Category Archives: Child rearing

Celebrating Educational Acheivements

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On The Great Shalom I have always proclaimed that God wants total well-being for all children. Especially I have encouraged academic achievement, something which, for all the hype and words, is less and less valued in American education. I daily see the ravages of evil in this regard. It is most serious when news of a correctable evil is blotted out with charges of “negativism.” What is really negative is to refuse to address a problem, and to lie that evil is good. I see this so much, so pervasively that even I am tempted to get down.

Last night, however, I went to Commencement. Aside from the top administrator saying a few things that could seldom ever be true, given current policies, it was a great event all ’round. We cheered and celebrated so many student. Many of these students, where I have been teaching, work to complete their program of study under great hardship: poverty, under-0preparedness, lack of resources, lack of community and moral support and faculty who themselves must struggle with these things. Yet these few students made it. They were every size and shape. Some walked timidly and others with “excessive celebration” as they say in the sports world.

I could not help ginning ear to ear the entire time. I have seen standards so obliterated that bright students no longer try and learning disabled students not get identified. I have seen so many negative, hurtful things. But last night, I saw some achievement. I wish that I could help more students across such a finish line — whichever is their particular line.

Being a gracious and helpful teacher will not in today’s world be sufficient. Being a broadcaster encouraging the parents of children, probably all of whom have special needs, has even proven insufficient. I would like to train teachers, even to build a teachers’ college. Everywhere we train pastors, we should train teachers. The State of Texas certainly disallows this here, but it is not impossible. Please help me, help more students, over their goal time — with or without excessive celebration!

Happy Graduation! Blessings on all graduates.

Godly early childhood education

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Early childhood education is in the news. Unfortunately, the push is in the wrong direction. The way to higher academic achievement is to encourage the best emotional development, meaning to encourage very small children to be with the mothers. There is abundant and robust research (done almost entirely before such articles were electronically indexed) that shows children do better emotionally, physically, and academically if they do not go to a group program, but instead, stay with their mother. You wouldn’t know it, however, if you surf the discussion. People seem to have mis-remembered the study that did show that if you take the poorest child from the absolute worst environment and put him or her into the very very best daycare then yes, in that situation you can raise their IQ. But remember, that never happens. No one ever puts poor children into the very best daycare. And most children are not coming from desperate situations. The plain fact is that children do best when their devoted mother takes care of them. We all appreciate educators. We should also appreciate the love that only mothers have.

Thanks so much

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Just wanted to say thank you to all my listeners. Today we finish up a series on how to pray for your children. Next month we re-air first our July 4th episode from last year because these themes are very much on my heart. As a back to school ‘cast, we will also re-air Dr. Champion telling how virtue is cultivated in Leander public school. We will also have some classic re-air. I feel that the most crying need these days, the felt need, is not so much physiological as ethical. Parents are not so worried about learning disabilities, because the grades are coming home fine. Trouble is, those grades are cooked, skewed, and fake. Even those students whose academic ability is outstanding are brought down in morale and achievement by the low moral quality of the wider environment. We need revival, awakening to God more than anything.

The turn around needed in schools is very much like the turn around needed in other sectors of society. It is called “do the right thing.” “To repent” means “to turn around.” God (who is Love, Truth) is calling.

Please add your comments or prayers.

Are tatoos wrong?

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Jefferson Bethke has a youtube clip on www.youtube.com: http://youtu.be/rN3voADV14Y
Thanks to Jason for trying. Amazingly ungracious response he got. I would have liked to have got in that discussion, but there were technical difficulties. This difficulty is itself illustrative. It is important to understand things in context. This Jason brings up.

Jefferson and I are coming from a similar place, of respect for God, and for the revelation to the Hebrews through Moses. A couple of details were a mistake, however. We never eat meat with blood in it today: we always bleed the animals before we cut the meat off the carcass. Further, the instructions were about the Israelites planting in the promised land, so that can not apply to us today. So context, yes.

Neither are most of us under the Mosiac law. Although Jason didn’t bring that up, but no big difference.

I agree, it is a wisdom issue. First off, about hygiene. Many things that are common practice in our society may not be so healthy. I just can’t believe that injecting a lot of ink into your body is all that healthy. The greater issue is cultural. What culture and what values do you want to align yourself to? Even within the contact of our own American culture, look, youth often don’t realize what message they are giving off with tattoos. I agree with Jason that tattooing Greek holy words is better than other things, but when an employer has a policy of not hiring people with tattoos, they don’t make that distinction.

When I was a teenager, a long time ago, I remember a respected preacher who would like to take off his jacket and roll up his sleeves. He never rolled them up very far. One day a child asked him why not. The preacher was then about 50 and said sadly to the child, “When I was young and foolish, I did something that I was not proud of.” So we discovered that brother great preacher had once been a seedy sailor.

Since at least the 1940s it has been fashionable to go slumming. There are ALOT of young people who may be very embarrassed later on by the kind of culture they aligned themselves with and that kind of values they espoused when they were young.

But the central message of Christianity is forgiveness. To the world, we are tasked with imploring people to be reconciled to God through Jesus. It’s all about the heart.

Some of Jefferson Bethke’s interlocutors just spewed garbage at him for his attempts. Perhaps they do not understand the central intention of Christians like Jeff? Or maybe they do and intend to reject? Or maybe they are being ugly because they are convicted in their heart? To them we say, come on home. There is love and mercy in Jesus, even for those of you who are not Jewish.

I think maybe, however, Jeff this time was addressing his comments to people who are Christians, and only thus would ask the question whether or not tattoos were sinful. It is not an easy thing to talk to everyone at once.

I think it is pretty hard to prove from the Bible that tattoos are okay. How a person gets saved, gets formed, and set to service is not so hard. Also not too hard to find Scriptures that talk about respecting the teaching of the elders and comporting oneself circumspectly.

I salute Jeff for attempting the discussion, for attempting to reach out to young people, and for attempting to study the Bible. Often I am more often speaking to parents and educators, maybe an older audience.

What do you do when your son or daughter gets a tattoo? What have you seen that has worked? Anybody want to talk about that here?