THE FOUNDERS' WORLDVIEW
AUTHORITY AND EDUCATION
BRINGING UP OUR NATION
The impact of a man-centered educational philosophy on our legal system has been profound. "The life of the law" says Humanist and Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. "has not been logic: it has been experience." In other words, the law is not found in legal principles applied to Man's actions for administering justice. But the law is found in the legal cases involving Man's experience. Thus, the lawmaking function unconstitutionally shifts from the legislative to the judicial branch of our government.
In contrast, a God-centered mind is filled with the knowledge of the Holy One and His created order, commandments and laws thereby producing a God-centered wisdom and understanding. The fear of the Lord is an attitude that brings the understanding of both authority and power. Moreover, knowledge of His word produces the understanding of Creation principles as relied on by the Founding Fathers.
Under a God-centered philosophy of life and education, Man's actions conform to a rule of law that is fixed, uniform and universal and, thus, is built on the bedrock standard of right and wrong. Man's feelings and experiences are interpreted in light of the rule of law rather than being the basis for the law itself as urged by Justice O. W. Holmes, Jr. The lawmaking function is maintained by the legislature which is elected by the people and therefore represents the people who thereby remain in authority over the civil government.
If a nation's education is man-centered, it will be Humanistic/Atheistic and ruled by Man's feelings, experience and circumstances. In contrast, if the nation's education is God-centered it will reflect the characteristics of God Who does not change, is good, ordered and impartial. A God-centered education necessarily begins with an absolute standard of right and wrong, and with principles of unchanging truth.
Based on this understanding, our nation's education was God-centered for over 300 years starting in 1620. A transformation from God-centered education to man-centered education started in our nation's public education at the time of the Civil War and was completed in our public schools about 30 years ago. Since that time, public education has been "humanized" and begins with the child rather than the teacher.
Noah Webster (1828) defines education as "the bringing up, as of a child; instruction; formation of manners." Two laws of nature, among others, guide us who are parents in bringing up our children. The first requires us to have our children understand that which is good and be innocent of that which is evil (Rom 16:19). Secondly, we are to train up our children in the way they should go, rather than in the way they should not go (Prov 22.6).
"Education," explains Webster (1828) "comprehends all that series of instruction and discipline which is intended to enlighten the understanding, correct the temper, and form the manners and habits of youth, and fit them for usefulness in their future stations." According to the Great Commission, Jesus places "all nations" in the same category (Matt 28:18-20). That is, all nations need to be educated, discipled and taught.
Therefore, to be acting in accord with the law of nature, we are to train up a nation in the way it should go. This, of course, presupposes that there is a right way and a wrong way for a nation to go. Jesus concurs in His further explanation of how to educate our nation. The right way is to "teach the nations to observe [obey] all that He has commanded us" (Matt 28:20).
The "bringing-up" period for the United States of America occurred the first 150 years beginning in 1620. Chartered July 4, 1776, our new nation "came of age" and stepped into adulthood. The "rebellion" period began shortly after becoming "of age" culminating in the Civil War marking the watershed between a God-centered focus and the present man-centered condition of our society.
Our nation's ills of AIDS, abortion, drugs, etc., reflect the irrational state of self-centered thinking. Our only hope is to restore the God-centered principles of authority upon which the American Constitutional Republic is founded. This is the only way the errant course of our nation will change.
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Neil F. Markva 15