Neighborhood Ministries

K-Value of Education-     A Democracy needs people who understand the problems we face and can make wise decisions based on facts. That requires a public school system open to all that teaches children what they will need to know to make wise decisions. Our country became great because of the spread of free public education open to everyone. The schools originally taught students about issues relating to history, government, and social problems and taught kids to study both sides of a question in order to determine the right course of action. They used essay questions, so the students learned how to evaluate problems and make wise decisions. Many of our schools now seek to indoctrinate rather then educate. They teach students to memorize facts and accept the answers given by the teacher through true and false or multiple-choice questions.  The only acceptable answer is the one the teacher gives. They also teach them distorted history in order to indoctrinate them to be submissive subjects. While issues were once debated, those who question the accepted views now are often ridiculed or silenced. If students don’t see the problems of the past and accurately see what worked and what didn’t, they can’t make wise decisions about what course the nation should take in the future.

Value of Truth -Nothing is more important in understanding the past than the truth. At Jesus’ trial, many accused Jesus but they had conflicting testimony.  Finally, Pilate got tired of the arguing. As he questioned Jesus, Jesus stated that he came to proclaim the truth but Pilate asked, “what is truth?” (John 19:37-38) Liberals say there is no absolute truth-Truth is what you believe to be true. As a result it may vary from one person to the next. In essence, they can never lie because whatever they say is considered truth by them. Therefore we need to weigh carefully what they say. When they support climate change for instance, they consider that true. They seek evidence to support it and if any evidence contradicts that, they dismiss it as irrelevant. They give the appearance of basing their ideas on science, but do not really seek the truth, they only seek evidence to prove their theories. In fact, the belief that the world is the result of chance accidents actually discourages scientific discovery because it denies that there are any set laws that govern the universe. They do not believe that there are any set laws to be explored. Everything is a matter of throwing things together in the off chance that it will create something useful. In addition, research is limited to those things that will benefit the researcher.

Christians believe there is an inherent truth that does not change. They look at the evidence to decide what is true and if new evidence comes in to the contrary, they change their idea of what is true. While liberals say that science and faith are at odds with each other, in fact science proves faith every day. True believers support scientific discovery to learn more about how the world works so they can develop new things to make life better. Understanding natural laws gives you a starting point that enables you to follow a line of reasoning to a logical conclusion. Discovery isn’t a matter of chance, it is simply following a trail to the end. Science is the discovery of the laws that govern the universe and then developing things based on those laws that make life better. Research may seek to develop many ideas that won’t benefit the researcher but will have great benefit to someone else.

Value of time- Too often today history is portrayed as a meaningless list of names and dates to remember for a test and then we promptly forgot them. My mother was a genealogist who studied the family history. It wasn’t simply an exercise to prove we were descendants from the Pilgrims so she could join the Mayflower Society, but a real interest in our family’s history. She didn’t just rack up a list of names and dates but took a real interest in who they were and what they did. The family history was the story of our family, the struggles they went through, the obstacles they overcame, and the tragedies they endured. However, it was much more. We  can learn from the mistakes and successes of the past. There is an old saying that he who does not remember the past is destined to repeat its mistakes. God showed how He valued history when He ordained three celebrations that the Israelites were to celebrate forever, not just for a while. Each celebration was designed to teach important aspects of the faith and had three aspects. It had a past physical event that explained an important part of the faith and was to be remembered. It also had a present to celebrate it which reenacted the event. It reminded everyone of its meaning in order to teach the children, and to remind the adults. At each celebration, the oldest boy or girl would stand and ask why they were celebrating it. The father would then explain the past event and its meaning.  The celebration would also remind them of a future physical event. The event  would fulfill a spiritual promise that God had made. (see the lesson on the celebrations in the course “Basic Christian Beliefs”)  Had the Jews remembered what the celebrations meant and what the prophets had foretold, they would have recognized what Christ was doing as He carried out what was predicted in the Passover meal.