BJU Press Blog

5 Ways to Combat the Subtle Messages of Secularism

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2016 September Blog Post_TB

You’ve chosen to educate your children at home to protect them from secular influences during their formative years. But what about the books we bring into our homes? Sometimes a book’s agenda is obvious—you can tell by what authors put in or what they leave out. I recently surveyed a selection of secular textbooks and found the following topics of concern: the acceptance of evolution as scientific fact, the glorification of pop culture icons such as humanist authors and fierce feminists, and the affirmation of extreme environmentalism. These are obvious, but many books just leave God out, which is at the foundation of secular thought. So what can we do to protect our children from textbooks packed with secular philosophies?

Here are five ways Christian textbooks can support your goal of teaching your children to think biblically.

1. Redeeming the Minds of Our Children

As Christian parents, we want to redeem our children’s minds for God’s glory. We want them to acknowledge that “in Him we live, and move, and have our being” (Acts 17:28), and that whatever is done must be done “heartily, as to the Lord” (Colossians 3:23). To achieve that goal, we need Christian textbooks—books that do more than merely purport to have a “moral emphasis” or tack a Bible verse onto the title page. A thoroughly Christian textbook helps a parent to support the spiritual growth of the child and to equip that student for God’s service.

2. Reaffirming a Biblical Worldview

A genuinely Christian textbook promotes a biblical worldview. For example, when discussing the women’s rights movement of the ’70s, a Christian history text factually discusses the positive and negative outcomes of the movement, basing its analysis of the movement on Scripture. In a secular book, students often encounter statements that deny God as Creator, such as “millions of years ago” or “before civilization got started.” Using a Christian text, a parent can spend time actually teaching, rather than un-teaching the errors.

3. Putting God Back into the Textbooks

Sometimes the danger lies in omission. One secular science textbook discusses babies and bees and rainbows but never mentions the God who made them all (Genesis 1:1; John 1:1–3). Daily bombarded with humanism, materialism, hedonism, and socialism, a student may begin to think, “God can’t be too important since He isn’t mentioned anywhere in this scholarly work.” Christian textbooks can effectively combat this God-omitting worldview.

4. Teaching Children How to Live Right

Christian textbooks emphasize the characteristics of God and principles of godly living. They reveal God in every branch of study. A writing textbook reflects a God of creativity and beauty, a science book reflects a God of infinity and order, and a Christian history text showcases events planned by an omniscient, omnipotent God. Students understand the conflict between righteousness and unrighteousness, explore real-life examples of the principles of sowing and reaping, and see illustrations of the providence of God.

5. Training Students to Think for Themselves

Christian textbooks further support and equip Christian students by encouraging discernment and teaching them to analyze content using biblical principles. For example, in one Christian literature text, students are asked to compare and contrast Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales with various biblical accounts. The textbook also evaluates the advice of Sir Francis Bacon’s essays in light of God’s Word.

Choosing Hope for the Next Generation

How can we fight the philosophies that stunt our children’s spiritual growth and the secular texts that cram their minds full of the world’s wisdom? With God’s help, we can use Christian texts to give our children access to a higher wisdom. There is still only “one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; who gave himself a ransom for all” (1 Timothy 2:5–6). Christ remains the ultimate answer—our one true Hope. Why use a textbook that undermines that Hope, subtly or not?

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A word-lover and grammar enthusiast, Kim Stegall writes for WORLDteen, a magazine published by WORLD. In her spare time, she serves as dramaturge for the Greenville Shakespeare Company, a local nonprofit theater. In addition to working on dozens of writing, grammar, and literature textbooks for BJU Press, she has written a number of plays and published two children’s books with JourneyForth: Mumsi Meets a Lion and Rodney Robbins and the Rainy-day Pond.

PROPITIATION

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Sin is not a popular topic nowadays. Churches that once dealt with it vigorously have become increasingly timid about focusing on it. But without the understanding that our sin has separated us far from a holy God, we will have no appreciation for propitiation—the total appeasement of God’s wrath against our sin. We cannot enjoy Christ’s work of propitiation until we know where we are without it.

cover image of Wonderful Words

The publican cried out, “God be propitiated toward me, the sinner” (Luke 18:13, Greek text). Sinful man has no plea but the propitiatory sacrifice of Christ. Paul referred to Christ Jesus, “Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God” (Romans 3:25). “And he [Jesus] is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world” (1 John 2:2). “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10).

GOLDEN THOUGHT: Jesus Christ is the propitiation for our sins.

[Excerpt adapted from Wonderful Words by Stewart Custer (August 24 reading).]

Easy Knowledge for Those Who Understand

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Knowledge_Understanding

“It’s easy for small children to memorize, so memorize as much as possible.” I heard this maxim over and over when I was growing up. And from my experience, I would say it’s true. In our family worship time, my small children memorize the verses and songs far more quickly than I do. It’s certainly worthwhile for children to store up knowledge while they’re young, but is it best to focus on memorization as the main educational approach for small children? Should six- to ten-year-olds primarily memorize for math, science, reading, spelling, and history?

