Many “Christian” schools fall into the snare of basing their institutions on government norms. They copy the public education system, baptize it, exchange evolution for creationism, and then proclaim to the world that their school is now a “distinctly Christian school.” The problem with this model is that these well meaning Christians have not proposed anything entirely different from what our culture gives us, a culture which has been shaped by the enlightenment.
Enlightenment Philosophy tells us that we are homo sapiens - thinking man. This echoes Descartes’ famous quote, “I think, therefore I am.” If we lay our education model on this foundation we will be forced to conclude that educating the mind, the “real” part of man, will save us.
The Bible gives us a different picture of man. Mankind is not chiefly homo sapien but homo adoran, worshipping man. God created man on the sixth day then rested on the seventh. That means that man’s first full day was the seventh day, the sabbath day of worship. Man’s life begins in worship. We must never forget that God seeks worshippers (John 4:23) not a perfect GPA or doctoral candidates; or even theologians.
David sings in Psalm 144 that God “trains my hands for war and my fingers for battle.” Why does David need trained fingers? Because he knows when he plays the lyre in worship to God he is going to war with the devil, and that Worship trains our mind to see the battle through. In order to gain wisdom we must start with the worship of our Lord.
I would, therefore, argue for an education model based on liturgical worship. I would like to see Christian schools training their students from a young age how to worship biblically. This is where education must start. If we skip this we are fooling ourselves.
Descartes was wrong. I do not “think therefore I am.” Instead, I worship because God is.
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