“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction.” Proverbs 1:7 NKJV
The goal of education according to the Bible is moral & spiritual development & not academic aptitude, vocational success, financial security, or athletic prowess. An ancient Hebrew proverb says, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding” (Pr.9:10 NKJV). To have awe & reverence for the majesty of God’s holiness & to therefore love Him with your entire being & for that love to be translated into love for people in practical ways by sacrificially serving others at the point of their need is the goal of education.
The Bible teaches that the family is responsible for educating the next generation & that the mission of the church includes equipping the home to faithfully discharge its duty. Parents must therefore be very intentional in depositing Biblical wisdom into the hearts of their children. When Godly character & Christ-like attitudes are cultivate in the lives of children & young people, it lays a solid Christian foundation for pursuing all areas of academic study for the glory of God.
Students should understand that they have been created in the image of God, that the universe is not random, that the present is not without purpose, & that the future is not void because of Who God is & what the Lord Jesus Christ has done at the cross of Calvary. This foundational knowledge stokes the natural curiosity & creative imagination of children & fuels the innovative ingenuity of young people to learn, grow, invent, & explore this world for the glory of God.
To remove God & the Bible from the education process systematically trains students in the worldview of secular humanism. This is a philosophy that interprets everything through the lens of human reason because man is asserted to be the ultimate authority & therefore, he determines what he thinks is truth. The history of the 20th century is fraught with the testimony of the destructive consequences of this belief system.
Biblical Christianity is a superior worldview that affirms that God is & has revealed Himself to mankind. This God created everything about 6,000 years ago in six 24-hr. days & He has revealed Himself in the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ, fully God & fully Man, & in the pages of Holy Scripture.
The truthfulness of the Bible has been proved time & again & it is therefore a reliable historical document that is a sufficient guide to everything in life. Students need to be taught a comprehensive Biblical worldview which means that they learn how to view every arena of thought & practice through the lens of Holy Scripture. The Bible speaks of the character & nature of God who is the absolute standard of truth. It also speaks to philosophy, ethics, anthropology, biology, history, sociology, law, government, economics, & gives clear directions regarding what all this means for the communities in which we live. The next generation must understand what they believe, why they believe it, & also be trained in how to defend the exclusive truth claims of Biblical Christianity against the skeptical questions of the day in the context of a secular culture that is increasingly hostile to the truth. Hence the need for a Biblical worldview.
The goal of education according to the Bible is indeed moral & spiritual development. The intentional cultivation of Godly character & Christ-like attitudes is a process that is the responsibility of the family & should be taken with dead serious urgency in partnership with the local church as “co-champions” of the next generation. Having a heart on fire for God’s glory as ignited by His Spirit & courageously demonstrated in ministry to a depraved world in need of the light of truth is the goal of a genuine Christian education. Anything else will not honor God and will not resound throughout eternity to the praise of His glory in Christ Jesus.
