What? No Thread About Pinckney's Proposed Resolution?

This is a "debate" forum.
The Home Schooling is a "fellowship" forum.
We cannot debate this subject in the
Home Schooling forum.

Of course, I agree with what RandR said, which
kind of precludes a debate, eh?

 

it's a sad day when christians would even think to propose such a 'resolution.' how are we to be a light unto the world with our gates locked?

what is even sadder is that, according to the article, the schools are the only ones at fault for society going down hill.

oh how i wish they would stop focusing on so called 'resolutions' and focus on individuals. society does not change because of resolutions. (If you haven't noticed, Disney is still going strong and putting out less than 'godly' stuff stuff)

society changes one person at a time. and christ is the one who changes them.

let's pray for that type of change!

 

Hard to debate that.
I agree.

 

Amen, Brother Greek Geek -- Preach it!

Oops, we are going to have a hard time debating
as long as we are all in one accord

 

No debate here. This is the stupidiest thing I have heard of in a long time.

 

He's going Nation Wide with a resolution that has yet to be introduced to the Resolution Committee not even in session yet!!

Talk about confidence in its passage!!

Of course, passage of resolutions means nothing---

he should try to "amend" the SBC's constitution or try to amend the BF & M 2000 and see how far he gets!

Registration on the BaptistBoard.com forums is free!

[ May 06, 2004, 05:25 PM: Message edited by: blackbird ]

 

Sorry, I think it's a ploy for some in the SBC to get themselves some media spotlight.

 

Johnv??? A bunch of "Is Nots" wanting to be "wannta be'"s??

 

I actually discovered this site while searching for more opinions on the Resolution. Following is an excerpt from a letter I wrote to my pastor, Jack Graham, who is the outgoing president of the SBC:

"The doctrinal background of the Resolution is absolutely correct, but the conclusions drawn and the actions suggested are in direct opposition to the doctrinal passages sited. The idea that the father is the pastor of the family, and that parents are responsible for the daily and lifelong education of their children is correct. My wife and I take that responsibility very seriously. Our boys have grown up in Plano public schools, and we have always made it a point to be involved in the schools, but most importantly we have diligently reviewed with our boys the things they have learned each day in school, and used the Bible as a lense through which they can view the concepts they have learned. If they continue to receive a quality education, and if the schools remain safe, our sons will continue to attend public schools. The issue is not whether children should attend public or Christian school, but rather it is whether parents will make the effort necessary to fulfill their duties as parents! If a child attends a Christian school, but the parents are not demonstrating a living faith at home, the conflicting message will drive the child away from his faith instead of making it stronger.

Our sons are both high school students in Plano. Matt will be a senior this fall at Plano Senior High, and Mark will be a sophomore at Vines High School. Each of them come home almost daily with stories about opportunities they have had to minister to kids at school. We have trained both boys in effective evangelism and fairly advanced apologetics, and both boys use these tools as a way of life. And while teachers are prohibited from sharing biblical concepts at school, students are not, and many shrewd teachers have used our boys to share the gospel to entire classrooms of kids. We would much rather our kids learn to stand up to opposition and build a strong faith while they are still at home, and while we have the ability to disciple them daily, than to shelter them until adulthood and then hope they remember what they have been taught. Faith is a muscle that must be exercised or it will be weak in ineffective.

When I printed out a copy of the Resolution reviewed it with my family, we were outraged. Matt is a violinist and will be attending the Southern Baptist Convention with the Prestonwood Orchestra. He commented that it would be extremely ironic if the resolution were brought to the floor while he was sitting with the orchestra on the podium. The only high school student involved in the program would be a product of public schools, and arguably better versed in evangelism and apologetics than many of the representatives in the crowd.

While I doubt you support the Pickney-Shortt Education Resolution, I just wanted to make a case for the opposition. If we withdraw believers from our educational system, who will stand as salt and light in the classrooms each day?"

This Resolution will probably never see the light of day!

