One of the critical discussions that is often heard concerns the place of the Scriptures in the Christian Schools. The Association for the Advancement of Christian Scholarship (AACS) has little place for the Scriptures or the Reformed Confessions in the Christian Schools. They say that the only way the Scriptures may be normative in the Christian School is in an indirect way. There is another “word” of God that must be discovered that will direct the Christian School, say the AACS proponents.
Rev. David Engelsma, who writes concerning the “Scripture in the Schools” in Reformed Education, takes another radically different but historically reformed position.
“. . .Historically, the Christian Schools have always taught Bible, the medieval schools, the schools of the Reformation, the schools in the Netherlands, and our own schools. I have little expectation that Bible will be dropped. If it would be dropped, not only parents, but also the church would have to do more in the way of instructing In Scripture. If we continue the present practice, could someone please work at coordinating the teaching of Bible In catechism, in the Christian school, and in Sunday School? Only let it be remembered that the teaching of Bible in the Christian school does not exhaust the calling of the school to provide Biblical teaching and, in fact, does not yet touch the heart of this calling.
“Scripture must be taught thus: as the foundation, light and center of every subject. Scripture is to be worked into every subject, naturally and matteroffactiy, as the ground on which that aspect of reality solidly stands; as the light that illumines both the particular aspect of creation, so as to give It meaning, and the student in regard to his knowledge and use of that aspect of creation; and as the core, or center, of the subject, thus unifying all the subjects.”
Recently this same topic came under discussion in the Outlook, March, 1979. Rev. Peter DeJong writes an article entitled “Are Christian Schools Teaching the Bible?” He concludes that if they use the Revelation-Response textbooks that are currently distributed by the Christian Schools International (formerly National Union of Christian Schools) they are not teaching the Bible. Editor DeJong writes:
“They take up, In rather random fashion, a number of ‘themes’ or topics chosen according to the inclinations of those who were planning the course. Accordingly, popular, even ‘faddish’ themes get emphasized; subjects that are not popular In our time are Ignored. We are confronted with a very elaborate system of Bible Introduction8 that do not really Intend in any orderly way to teach the Bible itself”
Rev. DeJong concludes his article in which he is critical of the Bible materials as follows:
“Today many Christian churches, including our own, (an obvious reference to the Christian Reformed Church, A.L.) are fast losing their biblical, and therefore also their doctrinal and moral deflnltlons and often begin to look more and more like what the Lord described as salt that has lost its taste. If they are not to experience the Lord’s judgment of being discarded (Matthew 5:13), they will have to return, in a movement like that of the Reformation, to God’s Word. Even a limited review of some of the newer materials being used for Bible courses in many of our Christian schools discloses the same distressing departure from the Word of God that we are observing in churches. One speaker at the recent Chicago meetings of the Council on Biblical inerrancy observed that the Devil seems to concentrate his efforts on misleading church leaders and the Institutions In which they are trained. Our Christian schools are properly parental, not parochial, so that they operate separately from the churches. One effect of this arrangement has been that churches after encouraging their establishment and support tend to give them little attention. What happens in them is largely left to decisions of a few overworked board members and teachers. A look at some of the newer Bible manuals suggests that, in the words of our Lord, ‘while men slept’, the ‘enemy’ has been sowing his ‘tares’ also In this ‘field’ (Matthew 13:25). We need to direct some serious attention to whether and how the Bible isbeing taught in our Christian schools. In some research through the earliest records of our Dutch Reformed churches of 400 years ago I was surprised to observe that those early, enormously influential, Reformation churches gave as much attention to securing sound Bible teaching in the schools as they did to getting it in the churches. If we and our children are not to stumble but to become effective servants of the Lord In our own and coming generations, we will have to pray and determine that God’s Word will be our Light in the classroom as well as in the pulpit.”
With this evaluation of Rev. DeJong I heartily agree.
May God bless us and keep us in this way of instructing the youth of the Church.