Pointing Our Kids to Truth
The COVID-19 pandemic did more than shed light on the science of infectious diseases in the modern era. For many parents, it opened their eyes. As their dining rooms turned into remote classrooms, they received an education on the curriculum being foisted on their kids—and they were not amused.
In response, Terry McAuliffe, former Democratic governor of Virginia, replied, “I don’t think parents should be telling schools what they should teach.” No surprise, McAuliffe’s statement killed his 2021 reelection campaign.
Education has become the battleground of the culture war in America, and parents on both sides of the political spectrum are waking up to the fact that certain educators want to replace them as parents.
New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy has approved new health and sex education standards for kindergarten through grade 12. FOX News reported that beginning this fall, first graders in the Garden State will hear a lesson called “Pink, Blue and Purple” on gender identity and gender-role stereotypes. Starting with 6-year-olds, it will teach that gender is a choice.
In Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis has signed a bill banning such discussion through third grade, and the law received more scrutiny in the national news media than New Jersey’s updated curriculum.
Chaya Raichik is an Orthodox Jewish woman with a wildly popular Twitter account called Libs of TikTok. With more than a million followers, Raichik has become an expert in exposing teachers who cavalierly inculcate children with their progressive, sexual agenda. Her mission is to unmask what she calls the “grooming and indoctrination” that take place in schools.
For a while, Raichik remained anonymous, posting behind her Twitter handle. But her social-media presence created enough of a wake that The Washington Post did an exposé revealing her identity.
Yet the positive response to Libs of TikTok has been overwhelming. Many parents have said that after hearing what the schools are teaching their children, they have decided to run for their local school boards.
As a parent of four school-aged children, I see plenty of reasons to be concerned about the future. But over and over, God calls us into a position of faith, not fear: “For I, the LORD your God, will hold your right hand, saying to you, ‘Fear not, I will help you’” (Isa. 41:13).
The psalmist called children “a heritage from the LORD” and “arrows in the hand of a warrior” (Ps. 127:3–4). At some point, parents launch their children into life like arrows released from a bow. But what is our target? Warriors don’t shoot arrows aimlessly. They plant their feet firmly on the ground, set their sights on their targets, and release the arrows with purpose and precision.
Since the fall of humanity, the world has been trying to exchange the truth of God for a lie. But as parents, we have a divine calling to point our children to the Lord like arrows aimed at a bullseye.
God commanded the Israelites, “These words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up” (Dt. 6:6–7). We should do no less today as servants of Jesus Christ; and, hopefully, when our children become adults, they will glorify the most high God.
