Thursday, March 22, 2007

Desperately De-Programming Danny

Regarding public schooling, parents often voice the (legitimate) concern that they don't want to have to "de-program" their children each day when they step off the school bus:

Mom: "Danny, what did you learn at Amityville Public School school today?"
Danny: "I learned that I am a highly evolved cosmic accident."
Mom: "Oh dear! Anything else?"
Danny: "Ummm... just that 'Heather Has Two Mommies.'"
But the suggestion that the need for de-programming would cease if our children were enrolled in the local Christian school is naïve, especially if Danny was baptized as a baby:

Mom: "Danny, what did you learn at Pleasantville Christian School today?"
Danny: "I learned that God is lonely and wants me to be converted so he has someone to talk to."
Mom:
"Oh dear! Anythng else?"
Danny: "Ummm... just that the Antichrist is going to broker a covenant between the godless Arabs and the beloved Jews allowing them to rebuild their temple, the eventual goal being an earthly millennium during which the Levitical sacrificial system will be reinstituted."
(Hyperbole? Maybe, but only just....)

I trust you see where I'm going with this: If a family lacks either the luxury of having a theologically like-minded Christian school in their vicinity, or the thousands of dollars each year to pay for it, then chances are some de-programming will need to occur. The question, then, is which is a better message for little Danny: "We're not like those unbelievers," or, "We're not like those Arminian, dispensational, charismatic evangelicals."