DO YOU HOME-SCHOOL?
HOME-SCHOOLERS: THE SEARCHING HEARTS

Do you teach and train your children at home rather than send them to the public or private schools of the community? If so, I hope you will thoughtfully consider this short message.

A Unique People

Although there are a wide range of different kinds of parents who educate their children at home, frequently they are a unique sort of people. They are willing to sacrifice their time, energies, finances, convenience, and even their acceptance by some disapproving relatives and friends. Home-schoolers are very conscious of the secularistic, humanistic, and worldly elements of public education. They are aware of their children's intellectual aptitudes and spiritual needs. They see the negative and sinful elements in society and the spiritual and moral harm that this poses to their children. They also embrace their God-given responsibility to "bring up" their children in "the discipline and instruction of the Lord" (Ephesians 6:5).

Other Aspects of Life

These "home-school people" not only can be described in the terms above in relation to their children, but they also are unique in other significant ways. In other words, their concern to train their children in the love and fear of God frequently is only one aspect of a whole frame of mind and attitude of heart that manifests itself in other aspects of life.

Generally they read and study their Bibles more than others. They seek a personal relationship with God while pursuing a degree of holiness beyond the ordinary church member. They are grieved with the sin, unbelief, perversion, blasphemy, violence and degeneracy in the world around them. These people often seek the fellowship and support of fellow home-schoolers as well as others who are like-minded in their commitment to God. In all probability, if they belong to a church or denomination, it is more Biblically-oriented and conservative than the average.

A Holy Quest

In looking upon the religious world around us, these parents who home educate their children are unique in another way. Many of them have what might be called a "holy quest." By this I refer to an open, searching attitude that is displeased, in a measure, with what they see in their religious circles and in their own spiritual experience. They hunger for yet unexplored aspects of truth. They yearn for a greater devotion to God for themselves and their families.

These people may look at their church, fellowship, or denomination and are displeased with what they see. They grieve over the apathy, the apostasy, the worldliness, and the materialism that pervades the institution and characterizes the members. They are concerned about practices, teachings and traditions that deviate from the plain instruction of God's Word.

They may observe a church that condones secular, humanistic education, worldly and fleshly music, carnal television and movies, as well as a pursuit of sports and other worldly entertainment. They see a church that endorses or even promotes the "health and prosperity gospel," religious feminism, immodest clothing and worldly fashions, membership in the Masonic Lodge, earthly warfare in the military, political activism, remarriage and adultery, and dozens of other negative or questionable items. They see a church more interested in musical entertainment, soft ball games, and social activities rather being interested in a pursuit of holiness, learning the Scriptures, and sharing the gospel with the lost. In short, they are grieved with much that they see in their church or denomination. They realize that this is not the context in which to raise a family and find personal spiritual nourishment.

Further, these searching hearts are dismayed with their compromising preachers, pastors, and teachers. Instead of stressing repentance of sin, these religious professionals advocate a "positive self-image." Rather than teaching separation from the world, they practice conformity to the world. Instead of proclaiming the gospel of the crucified and risen Christ, they proclaim the gospel of material prosperity and physical healing. Instead of living a life of righteousness and sacrifice, they dress in fashionable clothes, drive luxury automobiles, enjoy the finest homes, and pursue high salaries. Yes, these searching home-schoolers have had enough of this hypocrisy and they are looking elsewhere for an expression of the genuine way of Christ.

Some of these searching home-schoolers have already abandoned their church or denomination. They are unwilling to compromise with the worldliness and false teaching any longer. They have seen the disparity between the way of Christ exemplified in the life of the early disciples and the way of unscriptural religious denominationalism, and they want nothing of it. They have launched out on their own, simply trusting God to show them the way. Some are meeting with another family or two, or a whole home gathering, while others are truly alone and do not know where to turn.

Now is The Time

Are you one of these sincere home educators who are searching for answers and a better way? Do you have an "honest and good heart" to which our Lord referred (Luke 8:15)? Are you reading and searching your Bible intently, earnestly, diligently, and continually for the solution (Acts 17:11)? Now is the time for you to implore God for light and walk in it as He shows the way. Now is the time to get your family in order. This is the time to repent, to forsake all compromise, and to seek the Lord and His will with all of your heart.

May We Help?

You may be wondering where to turn and what to do. Perhaps you are confused as you look upon the religious spectrum. You have read books, gone to lectureships, and listened to one speaker after another. All of this quest is to be commended. Yet the answer is very simple. Simply read the Word of God with childlike faith and take what it says seriously. See what the early disciples believed, how they lived, how they met together, how they confronted the world of sin, and how they exalted the Lord Jesus. Then act upon what you learn.

Perhaps we can help you along this holy quest for the truth of Scripture and the way of God. We do not have all of the answers, but we know some of them. Perhaps God can show us further how to proceed in this pathway of life together. If you are unsure of the public secular school issue, read some of the literature available that shows the danger of sending your children to the worldly schools supported by the government. You may also order from us a free book entitled, What about the Public State Schools? It should convince you that home teaching or conservative private schooling are the only responsible educational alternatives for your children.

Then we have many other articles available on this web site that will help you to understand and apply the word of God to your own life and that of your family. Diligently search for answers and God will give them to you! Let us know if we may help you further in your own efforts to teach your children in the ways of God (Eph. 6:4; 2 Timothy 3:15).

Richard Hollerman