learning institutions? After all, with discipline and hard work, there’s virtually nothing to learn in a university that can’t be learned from lots of intuitive Google searches.

We live in an exciting time. It seems plausible to me that if technology keeps moving as fast as it has, there might be some folks with some very expensive, yet ultimately useless, degrees.

After a couple days of posting other things, I’m back to this topic. Stupidly Christianized stuff. Now, before everyone flips out, let me clarify something. I know that originally, most schools were a part of the religious institution (Of course, what wasn’t really?). Then it wasn’t until much later that they became a secularized system.

But, there isn’t anything intrinsically religious about education. Whether we obtain it formally or through a kind of osmosis, learning is something we all do. Christians and non-Christians alike. So, from my perspective, schools are something that are stupidly Christianized.

Schools

Obviously I haven’t taken survey of people all over the country (or world, for that matter), I only have a sampling from my own neighborhood. But, it would seem to me, that for all of the exasperating effort to keep Christian school kids in-line and/or in-the-faith, the results aren’t very impressive.

From small private grade schools, up through college, Christian education institutions are notorious for making a lot of bizarre rules aimed at keeping students from sin. Which in (at least) some cases are less about spiritual discipline and more about school pride.

When I was leading a small group of high school guys, I recall one student explaining that the school has a rule against students smoking cigarettes. Seems reasonable on school property, but this rule extended to all hours of every day. A student reported for smoking a cigarette would be suspended on the first strike and expelled on the second. But here’s the kicker, the principal explained the rationale—they don’t want parents of prospective students learning that there are smokers there.

Cha Ch’ing. The rule wasn’t there on spiritual grounds (something I would disagree with, but ultimately respect). It was there on financial grounds.

This is far from the most irrational of regulations though. Christian schools like to mandate all kinds of things. During a conversation a few weeks back, a student from an out-of-state Christian university explained that she wasn’t allowed to leave the campus, nor was she allowed to maintain friendships with the opposite sex. Some Christian schools even have rules about where men and women can walk in relation to each other (i.e., men and women must not walk side by side, but always one in front of the other).

Alcohol is another place Christian schools like place regulations. Some friends from down south were here visiting for a few days. We were sitting around a fire enjoying a conversation. Most of us were sipping wine or some other cocktails, but our guests had to decline because the school forbid the consumption of alcohol. Even in private, even in moderation. And again, the rationale was for the sake of school image.

Christian schools almost always include a Christian curriculum of some kind, but it’s usually far from adequate (or effective). I’ve met plenty of former Christian school students who only barely had a grasp on the Gospel, if at all.

To me, it all begs the question, “why?”

I understand some parents send their kids to Christian schools because it’s a superior education than their local public schools. But many Christian parents send their children to Christian schools for fear of the influence of public schools. Ironically, the students of Christian schools have a reputation for being even more wild then their public school counterparts.

The problem is that rules and regulations are not the Gospel’s method of sanctification. I can understand school-grounds rules. Such as proper grooming, uniforms or non-smoking rules. But many Christian schools extend their regulations into student’s personal lives. As if that was going to prevent students from sin. When in fact, creating many rules about things which students have the freedom in Christ  to do, only creates more opportunities to defile their conscience.

I find that it also begs the question of what is worse—students acting like they should, or students being what they should? Placing boundaries everywhere usually has only the effect of cleaning up the surface. But in a true Christian, freedom and grace coupled with Gospel truth, love, grace and accountability is more likely to affect the heart, producing real conviction. Sure, they may smoke cigarettes, but their heart might also burn for the lost—a thing for which they will have to trust God.

I also think that Christian schools are the source of some of the Church’s biggest criticisms. I have never spoken to a student of a Christian school who didn’t describe his or her classmates as “hypocrites” or “phonies” (although the wording varies). I speculate that this is a major source of contention for non-Christians. They went to a private Christian school growing up and discovered almost no one was real and hence, neither is the Church. Can you blame them, really?

For God’s people, Christian schools also seem to reinforce the false concept that we have to work for God’s favor. Even though the spoken and written teaching of the school may be different, the abundance of regulations drives this point home.

Finally, last but not least, Christian schools often fail to socialize students well. Entire parts of the church are left socially crippled and overly judgmental and sometimes awkward. A problem not impossible for God to overcome in their evangelism, but my hunch is that he allows their evangelism to suffer for it.

So, in conclusion…

I think that the idea of Christian schools, as we know them, isn’t such a great idea, often causing more harm than good. Although an educational institution run by Christians, aimed at spreading the Gospel and bringing about deep heart-seated transformation is another story. Although my bet is that these are few and far between—that is if they even exist.