Is It OK for Christians to Send Their Child to a Public School?

Is it okay for Christians to send their child to a public school? That's just one of the questions we'll be answering on today's edition of CORE Christianity. Hi, this is Bill Meyer, along with Pastor Adriel Sanchez, and this is the radio program where we answer your questions about the Bible and the Christian life every day. You can call and ask your question at this number, 833-THE-CORE. That's 1-833-843-2673.

You can also leave a voicemail that number 24 hours a day. You can also feel free to email us your question. Here's our email address. It's questions at corechristianity.com. First up, let's go to Sarah in Las Vegas, Nevada. Sarah, what's your question for Adriel? Hello, my question today is about Christians and fitness.

It's kind of a two-part question. How can Christians maintain a healthy relationship with food and fitness and better their bodies without falling into vanity for those of us who may need to lose or gain weight? And would it be idolatrous if we are motivated to make ourselves more attractive or healthier for our spouses?

Thank you. Hey, Sarah, great question. I don't think that that would be idolatry. Now, of course, people can turn, you know, food and fitness into an idol. That is, they can turn it into something that is all-consuming for them and really takes the place of God in their lives. Paul says about the false teachers in, I think it's Philippians chapter 3, that their God is their belly.

And so this is a real problem. Gluttony is a sin, but you can also have the sin of vanity and just sort of chasing after this image, this picture of beauty that is all-consuming and gets in the way of loving your neighbor and your relationship with the Lord. And so I think we just need to make sure that the way we receive food and the way we approach exercise is ordered correctly in our life. One chapter, I think, that could be helpful here for you is 1 Timothy chapter 4. There, Paul gives a warning to Timothy. He says, the Spirit expressly says that in the later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits in the teaching of demons through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. For everything created by God is good and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer. And so we ought to receive our food with thanksgiving, with joy. And in fact, Jesus told us to pray for and about these things in the Lord's Prayer when he taught us to pray, give us this day our daily bread. And so these temporal needs that we have, the need for food, for example, and just, you know, physical health, bodily health, those are the good things, things we were commanded to pray about, to think about. Obviously, you know, we want to live healthy lives. We don't want to treat these bodies that God has given to us in a way that would be dishonoring to the Lord. And so I think, I mean, this is something that we don't oftentimes talk about in the church, but food and exercise, diet, those types of things, this is one of the ways that we're good stewards of the gifts that God has given to us, including the gift of life and the gift of our bodies.

And so it's just not making food or exercise ultimate, it's realizing the place that it has in our life. And Paul goes on to say actually there in 1 Timothy chapter 4, verse 7, I mean, he touches on exercise too. He says, have nothing to do with irreverent silly myths, rather train yourself for godliness, for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. And so Paul doesn't deny the value of physical exercise, and I don't think he says you shouldn't physically exercise or you can't physically exercise as a Christian. No, it has it has value, but it's not as valuable as godliness, which has even more value, value in every way because it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. So the person who is consumed with their physical appearance but does not tend to their spiritual well-being, their growth in grace, their understanding of God's word, their participation in the local church, well, that person's life is disordered and they're making something that is of some value, bodily exercise of ultimate value in their life.

And so that's where we just need to be careful and cautious. And I would encourage you and all believers to be mindful about the things that we're eating, to enjoy the food that you eat, giving thanks to the Lord for it and saying, Lord, I mean, I am just, if you know me and Bill knows this because you've been to my house for dinner, I love food. I love good food. I love tacos and cheeseburgers and I mean those kinds of things.

Exactly. And I give thanks to the Lord from my heart for all of those delicious things. And I also like to exercise. I know Bill does too, Bill. I know you do some cycling and I know your biceps. I mean, you have to do curls.

You definitely do curls, right? You do. There you go. See, I could see it.

So, and so it's good, but it's not ultimate. We give thanks to the Lord for those things, for food, for our physical health. But we're committed also to growing in grace and prioritizing that relationship with the Lord.

So well said. By the way, I was at the gym the other day and this guy, this big hulking bearded dude walks up to me and he's smiling at me and I'm trying to figure out, do I know this guy? And I've forgotten that I had, I was wearing the t-shirt from my church, which says, extend grace on it. And he walks up and he smiles.

