What would you do?

SCENARIO 1:
A few years ago I told my class of sixth grade sunday school students to carry their bible with them to class, and see how many times God used the simple presence of his word to offer an opportunity to witness for Christ.

The next Sunday a little girl told me that her teacher confiscated her bible. I asked if she was reading it during class time. The answer was no. I asked if she had, in any way, disrupted the class with it. She said no. She sat the bible, with other books, on the top of her desk. The teacher said bibles weren't allowed in school and removed it.

I called the parents, and together we approached the school, explaining to the principal and the teacher that the law against prayer in school did not prohibit carrying a bible.

Another Christian chastised me, and the parents, after hearing the story, saying that it would set the child up for persecution by the teacher, and that it was best to just leave it alone.

What would you have done?
What would you say to the Christian who said "leave it alone?"

SCENARIO 2:
A man I know is a school teacher in public schools. He is a Sunday School teacher in a Baptist Church. He recently shared with me the story of a boy in his classroom coming to him and saying, "You don't believe in God do you?" The man responded, "This isn't the place to talk about religion."

What would you have done?

SCENARIO 3:
My cousin is the child of 2 missionaries. She was given a class assignment of writing a paper which defending or attacking the existance of God. She wrote a paper supporting the existance of God. She was given an F, with a margin note that said, "You can't defend a fable."

What would you have done if you were her parents?

SCENARIO 4:
I worked in higher education.
My supervisor of many years retired.
The new supervisor began a full fledged campaign supporting homosexuality.
There were groups to teach people who to "be a better friend" to gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgenders.
There were signs to encourage people to "come out" to you.
There were public gatherings and pizza parties and things to "show support for the gay movement."
If you did not participate in these things, actively, you were told you were not a team player and you were in danger of being fired.

What would you do?

 

1.
a.I advocate Homeschooling as a conviction, not a preference

b. I would inform the christain he is nothing more than a liberal and not man enough to blow the wings off a gnat.

2. Tell the man to get right with God. If he is going to let his job have preimminense over God, he should not call himself a Christian, ever!

He should resign his Sunday School class and openly apologise to his church!

3. Ask that teacher to prove there isn't a God. Even the heavens declare His Glory and his very existence proves God is real. But first I would immediately repent of sending my child to a public school and get right with God and start homeschooling!!

4.Find another job, right after telling him about Sodom and Gomorrah, and the judgement of God on those two cities, Lot. Or would you rather risk vexation of spirit and lose your testimony with your family?

 

Just a note - there is nothing more to the story regarding the paper. At least nothing to defend the teacher. It was, however, not a US school. It was in Canada. That is where her parents are stationed in their mission work.

My Aunt and Uncle approached that situation this way. They went to the teacher, asking for the teacher's grading criteria on the paper. (Did it involve spelling, composition, were they looking for a certain style of writing.) With that in hand, they went to the school's principal and gave him the criteria and a copy of the paper. The only "change" made from the original to the copy was to "block out" the grade already given. They asked him to grade it.

He gave the paper an A.

They then explained that they were curious over why my cousin received an F.

The principal spoke to the teacher with them. It turned out to be exactly what it looked like. The teacher was an athiest, and had been using the class to further athiestic ideas.

The grade was changed, by order of the principal, but my cousin spent the remainder of the semester suffering persecution for the run-in.

When asked if they would have changed anything, my cousin, Aunt and Uncle all say they only wish they had insisted my cousin be allowed to read her paper to the class.

 

Jim,

I think along the same lines.
It really worries me when people decide to take the "safe" and "easy" route in regards to Christ, because I know where we would be if Christ had chosen the "easy" route instead of the path He took.

I believe I did the right thing in scenario one. I think it was important that the teacher in question know that she was interpreting the law incorrectly.

In Scenario 2, I think the man should have used the opportunity to witness to the young man. If someone later brought it up to the school board as a violation of any separation of church and state law, the man had only to say, "The boy asked me a personal question about my life, I answered."

