"As Christian children are given a thoroughly and distinctively Christian education, they will understand the world God placed them in, and they will understand their appointed role in it."
Doug Wilson
Psalm 1:1
Blessed is the man
Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly,
Nor stands in the path of sinners,
Nor sits in the seat of the scornful;
But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
And in His law he meditates day and night.
He shall be like a tree
Planted by the rivers of water,
That brings forth its fruit in its season,
Whose leaf also shall not wither;
And whatever he does shall prosper.
The ungodly are not so...
The New Pupil (Thomas Brooks, 1818-1892)
Singing Lesson in a School in Holland (Max Silbert, 1871-1930)
A Christian Education is a Christian Obligation.
It follows from this that the kind of education we give our children must be one which is thoroughly grounded in the Christian worldview and which seeks to subject every discipline to the authority of God’s Word as it is revealed in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. Education is thus inescapably a covenant activity; indeed it is a central aspect of man’s covenant duty. Hence to deny our children such an education is to abandon our responsibilities as the covenant people of God.”
Cornelius Van Til (1895-1987)
Ephesians 6:4
"And you, fathers,
Although fathers are emphasized as the head of the household, this exhortation would certainly apply to godly mothers as well.
Do not provoke your children to wrath,
Unreasonable expectations, inconsistent discipline, constant criticism, careless neglect; these are but a few of the many ways that we can exasperate our kids.
but bring them up
The Greek word means "to nourish." We are not only to provide for their physical well-being, but their spiritual and mental nourishment as well.
in the training
The word paideia (training) refers not merely to the transfer of information, but to the formation of Christian character. It is the means by which a child matures to a responsible and disciplined young man or woman.
and admonition
This word (nouthesia) refers to the verbal form our instruction takes, whether teaching, warning, correcting, or encouraging. Its Hebrew counterpart refers to sharpening a sword or an arrow.
of the Lord."
This instruction is not to be the empty philosophies and bankrupt ideologies of men. Our "training" and "admonition" is to be distinctly and characteristically "of the Lord."
In the Classroom (Paul Louis Martin des Amoignes, 1858-1925)
In School (Jean Geoffroy, 1853-1924)
Young Girls at the Piano (Auguste Renoir, 1841-1919)