He goes, like your shirt. I said, thank you. I love that, Bill. I think that's, I've had, I'm sure you got a lot of gym stories. I definitely, when I was in college, I played on an intramural basketball team and our team was called the Philistines. And so I had, I had a shirt with that word on it, the Philistines. And I wore that to the gym. And I tell you what, I got a lot of dirty looks. I remember thinking like, why are people looking at me like this? And then I realized I have a shirt. This is, people are probably offended by my shirt.

And so I never, I never wore it to the gym again. So they thought the Philistines were an opponent of the chargers. I'm what were they thinking? I mean, I don't, I don't know.

I don't know, but yeah. Well, this is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. If you have a question about the Bible or the Christian life, you can email us anytime. Here's our email address. It's questions at core Christianity.com.

Here's an email from one of our listeners named Rachel. She says, my child is about to enter high school. And I was talking to a friend at church and told her my child was going to be going to a public school. She said, she thought that was unbiblical.

What do you think? This is becoming, I mean, I had just had this question, a conversation with someone in our church not too long ago who was expressing to me that they felt like, I just don't see how a Christian can send their children to a public school right now in light of a lot of the things that we're seeing in the media, in public schools. And of course, you know, what we see on Twitter or Instagram or wherever it is that we're looking a lot of times, a lot of times we're just seeing the worst of the worst. I've got a lot of family members who have worked in public schools. Personally, I growing up went to public school as well.

And I know that public school is different today than it was then. But the question is, should churches, should Christians bind the consciences of other believers and say, if you do this, you are sinning? In other words, it would be a sin. It would be wrong for you to send your children to public school because look at what's happening and, you know, you show them what you saw on Twitter or whatnot. I would say that the answer to that question is no, Christians should not, that's not, if your church is saying, you know, you're sinning, if you send your kids to public school, I think that that's a problem.

And I think that they're overstepping their bounds. What we're called to as parents is to raise our children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, in the context of God's covenant community, to acquaint them with the sacred scriptures, which are able to make them wise for salvation, as Paul told Timothy. And so the question is, are you doing that?

Are you doing that? Now, if the way in which you're schooling, maybe it's a private school or a public school, is keeping you from doing that, and I think this is where the debate is often had, well, then there's an issue there. But I believe, and I've seen this, that Christian parents who are intentional, as we all need to be as parents, Christian parents who are intentional and their kids are in public school, but they're intentional about raising their children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord, studying the word of God together, talking about the faith, growing together in Christ. I think that they're doing what God has called them to do.

And of course, it's just not a one-size-fits-all type of a thing. Christian parents who send their kids to a Christian school, or maybe they just homeschool them or do the classical model of school. Look, if you're not catechizing your kids, if you're not praying with your kids, if you're not reading the scriptures with your kids, then whatever you're doing in terms of their schooling, you're not doing what you should be doing, I would say, as a parent in really acquainting your children with the truth of God's word.

And so that's the bigger issue in my mind. Also, out of the Protestant Reformation, you had an emphasis on the liberty of conscience, freedom for believers to make these kinds of decisions, decisions related to schooling or whatnot, and not to be bound by the rules of other people that weren't clearly outlined in God's word. And part of it had to do with piety, you know what I'm saying? Because you think of the medieval church coming out of Roman Catholicism, the reformers. You had things that the church would say, you have to do if you're going to be a faithful Christian.

You have to fast on these days. And of course, we could look at that and say, well, boy, isn't fasting good? Personal piety, isn't that good?

Studying the scriptures and so on and so forth. The church is just saying, you should be doing this, the best thing for you. That's kind of how a lot of people approach this question about schooling. Well, isn't it the best to do it this way? Well, look, it's not your job to bind another person's conscience where the word of God has not spoken definitively or clearly.

And I think it's clear that you can actually, no two schools are the same. I mean, that's just the reality. And so not just these blanket statements where we say you have to do this or else.

I just think that that's not helpful. I think every parent is accountable to God, has to exercise wisdom, has to think through, are we doing what God has called us to do as parents in raising our kids in the nurture and admonition of the Lord? Are we teaching them the truth?

And if that's, I mean, that's the main thing. And so I think there's grace here. I think there's freedom here, liberty of conscience. And I think that we do well not to just try to create these sort of blanket rules for everyone and then look at Christians who don't do the things that we say that they should do and judge them because of this thing that we've created. So we've got to be careful with that and let the word of God ultimately have the final word in terms of where we can say, here's what you have to do. And so, Bill, I don't know if you want to, I mean, I know your kids are older than mine. And so I know that you've thought through this.

