Straight paths through crooked roads

Truth to a child: teaching by paradigm to little ones.

Kids, little ones, are so trusting of a person who cares for them. They have a natural desire to learn. They have humility to accept new information without criticism. So, to help them understand the truth, to use it to explain and predict, they need a paradigm, or way of thinking about what truth is.

The definition of truth can be summed up in what kids call, "real." They need to know that truth exists outside of us and also a different kind of truth exists inside our head. We need to try to make the truth inside our mind match the truth outside of us. So, we tell a story to explain.

"Let's pretend we are all grown up. And, you know what a street light is. The light is on top of a big steel pole that comes up from the ground. And let's pretend that we are driving a car. Now, the truth is that there is a street light pole by the side of the street where we are driving. But it is very foggy. We can not see the street light pole. We are driving very slowly because the fog makes it hard to see what is ahead of us. Then, suddenly, a little dog runs in front of our car where we are going. We don't want to hit the dog, so we turn the wheel to steer the car away from it. But, by accident, we go off the side of the road and hit the pole of the street light.

In our mind, we did not know the truth that the pole of the street light was there. While we were driving, what was real in our mind did not know about the danger from the street light. We were driving by what we thought was true.  So, what we did made a new thing happen.  We made the accident when we hit the pole.  The accident was a new truth that came from the mistake in our mind.

The truth outside of us was that the street light pole was there.  It did not change because we did not know about it. The truth outside of us (objective truth) did not match the truth inside our mind (subjective truth). However, when we had the accident, the two truths became the same to us. 

So, what we think of as true inside our mind is important and so is the truth outside of us.  We need to try our best to learn all we can.  That way, the truth inside of us will be closer to the truth outside of us. This is important so that we don't have accidents and so that we don't make mistakes. 

If we learn from other people and if we learn from our mistakes, we can help our minds find truth that matches the truth outside of us. This will avoid sorrow. And, it will help us build happiness.

Curriculum for Christology: Question liberal authority

The liberal bumper sticker used to say, "Question Authority".  But now, the liberals have become the "authority".  It is time for Christians to question the liberal authority using similar strategies that they had used to undermine Judeo-Christian principles.  We may use their strategies to re-establish the principles that they undermined.

These negative values taught at the direction of misdirected public authorities can be met point by point by a parallel but opposite system of values that represent traditional Judeo-Christian principles. The overall title to this Bible based way of thinking is what I call Christology.  Christology is based upon Judeo-Christian principles which form a philosophy which has been in place from the establishment of American public education. 

Specifically, educators who are Christians and others of similar conservative philosophy need to analyze specific areas in curriculum and teaching standards where public schools are in danger of harming society by what they are teaching.  This should be done on a State by State basis.  Thus, in grades K-12 there can be a comprehensive Judeo-Christian frame work of values and the principles to be used to address harmful issues. 

So, when same sex marriages are mentioned in curriculum, the teacher can bring up the normal relationships of men and women as a comparison.  When the curriculm frames an issue that creates a point humanist philosophy is trying to make, an alternative point can be made, or questions can be raised about the point being made.  Other choices can be offered.

Let us begin.  Please comment on this blog with your e-mail address or blog website.

 

Christology

Christian teachers in public school have unique challenges to their faith.  They are to be "salt and light" in a professional setting that places strict limits  on open expression of their faith in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. How do we serve our God in such a situation?

The answer is "Christology".  This term was used by adversaries of Christianity in public school.  I had never heard the term before.  It means a Christian way of thinking and expressing ourselves.

There are philosophical concepts that agree with both world philosophy and simultaneously with scripture which are perfectly legal.  They are nothing but positive and uplifting in nature.  These are useful for guiding the thinking of students and these can be applied in at least one, usually more than one, academic subject areas.  I believe it was St. Augustine who wrote that before he was a Christian, his mind had been prepared to become Christian by the way of thinking he had learned from the Greek philosophers of Aristotle and Plato.

So, we can become effective in Christology.  How?  Here are some concepts to consider. Identify empiricism. Empiricism means only accepting ideas that are obvious because they can be seen, touched, heard, tasted, or smelled (the five senses).  You might say to students that empiricism has limitations because it cannot even explain how it believes these ideas because belief itself is not empirical.  Neither is an idea.  In order to understand wisdom requires understanding that goes beyond feeling and the five senses.  That is why spiritual understanding is so natural for people to use in their search for meaning in life. 

Another concept is the meaning of truth.  One concept is that the only, or at least the first, source of truth is the individual person.  People say, "That may be true for you but not true for me."  Well, we may agree that truth within our own mind is truth in that it truly is our perception.  We can call that subjective truth.  However, it is obvious that there is also truth outside ourselves.  The telephone pole does not care about what you think or feel about it.  But, if you crash your car into it, you will discover the objective truth that it is really there.  Wisdom would be to do our best to make connections between our subjective truth and the objective truths in the world around us.

