What You May Not Know About Teaching a Biblical Worldview

There’s nothing in the world like that moment when you hold your child for the first time and look into his or her eyes. A whole new person who never existed before is now in your care. The words you say, your actions… every decision you make will always be a part of shaping this individual. As Christian parents, it’s wise for us to consider our children’s souls and how their education will shape them. While there aren’t any guarantees that our children will choose to be saved by Jesus Christ and to walk with the Lord, we can do our best to point them to Him.

Christian parents, we need to consider if we want our children to hold to a secular, humanist, moderate Christian, or Biblical Theistic worldview. Deciding this from the start is of upmost importance. Additionally, we need to be aware that someone can be saved by Jesus and simultaneously not have a Biblical worldview. This has all sorts of implications regarding decisions they may make in life. By the way, this holds true for most of us parents. (But we, too, can learn and grow with Renewing the Mind).

Not too terribly long ago, one of our pastors shared about the results of pew studies done by the Barna Research group. Do you know that their studies reveal that fewer than 10% of Christian students have a Biblical worldview? While this research from George Barna is helpful, do you know that its results are based on only nine items?

Astonishingly, 90% of high school youth hold to a secularism worldview. How can this possibly be? Well, Nehemiah Institute conducts pew studies as well. But do you know that their PEERS test covers six categories consisting of 20-items? What does PEERS stand for? I’m so glad you’re curious to know! It stands for Political, Economics, Education, Religion, and Social Issues.

So, how exactly does this 90% of high school youth break down? Well, it looks like this:

• 80-85% of youth within public schools (aka government schools) hold to a secular worldview. That’s pretty concerning when a large number of Christian parents send their children to these schools to “be salt and light”! Needless to say, many of these children are graduating from these schools
• 10-12% of youth in traditional Christian schools have a moderate Biblical worldview.
• Greater than 3% of homeschool students receiving a traditional Christian education graduate with a moderate Biblical worldview.

Only a “moderate Biblical worldview” is highly concerning!

Encouragingly, there’s a solution to turn this decline around. For the Worldview Trend Chart reveals that students who receive a principle approach education rank high with a Biblical Theistic worldview.

• Fewer than 2% of Christian high school students attend a Biblical worldview school or homeschool. But together we Christian parents can change that percentage by teaching with a Biblical Principle Approach philosophy and method of life and learning.

Why Teaching a Basic Biblical Worldview Isn’t Enough

When considering that an alarming number of Christian high school students have only a moderate Biblical worldview, we must ask why isn’t teaching with it enough?

As many individuals know, a Biblical worldview answers these questions:

• How did we get here?
• What’s my purpose in life?
• What’s wrong with the world?
• What (or Who) can fix these problems with the world?
• Etc.

But even students who are taught answers to these questions from the Bible in traditional Christian schools and homeschools are scoring low. So, what’s the solution?

Understandably, the Bible teaches us so much more than these basic questions. After all, It contains Bible principles for politics, economics, education (about education and principles in each subject), religion, and social issues. Once our students learn Bible principles in all of these areas, then and only then will they be able to hold to a truly Biblical Theistic worldview. If you believe teaching Bible principles in education isn’t a priority, then you underestimate their power in the lives of men and nations.

What This Translates To…

• 80-85% of students attend a government school and hold to a secular worldview. And 90% of these students from Christian families hold to the same worldview or a moderate Christian worldview. Dan Smithwick points out in the Worldview Trend Chart that this is the biggest problem for the Church today!
• 10-12 % of students attend a traditional Christian school also fall into the secular worldview.
• Fewer than 3% of youth attend a Christian homeschool and have a moderate Christian worldview.
• Fewer than 2% of students attend a Biblical worldview Christian school. And these are the only students who fall into the Biblical Theism category.

Why Does This Matter?

Needless to say, there’s immense concern as a nation for the souls of our children! It’s possible to be a Christian and to not have a Biblical worldview. That’s pretty evident as we witness the fruit of a secular humanist education that most children from Christian families receive. Inseparable from this is the great concern of losing our republic and the anguish of America’s declining character. Consider the following quote:

“Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.” -Ronald Reagan

How are we losing our children? And how are we losing our republic? It happens with each consecutive generation that is being fed an education which teaches that man is the center of history. But a Christian education will teach that Christ and His-Story (God’s Providence) is the center of history. We’re losing our republic with each student who is being taught to abhor America. However, a Christian education will teach children a love for America because of God’s Providential purpose for her. Additionally, we’re losing our children as they’re marinated in a humanist religion in the public schools—the subtle nationalist churches that are undermining God’s authority, parental rights, and our republic.

Therefore, I urge you to consider the high calling and importance of teaching Biblical principles of politics, economics, education, religion, and social issues to your family. Indeed, it must be a priority!

Where to start? I recommend beginning with the PEERS Worldview Test by Nehemiah Institute to see your personal results and that of your high school students. Then, keep learning and growing with a Renewing of the Mind and other resources we offer in our online store.

Lastly, if you’re on Facebook please go on over and like and follow Nehemiah Institute. And please share about it.