Zeal For Truth

I don’t have kids and wont for at least a couple years (*fingers crossed). However, my wife and I have began to contemplate our children’s education and have considered homeschooling as a likely scenario, based on our interpretation of the Bible. The recent ban on homeschooling in California and the restrictions in other parts of the world have got me thinking about what the Christian response to homeschooling bans should be.

Is the right and duty to raise Godly children one of those places where a Christian is required to make a stand against the government? Is this an area where God’s law trumps man’s law?

Some Biblical Support
First of all, I do not see the bible approaching this issue directly. Unfortunately, that makes things more speculative, and requires us to rely a bit more on interpretation. Even still, let’s consider a few passages from the Bible* that could be used to answer this question.

And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates (Deuteronomy 6:6-9).

Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it (Proverbs 22:6).

And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord (Ephesians 6:4).

All your children shall be taught by the LORD, and great shall be the peace of your children (Isaiah 54:13).

Thus says the LORD: “Do not learn the way of the Gentiles; Do not be dismayed at the signs of heaven, For the Gentiles are dismayed at them.” (Jeremiah 10:2)

It is obviously critical that Children be instructed in both the fundamentals of salvation and secondly in Godly lifestyle. Unlike some Christians, I maintain that public schooling is not inherently evil - and it is (in many cases, but not all) a valid supplement to Godly education. Public school, however, should not be substituted for the necessary and commanded instruction that the parents are responsible for. Biblical education by the parents (both fathers and mothers) is a clear requirement in the bible.

Based on the passages, Christian parents are clearly accountable for their children’s education first - not the church, not the community and not the government.

The Nature of the Ban Dictates the Response
But let’s consider the nature of the ban, so that we can gauge the nature of the Christian response.

The Second District Court of Appeals in Los Angeles had ruled on Feb. 28 that parents must have a teaching credential to homeschool their children. Otherwise, children ages 6 to 18 must attend public or private school full-time until graduation from high school.

The court is arguing, contrary to the bible, that not only are parents not required to instruct their children, but that they are unqualified and criminals if they do so. Takes this idea to it’s logical end: if a Christian parent (who does not meet the state of California’s standards) schools their children full time, then she will be fined or thrown in jail.

The state apparatus has clearly inserted itself between the biblical duties of parents and the commands of God. The state is attempting to supplant God’s commandments with their own. It is one thing to have secular public education as an option - it is another to make it mandatory under threat of force.

This law then, should have no effect on Christians, who should continue to raise their kids as the bible instructs. Imprisonment and fines are not valid reasons to cease doing what God has clearly instructed as an essential role of parenting.

Obviously there are still many areas where this ban does not conflict. Christian parents are not required by the bible to provide all formal schooling. However, formal schooling is not to supplant biblical schooling - it is secondary. This ban on homeschooling (depending on enforcement) is restrictive of the parent’s biblical duty. Thus, American Christians now have a great opportunity to suffer for the sake of the gospel. As Paul wrote, “For to you it has been granted on behalf of Christ, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake” (Philippians 1:29).

Christians (especially in modern America, where religion, tradition and state are so heavily mixed together) must remember that the government is not God and does not have authority to supplant God. The government is not our master and we are commanded not to submit to laws which are contrary to the Bible.

*All citations NKJV