Dualism

By Harold Klassen, Educational consultant, TeachBeyond, Abbotsford, BC

It seems to me that the solution to the problem of how to reach the unchurched world is to provide seeker-friendly schools instead of seeker-friendly churches. Isn’t it somewhat incongruous that we have strict entrance requirements for Christian schools while attempting to get as many people as possible to come to “church?”

By Dr. Arthur Jones of the West Yorkshire School of Christian Studies (WYSOCS)

The Western world generally regards religion as a marginalised affair of little or no relevance to public life. This paper argues that this assessment is correct and reflects a massive failure of Christian discipleship. Many churches have been so influenced by modern worldliness that they have lost key elements of Gospel distinctiveness. The paper examines both the secular influences and Biblical teaching in order to suggest first steps towards a re-establishment of effective Christian discipleship.

By Glen Schultz, May 3, 2020, in his Kingdom Education Ministries blog

If I have been asked this question once, I have been asked it hundreds of times. It is asked most often after I have presented information about how dangerous secular education is to our children’s and grandchildren’s future.

Why are Christian parents, pastors and church leaders unwilling to address the issue of education biblically?

Having been asked this so many times and trying to prayerfully answer it, I have come to the conclusion that the main reason this isn’t happening is DUALISM! This is a term that I first read about in the late Dr. Albert Greene’s book, Recapturing the Future of Christian Education.

By Glen Schultz on March 16, 2015 in the Kingdom Education Ministries blog, reprinted in Renewanation, 2016-08-30

I have referred to Colossians 2:8 in several posts in recent weeks. It is Paul’s warning to Christians about the danger of being taken captive by false philosophies or ideas. There is one person who made a statement over 100 years ago that has ended up taking millions of children captive to a dangerous false idea over the years. I remember well studying about this man when I was in elementary school. He was held in high esteem in both the textbooks I read and the teachers I had. His name was Horace Mann.

By John Stonestreet in September 6, 2016, BreakPoint

Christian Overman, who directs the Seattle-based Worldview Matters and is a commissioned Colson Fellow, believes—and I largely agree—that we’ve lost the culture because we’ve lost our schools—including, in some cases, important distinctives that make Christian schools, well, Christian. “The shaping of nations begins in the minds of children,” Chris says. “Nation-shaping ideas acquired in elementary and secondary schools are not immediately felt on a national level because it takes time for little acorns to grow into giant oaks. But grow they will.”

In a new, thought-provoking e-book, “The Lost Purpose for Learning,” Chris articulates clearly what has gone awry and offers a systemic, intentional, and repeatable solution for Christian school teachers and headmasters, Sunday school workers, and other church personnel who interact with students between the ages of 4 and 18. Come to BreakPoint.org/free to get a free copy of “The Lost Purpose for Learning” to read and to share. It’s simply “must-reading” for Christians involved in education.

By Christian Overman in Worldview Matters, January 2, 2018

Millions of children from Christian homes are indoctrinated daily in the tenets of secularism—by means of silence from two sides.

Separating the Word of God from academics in school has spawned a debilitating yet popular mindset known as “SSD,” or the “Sacred-Secular Divide.” This dualism constricts the Light of Scripture to Sunday morning sermons, and does not apply it to business, law, medicine, art, civil governance or anything else outside the four walls of a church.

A secularized math class that never explores how numbers fit into God’s plan for humans to govern over all of creation, is as senseless as a secularized Sunday School. Once education becomes secularized, God’s Word can then be marginalized, privatized, and made solely personal.

When dualism reigns, Christianity is not applicable to the public square, or to the daily workplace. It’s only good for Sunday morning services, and nothing beyond.

By Christian Overman in Worldview Matters, Friday, February 9, 2018

If the Bible is irrelevant to the most important things taught in school, then it will certainly be irrelevant to the most important things outside of school, too. This is the devilish outcome of dualism. In the end, we all lose.

Is it any wonder the biblical foundations for law, civil government, economics and family that once provided accepted harbor lights for our society have been replaced? The incessant move toward the secularization of education and the privatization of Christianity has been enormously successful, being expedited greatly through elementary and secondary schools.

Is it any wonder our youth are disinterested in church today, since Christianity is deemed irrelevant to the majority of their waking hours?