Proverbs 14:6 provides insight into the way we learn: “. . . knowledge is easy unto him that understandeth.” Here the Holy Spirit tells us that knowledge flows best from understanding. What I observe in my own children (ages 6, 4, and 2) is that their useful knowledge is always based on comprehension. I asked some of the educators here at BJU Press to help me understand why focusing on comprehension, even at the youngest ages, is the best approach. Here’s a summary of what I learned.

Avoiding Conditioning for Memorization

When children start learning by memorizing, they become conditioned to think of learning as memorizing. This often leads older children to protest about the expectations in high school. The request to “tell me what is on the test and I’ll memorize it” is characteristic of children who have been conditioned to think of learning as memorizing. In reality, memorizing is a small part of education. An education that prepares children for life is one that prepares them to understand and apply what they’re learning.

Experiencing Education as a Whole

Some children struggle more than others with memorizing. This seems to be the case more often for boys. I know that was my experience. Children who find memorization difficult could come to think that learning isn’t for them even though they may be excellent learners when it comes to higher forms of thinking such as applying, evaluating, and creating. If we as parents focus on the entire educational process, then our children will enjoy learning far more.

Preparing for Success

Sometimes children learn to translate letters on a page into sounds without getting the meaning of the words. Or they can rattle off the math facts for multiplication up to twenty but don’t understand how multiplication is used in everyday situations. Real life doesn’t give us multiple-choice options. It requires skill in using knowledge. That skill demands more than the superficiality of memorization.

I find gratification when my children can recite the facts that I’ve taught them. However, I know that those facts are useless without understanding. That’s why my wife and I ask our children comprehension questions to help them understand. Knowledge will come easiest when they understand.

Hope and Trust in a Father’s Promise

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031229-Fathers-PromiseIn A Father’s Promise, Donnalynn Hess crafts a powerful story of hope and hanging on. Young Rudi Kaplan is going to school one day but hiding under his bed the next as the Nazis begin to occupy and plunder his country. Before long his home is gone, and any sense of personal safety becomes a memory. Rudi clings to the two most valuable things he still has in this life—his father and a cache of letters left for him by his dying mother to be read on his future birthdays.

But as the harsh realities of war and persecution force Rudi’s father, a Jewish doctor, out of his practice, it becomes increasingly obvious that other arrangements must be made if Rudi and his father are to survive the war. The two of them must endure the searing pain of separation. But one vital source of strength remains constant—the promises of a faithful God. And it is to those promises Dr. Kaplan must entrust the most precious thing he has on earth—Rudi.

After being sent deep into the forest for refuge, Rudi encounters blessings he never expected. In the woods he meets a mix of lively and capable characters, each of whom, in his own way, ushers Rudi into manhood. There are Oscar (the brave resister who’s well-versed in outdoor survival), Anna (the mother figure Rudi has so desperately missed), Ingrid (who never utters a word), and Josef (who has a mind to betray them all). But none has a role as important to Rudi as the hope-sustaining echo of his father’s promise—and the prospect of a reunion that is against all odds.

Read the opening pages of the JourneyForth novel A Father’s Promise, a compelling work of historical fiction for young people ages 9–12.

Making Math Enjoyable with Themes

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Memorizing math facts may come easy to many people, but some (myself included) have a harder time visualizing a numerical problem and solving it mentally. It’s not that we can’t do it but rather that numbers have little value when they’re separated from a real-life situation.

It’s the application of math that helps us understand the importance of knowing how to solve an equation. But sometimes learning best takes place when there’s an example of how someone else has used math in daily life whether that’s through household chores or an occupation. This type of example does two things. It shows how math can be used, and it also gives motivation to use it.

BJU Press elementary math introduces themes in every grade to help kids understand math and see how it applies to our everyday lives. Each grade has a unique theme that makes math more enjoyable but also relatable. Lower-elementary kids are introduced to special characters. Rhymes, songs, and stories about these characters are included in different lessons throughout the entire course.

MathK5

In Math K5, Cheddar the mouse lives on Kindergarten Lane in Mathville. He uses math to help Farmer Brown keep an eye on what’s happening on the farm. In one lesson, your child works with Mrs. Brown to count the number of cabbages in the garden row. Another day on the farm, shapes are found on Farmer Brown’s outfit (like buttons that are circles).

Math6

Once students reach the upper-elementary grades, themes provide your child motivation for using math. For example, Math 6 includes a search-and-rescue theme with read-aloud stories about search-and-rescue events for each chapter. Chapter 7 opens with the true account of Balto and other dogs that delivered a special serum to people who were sick in Nome, Alaska. The concepts learned in this chapter are multiplying fractions and decimals—an important skill for measuring out medicine just like Dr. Curtis Welch did when he treated the people of Nome.

See more examples of these themes in BJU Press math curriculum.