Christian Education: Science

In my first post in this series on Christian Education, I shared what it looks like and why it’s important. In this post, I will focus on science, because it is such an important battleground in today’s culture.

“What if you provided your children with a Christian worldview even for subjects such as math, science, and history? What if education were simply a subset of the larger work of discipleship? Teaching your children the full counsel of God is a tall order if it has to be squeezed in between public school, sports, hobbies, and friends. But if it’s part of a daily home education, you have all the time in the world.” (Josh Niemi, Expository Parenting)

Teaching science from a biblical worldview is so much more than creation vs. evolution. But it definitely starts with this debate. Evolutionary theory shapes so much of our modern thought that even Christians don’t always realize how steeped we are in it.

We may ask, “Why does it really matter when or how we got here, as long as we believe in God?” It matters if we intend to be more than simple-minded fools and followers without brains. If we wish to raise children who are critical thinkers, we must also be critical thinkers. We must show our children that every single word in the Bible can be trusted. And this is why trusting the Bible for the origin of the universe is so important.

“Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” (2 Timothy 2:15) John MacArthur explains that Paul was instructing “Timothy, like all who preach or teach the Word, to give his maximum effort to impart God’s word completely, accurately, and clearly to his hearers.” (John MacArthur Study Bible, NKJV, 1997) This includes parents, as teachers of their children.

Christian Education: Science -- does it matter?

“Evolution and humanism go hand in hand. Humanistic philosophy is woven through each of the academic subjects in public schools, making it impossible to select one topic or curriculum for your child to avoid.” (Marisa Boonstra, Bucking the System)

Boonstra goes on to say, “Believing that humans are the direct descendants of primates, not created in the image of God, students conclude they have no real purpose in life except to live their lives for their own pleasure and self-fulfillment. At best, human life and animal life are viewed as having equal value, and at worst, humans are a cancer that must be removed from this planet for the sake of the environment. God is kicked off of His throne in place of man; and man becomes the supreme being of the universe with the “divine” right to determine what is true according to what seems right in his own eyes. This view ultimately leads to freedom of conscience before a holy and just God. Sin as seen as only an animal instinct in man.”

This idea of an unimportant, Sunday-only God leads to so many problems that trouble humans: depression, worthlessness, suicide, a society without order, where “every man does what is right in his own eyes.” (Judges 21:25) That kind of thinking leads our children to a life and an eternity without God.

Boonstra correctly points out two of the most trendy ideas that stem from an evolutionary mindset: environmentalism and overpopulation. Both of these reject the ideas of a powerful creator God and his admonition for humans to take dominion over the whole earth.

Read my review of Bucking the System here.

Growing up with the mistaken belief that we just happened to appear out of nowhere through the process of evolution leads to a meaninglessness of life that affects every area. It allows us to deny the wisdom in the principles of God, and when we do this, we live without the order and blessing that comes from those principles.

Sexual promiscuity leads to broken families or abortion. Ignoring the Ten Commandments leads to all forms of strife with other humans both inside and outside the home. This leads to a society in chaos, which often lead to a loss of freedom in the form of over-reaching government, or worse: dictators.

Christian Education: Science // Why does it matter for Christian families?

But for Christian parents, the danger is very extreme: if our children occasionally read about a literal creation in their Bible, but spend every year of their education being told that the world and all its inhabitants evolved over millions of years, how will they know what to think? If we teach that certain parts of Genesis aren’t to be taken literally, which parts of the Bible will they trust? How will they believe in the virgin birth or the resurrection of Jesus Christ?

Israel Wayne says, “An area of dispute among some Christian parents is the question of whether to teach a literal or allegorical interpretation of the days of creation. Many parents feel that the most important thing is to teach their children that God created the universe, but many don’t feel how He did it is important. It is vital for us to recognize Scripture as literal, authoritative, and reliable. We do not need to alter God’s Word to make it conform to an unscriptural “day-age,” “progressive creation,” or “gap theory.” We can have complete confidence that we are living on a young earth as the Bible says.” (Education: Does God Have an Opinion?)

He goes on: “Romans 5:1221, 8:19-23, and other passages clearly pin man as the source of decay on the earth. Trying to merge evolution with the biblical account of creation not only is an unnecessary compromise with unbelief, but it is an attempt by deistic scientists and theologians to clear themselves of the guilt of sin and point an accusing finger at God. What a dangerous display of humanistic thought.”

So many other parts of our lives are affected by evolutionary theory: medicine (why do we remove parts of the body or mouth when God created everything for a purpose?), food (God created everything for our good, so why do we have grocery stores full of ingredients produced in a lab?), health (such simple things as sleep, sunshine, and exercise go a long way to preventing disease), the Sabbath (a day of rest was designed by God and turns out to be a really great idea), and so much more. Can you see how, when evolutionary theory came into the minds of the masses, so much changed for the worse?

