Covenanter Witness Vol. 86 - Rparchives.org

Protected Yet ExposedMartin Broadview, homeward bound from thecleaner's on a Saturday morning, paused in his walk besidethe white picket fence of his neighbor, Peter Sharp.Martin's glance had hurdled the pickets and swept acrossthe leaf-littered flower beds to light on the bent back ofPeter, busy digging up his dahlia and gladiola bulbs forwinter storage."Good morning, Peter," he called. "Keeping yourgreen thumb in condition?""Hello, Martin," came the quick response. "No, it's abrown thumb this time. To paraphrase the poet, The bulbthat's dug and stored away lives to bloom another day.Come on over a minute; I want to talk to you."Unlatching the gate, Martin laid his paper-encasedcleaning on the rose-arbor seat and sat down beside Peteron the casement curbing of the barbecue. Longacquaintance and a common faith had put the men oneasy terms."What's on your mind, Peter?""I'm still thinking about sending our children to theChristian school. Have you considered it any further sincewe talked last?""Yes, Mary and I talked it over, but it looks likeoverprotection to us. Our youngsters have to meet theworld sometime, and they may as well learn how to do itnow.""Well, the Bible says there is a time for everything; atime to do things and a time not to do them. Isn't itpossible that there is a time to protect children as well as atime to expose them? We don't send them over to theneighbor's house when his child has diphtheria; we sendthem to the doctor to get a preventive. I don't leave thesebulbs in the ground all winter just to show how hardy theyare; a good many of them wouldn't pull through. You startyour tomato seeds inside the house- or under glass justbecause they need to be sheltered while they are tender.And we gave up sending raw recruits to war a long timeago. Thorough training under controlled conditionsproved far more effective preparation for the battlefield."Now it seems to me the same principle holds fortraining our children. Their minds are pliable, receptive,and easily influenced. The Lord has made them that way— long on imagination but short on reasoning power.They can't even see, to say nothing of bringing home foryou to answer, the godless, secular view of life that insubtle ways is constantly handed to them in theschoolroom. I don't mean that they are taught atheism inso many words, but their whole education begins and endsin man—in themselves. They simply get spiritual frostbitewithout realizing it. And the application of spiritualwarmth in family worship and church, indispensable as16these are, may be no more a cure for that than a placebeside the hot radiator is for a frostbitten plant. Wewouldn't send our soldiers to be trained by the Communists;and if we expect our children to fight against anungodly world, I'm beginning to think we had better notsend them to the world for their education."Martin stared at the sticks he had been playing withwhile Peter talked."No, Peter," he said finally. "It still strikes me thatthe Christian school is too secluded. My youngsters haveto brush elbows with the world. I don't want themsheltered. Let them stand out in the storm and growstrong."Peter's face grew quizzical."Do you know, Martin, who I think are reallysheltered?" he asked. "They are the children who aregoing to secular schools. There they are, right at thegrowing stage in their lives, when they need all the sunshinefor mind and heart that they can absorb, and theyare put into a classroom that is as thoroughly "blackedout" and as hermetically sealed off from the sunshine andfresh air of God's truth as the laws regarding separation ofchurch and state can make it. Let's remember that God'struth is found in His creation and in history as well as inthe Bible, and that any attempt to educate a child withoutgiving him that realization is robbing the child of the mostpriceless treasure we can give him—the knowledge ofGod in Christ.""In that sense, Martin," continued Peter, "I don'twant my children sheltered either. I don't want themsheltered from instruction which puts God at the center ofevery part of life and leads the child to see the glory ofGod in every subject and in all of life. That sounds likespiritual sunlight and good air for a tender plant. I don'twant to deny it to my children and see them grow up sicklywhite like the weeds under our porch. They'll get enoughcontact with the world as they mature. Putting them intoitnow for the training of their minds and souls sounds to melike planting these young bulbs outdoors in the wintertime.""That's a new approach," said Martin. "You musthave been thinking a lot about this. Say, I've got to gethome with these clothes, butI'll see you tomorrow.""All right," answered Peter. "Don't forget thatyou're sheltering those clean clothes pretty carefullytillit's time to let them come into contact with their world."—Albert E. Greene, Jr.Cono Christian School NewsI am much afraid that the universities and schoolswill prove to be the gates of hell, unless they diligentlylabor in explaining the Holy Scriptures and engravingthem in the hearts of youth. I advise no one to place hischild where the Scriptures do not reign paramount.—MARTIN LUTHERCOVENANTER WITNESS