How Should Christians feel about Education?

In the late 1980's, early 1990's there was a famous pop song entitled "We don't Need No Education." The most ironic thing about that song as I think about it is the fact that the group that sang it was not in touch with their education lead them to say the exact opposite of what they were intending. Thus, it is true that We don't need no education. Rather we need all the education we can get- so that we can be equipped to grow in our understanding of life and our understanding of where we fit into the picture of God's plan for each of our lives.

Unfortunately, many Christians have developed this anti-educational and anti-intellectual attitude. Much of that attitude is in response to the fact that many thought processes that set themselves up against the knowledge of Christ have infiltrated our education- thus making us not want to learn more because quite frankly we are afraid that what we learn may very well destroy any truth that there is in what we believe. But if any of what we perceive to be as truth can be destroyed, then would we really want to continue holding on to those bankrupt processes of thought?

The saddest thing about this trend in which Christians have turned away from knowledge and education is the fact that it wasn't too long ago that the church was the leader in every aspect of education whether it be the Arts and Music, History, Science, Mathematics etc. This trend of being anti-knowledge and anti-intellectual has without a doubt produced one of the most confused and dumbfounded times within the history of Christendom.

Now, a tsunami of postmodern thought has swept not only through society- but even into the very doors of "the church." We live in a culture where we are afraid to refer to anything as being false. There is no longer any absolute right or wrong. Rather,every situation and decision is relative to the person, the time, and the place so that it is intolerant to refer to any wrongdoing as such.

The reason we as Christians find ourselves in such a position is because we have responding by competing with these deceptive and hollow philosophies instead of aiming to completely destroy them. In the past half century, when knolwedge and false information that masquerades around as knowledge have been thrust into our culture we have responded by such pathetic ideas as giving people Christertainment. The very nature of our church services have been designed to entertain the crowds and to draw more in using a philosophy of having great entertainment on the inside to draw in the crowds from the outside.

A more Biblical approach would be to directly confront the patterns of thought that exalt themselves against the knowledge of Christ. As the apostle Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 10:5 "We DEMOLISH arguments and every pretension that sets itself against the knowledge of God." To demolish something means to completely destroy it. Rather than completely destroying these false and destructive ideologies- Christians have completely ignored them- thus allowing them to get fatter to the point that they are constantly infiltrating the church- and our ignorance has us so desensitized that we no longer distinguish that which is true from that which is false.

In 2 Kings 22, we read the story of how the Book of the Law was found during the reign of King Josiah. When Josiah read it he tore his robes because he realized that for several generations his ancestors had not obeyed God's commands as stated in the Book of the Law to the extent that the art of true service to God was completely lost and foreign to the people. We live in a time quite similar in our own culture- where true faith has been replaced by cheap imitations that we have not recognized because of the ignorance which has led us to turn away from the education that equips as to recognize such deceptive and hollow philosophies.

This is part one of a series of posts on "How should Christians feel about Education? Throughout the course of this series I will deal with many aspects of different false ideologies that have infiltrated society and crept their way into the "church." As we journey through this together, I ask you to consider the question "How can we as Christians inject truth back into a culture that is so indoctrinated with great deception?" I look forward to hearing all of your thoughts on this matter as we journey together through this topic of discussion.