I don't know if you'd add anything. I think it's such a struggle for parents today. And a lot of it has to do with our own local schools, because there are some states, there are some school districts that really are pushing an agenda right now. And little kids, I mean, kindergartners, first graders are being told about gender identity.

I mean, it's a big concern. So I think parents, most importantly, they need to be aware. They need to be going to school board meetings. They need to be paying attention to curriculum. They have a right as their child's parent to ask for that curriculum and take a look at it and then make their decision based on that. And I think, you know, whether they choose public schooling, homeschooling, private schooling, all of those are options that God can use in, you know, wonderful ways. But again, I think awareness and involvement are the key in today's world.

I'm really happy that you brought that up, Bill, because I don't want to minimize that. I don't want to minimize the fact that, I don't think it's happening just, this is why I said, we want to be sensitive to the fact that not every school is the exact same. And so what you heard about, you know, taking place in one school isn't necessarily happening at every school per se. And that's where I think it requires wisdom and parents to be involved, but let's also not minimize some of the dangers, right? Some of the dangers with this, if we're not involved in what our children are going to be learning or taught or indoctrinated in. And so I would never say, I think it's very clear that this is going to be something where, hey, they're just going to be, you know, force fed an agenda that is, I mean, sadly, it's not the case where it's just like, hey, let's do, you know, math and science and whatnot. Now, a lot of times there is just this agenda there. And so we need to be conscious of that.

And I don't want to minimize the significance of that and the fact that that may very well mean, yeah, this is not the best place for my children, and we're going to have to figure out something different as a family for us and for our kids. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. Let's go back to the phones. Adam is on the line. Adam, what's your question for Adriel? Adam, are you there?

I guess not. Oh, hey, Adam. Hey, do you hear me?

Yeah, I can hear you now. All right, so my question is about Jesus turning the water into wine at the wedding. I've known a lot of people to kind of use this instance as an example for drinking alcohol in moderation, and I know that even today a lot of churches use both non-alcoholic and alcoholic wine. I've seen a guy on YouTube bring up that there's plenty of places in the Bible where it warms against drunkenness and strong drink and what that can do to one's demeanor, but I just was curious about your insight as to whether or not, like, what the wine was that Jesus made that day.

Yeah. You know, Adam, I don't see any reason to think that Jesus turned water into grape juice in John chapter 2. That is, that this is, you know, like a non-alcoholic drink. What we do know is that he brings out this wine. The master of the feast tries it, and his response in verse 10 of John chapter 2 is, everyone serves a good wine first, and then when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine.

Assuming that, you know, they've had their fill, they're maybe beginning to feel the effects of this wine that they've had, so now we can bring out the stuff that doesn't taste as good, and it's not that big of a deal, but the master of the feast says, what you've done is you've kept the good wine until now. I think if that suggests anything, I mean, I think that does suggest that this isn't grape juice. This is wine. This is alcoholic wine. Now, the Bible does not say that alcohol is inherently evil.

You just aren't going to find that in scripture. It provides warnings throughout scripture against drunkenness, against being ruled by or controlled by alcohol. It also talks about some things positively that it can be used for, typically celebration. You know, you think of Isaiah, I think it's Isaiah 25, this picture of God's kingdom being a feast, a feast with with steak and well-aged wine. The kingdom of God in the new creation is pictured as this great marriage supper of the lamb, a celebration. You think of, you know, a wedding with wine and the best food, and it's just a celebration full of joy. And so in scripture, wine is a picture of celebration, of joy.

It's also a picture of forgiveness, isn't it? Here you have in John chapter 2, this is really interesting, this is something that a lot of people miss, you know, so what does Jesus do? He takes these water pots of stone, this is John chapter 2 verse 6, for the Jewish rites of purification. Each one of these has, you know, 20 or 30 gallons of water, and so he takes these stone water pots used for purification, and he turns the water into wine, an abundant amount of wine. And of course we know later in the gospels that wine is also used as the sign, the symbol of the blood of Christ, the cup of the new covenant for the forgiveness of our sins. Sometimes people will say, well, why did Jesus turn so much water into wine? I mean, you're thinking over a hundred gallons of wine, it seems here, just an immense amount of wine, and people had already drank the other stuff. I think it's a beautiful picture of how Jesus gives us more than enough. There's more than enough joy in Christ, there's more than enough grace and forgiveness. The wine, if you will, keeps flowing when we come to Jesus.