David

 

I sent mine on Monday via US Mail, so I am sure Jack's office has received it by now. His travel schedule is ridiculous right now until his presidency ends, so he has probably not seen the letter yet. But I think I know his outlook on this, and I would be shocked if he did not do everything possible to block this.

What do the authors hope to gain?

 

On the other hand, I welcome a public discussion of how and why we educate our kids.
My family is SBC. I thank God for the Wesleyans in my town who have provided a WONDERFUL school my children attend. We have sacrificed a lot to do this.
My oldest is now off to Oklahoma Baptist University, a wonderful but expensive school. It will call for a lot of sacrifice. Many kids graduate from there with noticeable debt.

I would welcome conversations at the Convention level about how to make such options available to more families. Let's not hastily assume that people who bring up resolutions just want personal power.

No, I'm not against public schools or Christian influence there. The public schools in my town are full of Christian teachers. I am a regular substitute teacher in public school.

No, I'm not shielding my own kids from the real world. They have many opportunities to interact with non-Christians.

Karen

 

The following report appeared last week in the Biblical Recorder, the newspaper of the NC Baptist State Convention:

General Board takes stands on social issues
By Tony W. Cartledge
BR Editor
ASHEBORO - The Baptist State Convention's (BSC) General Board adopted positions on three social issues but declined to weigh in on the convention's Cooperative Missions Giving plans during its spring meeting May 18-19 at Caraway.

The General Board adopted a statement affirming Christian involvement in public schools, and approved a dual motion to oppose same-sex marriage and a North Carolina lottery.
Public schools

The statement regarding public schools came in response to a highly publicized attempt by Virginian T.C. Pinckney and Texan Bruce Shortt to have the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) approve a resolution encouraging Christian parents to pull their children out of public schools. Their proposed resolution, which has been submitted to the SBC resolutions committee, describes "a dark and decaying public school system" that is "godless" and "anti-Christian," and "run by the enemies of God." It urges parents to put their children into private Christian schools or home-school them to ensure that they have a "thoroughly Christian education." Many observers do not expect the proposal to make it out of the resolutions committee in its present form.
Citing publicity surrounding the proposal, however, Marvin Gold of Shallotte urged the Executive Committee to speak out in defense of public education, and the committee asked the BSC's Council on Christian Life and Public Affairs to draft a statement for the General Board to consider.

The statement affirms "the ultimate responsibility of all parents for their children's education, and their right to choose alternatives to public education."
"We also affirm the historic value of our public schools, which have contributed positively to the culture and society of our country, giving all children equal opportunity to better themselves," the statement said.

The statement concluded: "We affirm those who strive to bring salt and light into our public school systems, and encourage all Christians to exercise responsible citizenship by participating on the local, state and national levels to bring positive influence to bear on the lives of our public school students, teachers and administrators."
The statement was approved on a voice vote, with some opposition.

 

Karen:

I too would welcome such a discussion. But if you read the text of the Resolution, it basically states that Christian school and home school are the only viable options for a responsible SBC family. I think that approach is extremely harmful. Each family must make a decision based upon the options available. The schools in our neighborhood are excellent, and while most of our district is very good we would not place our children in certain other schools in the district. But for our family, public schools have worked well, and our boys are now 10th and 12th grades as of last Friday. (Our oldest will head off next year to the other OBU, Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia, AR.)

The most important piece of the equation is parental involvement. We are ultimately responsible for how and what our children are taught. If we do not model faithful service to Jesus in our daily lives, it does not matter where the kids go to school, they will be turned away by our false faith. On the other hand, if we live out our faith daily and spend time teaching our children to view the world through the lens of scripture, they will grow strong in their own faith.

To make the assumption that the decision of the Pinckney and Shortt families is the only one that a strong family should make is wrong. A resolution to proceed in seeking out ways to make alternatives available to more families would be great for the SBC. That would bring about healthy discussion.

I'll step down from my soapbox now!

David