In Scenario 3: I think my Aunt and Uncle handled the situation well. They took it to the supervisor of the teacher, and they used it as a chance to teach my cousin that sometimes standing up for Christ will result in negative consequences, but you should STILL put Christ first.

I was caught in Scenario 4. I did change jobs, but it took me a long time to get out of there. The stance I took during that time period was, "I respect the fact that you do not share my convictions, but you are not asking me to "not discriminate" against a certain lifestyle, you are asking me to endorse it, and I cannot do that. You can fire me over it, and I can sue you for firing me over it. I will do anything my job requires that is reasonable, but this is unreasonable and I won't do it. You wouldn't ask me to teach a religion, and in my eyes, and my heart, this IS a religious issue."

The fact is, the place is being sued right now over religious persecution.

I notice someone said they don't want others teaching their children about other faiths, and I want you to know, I respect and understand that view. I don't really share it though.

I discuss other faiths with my children so that they will be better prepared to face the challenges that will come their way, and so they can witness to members of other faiths more effectively. We discuss what other faiths teach, and compare it to what Christ teaches, and we discuss how to approach the differences in a loving way, vs a contraversial way.

When I was in high school the church I attended was sued by Madelyn Murray O'Hare. An effort of hers to shut us down. She used zoning laws. She also showed up at my high school PTA meeting to protest the opening prayer.

I grew up in a world where almost everyone claimed a church home, whether they attended or not. Everyone prayed, especially in public gatherings. There was a respect for Christ, even by the lost. No one was mocked for belief in Christ. We prayed at graduation and at sports events. We had bible studies on school grounds.

Then slowly that all changed. It began with the dismissal of the morning prayer. Something that I was actually glad to see go. I'm really not fond of "canned prayer," and think it should be sincere. Those morning announcement prayers never came across as sincere.

Then one day my sister's school was sued for having a bible study on the high school campus. The principal and the teacher pointed out that it was totally voluntary, and that it was held before classes, so it shouldn't bother anyone. The stance of the athiest group was, "it is on public property so it doesn't belong."

Then, I learned that moral lessons that I sort of grew up with were no longer allowed because some people didn't have any morals and they wanted their rights not to respected. Remember the stories that taught things like, "don't lie," and "family matters?" They vanished from text books.

People said, "oh, well, that's fair. I don't want them teaching their morals to me, so lets not teach any morals."

Suddenly the schools were unruly, the teachers were afraid, the kids were armed, and.. they were teaching a new morals that I couldn't swallow. They were teaching kids that homosexuality was perfectly normal, that extra-marital sex as a child was "safe." In the name of trying to be supportive of single parents, they painted pictures of two-parents homes as "weird." You could teach evolution, but not creation.

At the same time, they were banning people from speaking who disagreed with their view.

In one class students were told to study the religions of the world, and told they could write about anything EXCEPT Chrstianity. (Yes, they were challenged on that one legally.)

Now, my children are in a world where people are openly hostile to Christians. We're mocked as ignorant in prime time television shows and movies. When someone goes insane, and acts in the most unChristian manner any of us can imagine, such as drowning their children, they are front page news as an example to the world of why Chrisians don't belong in the world. Let someone do something wonderful in the name of Christ and it doesn't even make the paper.

I have recently seen people call for the elimination of all Christian teachings anywhere outside of a church building. In America we think this can't happen. I wonder why we think that. It happened in China, Russia, Saudia Arabia.... why do we think it can't happen here too?

Christians don't help this image when we "hide" our faith. If the world labels us as ignorant, and those of us who are educated don't say, "Wait a minute, I'm a Christian," is it their fault or our own that they think educated people aren't Christian?

I don't think I should shove my faith down someone's throat. I can't force someone to Christ, but I think I MUST stand up and say, "I am a Christian," before I lose the right spiritually or earthly, to do so.

 

TCassidy - I like that Jag Officer.

 

More evidences of "Christians" burying their heads in the sand! An outright disobedience of the command found in Jude to "earnestly contend for the faith", and to think some would actually "not carry a Bible" THINKING IT IS A "ROADBLOCK"


More like a road barrier to try and prevent others from being cast headlong into the gorge because the bridge is out.