TALE OF TWO SONS....

Message by Robin

"In this no-fault age where seared consciences are mass produced by public education, we have already seen two or three generations come to adulthood having been thoroughly indoctrinated with the kind of self-esteemism that deliberately teaches them to believe they are never actually in the wrong, no matter what." (Pg 178 Quoted from a book , titled above, written by John MacArthur)

This post's message isn't to slam public school students but rather to illustrate one of the reasons why we felt God called us to homeschooling.

"Tale of Two Sons" breaks down the parable of the Prodigal son. The younger prodigal son is living in open rebellion. The father represents Christ Jesus. The elder son lived in secretive rebellion, being a hypocrite. He parallels the life of the Pharisees, which kept the law but had no tender heart for Jesus. Infact, they wanted to catch Jesus doing something wrong in order to murder him. Eventually, that crowd got their way.

It was God's will for our lives to take our children away from the crowds and let them live like individuals. Grow as individuals in their talents & gifts and sometimes pay the consequence of sin, as individuals. Afterall, when we die, we have to give account for our lives, as individuals. How can they learn this if they never get busted because they're hiding in a crowd? Or if we have teachers, God bless them, who are unable to discipline properly because of the pressure of political correctness. (don't get me started on that!)

It was important to Jack and I that our children learn about God & His Word. Their character would be better for it and they would understand things like sin, humility, selflessness and compassion on a regular basis, so that when pride & hypocracy hit them in the face, it would stink. I'm not saying that it can't be done in a public school environment, but it would be very hard to overcome that crowd mentality especially by middle school age. The elder brother in the parable of the Prodigal son (Luke 15:29-30) was jealous and filled with hatred toward his father although he never showed his rebellion openly. He finally snapped when the father forgave the openly rebellious son and threw him a party but the elder brother, who looked good on the outside, couldn't have a party with his friends. We didn't want "snapped". We saw "snapped" on the news at 6pm and it wasn't pretty. We saw "snapped" with the scribes and Pharisees who killed an innocent man, a Saviour, God clothed in humanity.

How can we ever teach our children that even their best work is filthy rags (Isa 64:6) when compared to God's perfection? We cannot work our way to heaven. Only Jesus' perfect sinless sacrifice can justify the ungodly (Rom 3:26). We have to admit we are sinners and head for home, like the Prodigal son. Only then will the Father come running to greet us, kiss our necks, give us a ring & robe and kill the fattened calf to celebrate and make merry (Luke 15). Oh what a day of rejoicing that will be!!

For us, it started with faith in God's will for us to be homeschooling. And I have been blessed beyond measure that both my boys have run to the Father in heaven. Jesus loves them and has justified them.

A good book to read on this subject is "Shepherding the Heart of a Child" by Ted Tripp.