Another concept is the use of Thomas Jefferson's own words: "We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."  This is from the Declaration of Independence which is not just some irrelevant piece of paper, it is the basis upon which the sovereignty of the United States rests.  It is not part of the Constitution.  Therefore, it cannot be judged unconstitutional by the U. S. Supreme Court. 

We must not be content to speak about such ideas.  We must live the motivated life that comes from Christ within us.  The fruits of the Spirit must be evident.  Anger is not policy.  The fruits of the Holy Spirit must be our policy: love, joy, peace, gentleness, faithfulness, self control.  We need to actively pursue the Holy Spirit's motivation of our feelings and thinking so as to be able to forgive, to reach out to students without retaining grudges, or suffering damaged learning relationships that ruin our effectiveness in the classroom.  We will need His healing in our souls to become greater as teachers than we ever could by our own strength.

For example, the Holy Spirit will help us to be involved in the daily lives of our students.  It is the Holy Spirit that brings us to pray for our students.  It is Christlike to sacrifice personal time to speak to students during our lunch time or break time, or after school about their student needs.  It is the wisdom found in scripture that directs us to find justice in relationships between students, teachers, and staff.  It is the love, joy, peace, faithfulness, and more that we gain from prayer with the fellowship of the Holy Spirit that gives us strength, direction, and personal peace to share with others.  Students will see a lack of profanity.  They will experience a genuine concern for their well being.  They will see a teacher who does not "put down" their students.  Students will see a teacher who takes care to record grades in a timely fashion and accurately so.  They will see a teacher who earns the right to correct them. 

It is Christ in us that is the hope of glory and it is Him our students and colleagues will see every day.  Christology: the logical and motivational way of thinking that comes from the scriptures will be a benefit to our students, our colleagues, parents, and ourselves. 

Christians in public education: why are we there?

     She was on the telephone with a trusted colleague.  She was the science curriculum coordinator of a county office of education in California.  I heard her say, "Being a science teacher and a Christian should be mutually exclusive events." 

     The statement could be expanded to say that being a Christian and teaching in a public school should be mutually exclusive.  There are those who are agnostic or athiestic who believe this.  I have even heard a lawyer for our school district say that wearing of a cross as jewelry was inappropriate. 

     There are Christians who note the legal restrictions placed on Christians so that they cannot give their personal testimonies or even communicate the specific faith they believe.  So, they perceive the limits on the Great Commission of Christ to preach the Gospel to every person.

     Indeed, Christians are costricted in many ways from being specific about their faith.  However, the Holy Spirit within each Christian finds ways to reveal Himself.  I am such a Christian teacher who looks everyday for opportunities to express the person of Christ through the fruits of the Holy Spirit:  love, joy, peace, faithfulness, and more. 

     I believe that the annointing of the Holy Spirit upon Christian teachers is something that, unfortunately, the agnostic and atheistic colleagues in the school system cannot comprehend because their faith cannot even perceive the Holy Spirit.  Therefore, they cannot sense His working in the hearts of our children. But, we know Him.  We see Him at work in the children.

     One of the great works of the Holy Spirit in public school is using Christian teachers as they give reasons for believing.  Christian teachers can speak to the difference between believing only in what can be seen and heard and touched, which is self limiting, and believing with a faith that includes those things but also has explanations for what cannot be seen, heard, and touched.  Christian teachers can give reasons for believing in something greater than yourself.  Christian teachers can give reference to persons in literature, history, science, and even mathematics who so believed.  Christian teachers can give evidence of the positive influence upon society, upon laws, upon economics that come from teaching on the principles found in life. 

     Christian teachers can speak about principles that work that are independent of values.  They can tell their students that there are values which we attach to principles that work.  They can say to their students, "It is not my job to tell you what to think, but it is my job to get you to think.  Here is something to think about."  Then, the teacher can give a principle that really does work and just happens to coincide with principles found in scripture.  You don't have to quote scripture to live by it.

     Someone might say that Christian teachers have no right to teach in this way.  They might say that there is to be a wall of separation between church and state.  That such teaching violates this.  However, it is impossible to separate faith from state.  Every teacher, Christian or athiest, Muslim or Bhuddist, teaches on the basis of what they actually believe.  Their attitudes and thoughts, feelings and philosophies of education are impossible to separate from their everyday teaching activities.  These are the very source of what they teach.  To say that any of these have no right to reflect their faith in what they do is to ask the impossible.  You can take off the religious symbols but you cannot erase the motivation of the soul.

     To take Christian teachers out of public school would be to turn our children over to nothing but athiesm and agnosticism.  To take Christian teachers out of public school would be to remove the influential presence of the Holy Spirit.  Our answer to the agnostic science coordinator mentioned above is that being Christian and a public school teacher should be mutually INclusive.