And so I would say, yeah, this is just normal alcoholic wine, but all of the warnings in scripture still stand related to drunkenness, and so we need to be mindful, we need to be cautious of that, and there's wisdom there. So thanks for giving us a call. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. I want to give you an opportunity to join a group of people that we call our inner core. These are folks that believe so much in this ministry that they've made the decision to make a monthly gift to keep us on the air.

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It's all one word, corechristianity.com forward slash inner core. Well, you can leave us a voicemail with your question 24 hours a day. Our voicemail system is operating. We do our best to go to the do our best to go through our voicemails each day and use many of them on the air. And if you have a question, feel free to call anytime, 833-THE-CORE.

That's 1-833-843-2673. Here's a voicemail from one of our listeners named Tony. I want to know if judgment on the church in Peter, what that's going to look like. Is this something we're going to see? Is the world going to see it? Is the church going to see it? Because judgment begins at the house of God.

Thank you. Yeah, 1 Peter chapter 4 verse 17, for it is time for judgment to begin at the house of God. And if it begins with us, what will be the outcome for those who do not obey the gospel of God? And if the righteous is scarcely saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner? This is in the context of Peter talking about suffering in the Christian life and how the church experiences suffering, not as evildoers, but as those who are doing good. He says, don't let anybody suffer as an evildoer. But if we're suffering for our Christian witness, for being faithful to God, for standing up for the truth, we should expect that. Let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler. Yet if one suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name. And it's right there that he says, now judgment is coming to the house of God.

And what does that look like specifically? I think if you go to Jesus' letters in the book of Revelation, chapters two and three, where he talks to each of these churches, seven different churches, and to some of them he warns of judgment because they're not dealing with the sin in their midst. And those judgments look like different things in each of these particular churches. But essentially at the end of the day, it looks like the church shutting down.

It looks like the work of God's spirit no longer taking place there. They've rejected the word. They've rejected the truth. And so as a result, Christ shudders the church. I also think of another instance where we see the judgment of God on the church is in 1 Corinthians 11, where Paul talks about taking the Lord's Supper rightly. And if we don't, if we eat in unbelief or unrepentance, we eat and drink judgment to ourselves.

And he says, for this reason, many of you are sick and weak, and some have even died. And so there it's a physical judgment. So it can look like different things depending on the judgment specifically. Sometimes it's not something that the world outside can just see, like a lightning bolt from heaven or something like that. But it's something deeper that's something deeper that's taking place within the church. And so our job is to be focused on the word of God and to cling to it, to the truth, and growing in the grace of Christ. Thanks for that question.

So well said. This is Quora Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. Let's go back to the phones. Maria is on the line from New Mexico. Maria, what's your question for Pastor Adriel? Hey, Maria, are you there? Oh, I am.

I thought it was going to go by the recording. OK, my question. Now you're live. You're here. We're here.

What's your question? Oh, that's scary. You shouldn't have told me that. Well, any rate, I did not see the advertisements on the Super Bowl.

Didn't watch Super Bowl. But the comments that you made earlier today, I thought were a little odd because even though it might tell them something about Jesus, you know, loving the enemies or that type of thing and getting people's attention and getting them thinking about Jesus, it's not the gospel. We got to tell people about sin and how they need to be washed in the blood of the Lamb. You're totally right. I don't mean to cut you off.

We only have about 15 seconds left. You're totally right. So we had talked on a previous broadcast about those Super Bowl ads.

And you're right. They don't present the gospel in its fullness. I think what they intended to do is just introduce people to this conversation. But we do need to get to the actual message of the gospel, which is what Christ has done for us to forgive our sins and to grant us eternal life. Thank you for reaching out to us, Maria. Thanks for listening to Core Christianity. To request your copy of today's special offer, visit us at CoreChristianity.com and click on offers in the menu bar or call us at 1-833-843-2673. That's 833-THE-CORE. When you contact us, please let us know how you've been encouraged by this program. And be sure to join us next time as we explore the truth of God's word together.