If God didn’t create us, then He didn’t design families. Fathers and mothers are just pointless humans tasked with feeding and clothing little munchkins until they are old enough to feed and clothe themselves. Can you trace this idea to the collapse of our collective morality?

A biblical worldview in education matters, and it all goes back to science.

Science in Secular Education

It is an undisputable fact that evolutionary theory is taught as fact in most school settings. Textbooks teach millions and billions of years of earth history, though there may be some schools that throw in the “idea” of Intelligent Design.

But it’s not just in school. It has saturated the culture. Children’s books, movies, and museums all assume we all believe in the theory of evolution, and present the entire history of man from that viewpoint.

It’s not just evolution, though. Throughout historical timelines, scientists and their inventions and discoveries are taught with a secular bias. So many famous scientists throughout history were men of God and men of faith. They saw the Creator in the skies, in the earth, in animals, and in the human body. They wrote about it. They could not deny His existence and it humbled and fascinated them.

And let’s not ignore that giant elephant in the room: gender fluidity. I wrote an entire post on this subject, and the title pretty much says it all: It’s Time to Question the Teaching Credentials of Science Deniers. There are lots of things in the education realm that have made parents question the status quo for a long time. It’s why homeschooling continues to grow by leaps and bounds. But now the centers for education are not even trying to hide the indoctrination. When the very institutions that purport to teach science openly declare that there is no difference between male and female, have they not lost their credibility?

Don’t believe for a second that education is neutral. When one thing is left out, something has to replace it. In the case of science and scientists, when God is left out, humanism replaces Him.

Science in Christian Education

“We don’t want to shelter our children from evolutionary theories. Quite the contrary. We want them to understand those views; we just don’t want them to receive exposure to only one view, which is what happens with government schooling. We want them to understand what secular scientists teach, but also to know what God’s Word declares to be truth.” (Israel Wayne – Education: Does God Have an Opinion?)

Read my review of Education: Does God Have an Opinion

Christians should not try to hide from secular science. In fact, it would be nearly impossible to do so. We should be willing to teach our children the truths of scripture compared to the ideas of the world. And we should begin at a very young age.

From the time my children were old enough to sit and look at books with me, we began reading about dinosaurs according to creation. We read about Noah’s flood with resources that shared physical evidences of that flood all around the world. We talked about what people believe, and how it the evolutionary theories don’t add up. Even small children are capable of this line of thinking, and under the loving care of their parents, it is THE ideal classroom.

The science teaching my young kids receive begins with the outdoors. Long before they look at a science textbook, we observe animals, leaves, flowers, stars, clouds, rain, rainbows, and so much more. We look at each individual item and talk about it. I remind them about the Genesis account of creation, specifically mentioning those things that were created on different days.

When we see a rainbow in the sky, we talk about the first rainbow ever: the one God put in the sky to seal His covenant with mankind, promising to never flood the entire earth again. (Genesis 9:11-17) When we plant a garden, we open up the vegetables and look at the seeds there, waiting to be planted for the next round. We talk about how God designed all growing things to reproduce in this manner. (Genesis 1:12)

As my kids get older, we make liberal use of a wide variety of resources. Apologetics is a big deal in our home, and no topic is off limits. We watch videos from Answers in Genesis, Biblical Science Institute, and Institute for Creation Research. We have stacks of books from these same organizations. My kids love it when Dr. Jason Lisle comes to speak in our area. We read articles on new scientific and archeological discoveries that back up scripture. We discuss current events in relation to the Bible, because they are often related to an evolutionary and humanistic ideology. We watch debates between creationists and evolutionists.

We have used two different science curricula in our homeschool that we love and recommend: The 101 Series and Apologia. They are both solid, creation-based resources that you can trust to have your children searching the scriptures as part of their science education.

Whether it’s the Scopes Trial, the Great Lakes, eugenics, medical science, or dinosaurs, we go to these trusted sources for input. They unappologetically point us to the Scriptures and give our kids a direction for critical thinking.

“If I asked you where students go to learn about geology, astronomy, biology, and anthropology, what would you say? The answer is always ‘school.’ Please understand this! Ninety percent of children from church homes attend public/government schools. There, by and large, they are taught a biological, anthropological, geological, and astronomical history of the universe that totally contradicts the Bible’s account of creation, the Flood, and the Tower of Babel.” —Ken Ham

Parents, we have a responsibility to point our kids to the truth. We live in a post-Christian world that tells us that science is at odds with the Bible. Your kids will encounter it at every age. Someone will talk to them about these things. Make sure it’s you, and make sure it’s now.

Nicki Truesdell is a 2^nd-generation homeschooler and mother to 5. She is a homemaker at heart, and loves books, freedom, history and quilts, and blogs about all of these at nickitruesdell.com. She believes that homeschooling can be relaxed and that history is fun, and both can be done with minimal cost or stress, no matter your family’s circumstances. Nicki is a member of the Texas Home Educators Advisory Board. You can follow her on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.