By: David Goodrich, MiDDLE SCHOOL PRINCIPAL

Today’s culture can be defined and interpreted through the lens of existentialism. Our political and cultural landscape has embraced much of twentieth century philosopher Jean-Paul Satre’s view of existence and human purpose …

• Existentialism avows that neither God nor absolute truth exist and, thus, promotes the total autonomy of a person outside a ruling creator or sovereign god. 

• Existentialism states that the world is illogical and without hope.

• Existentialism declares that man is free from imposed moral values and each person is their own authority concerning truth.

• Existentialism believes that existence precedes essence.

How are we to raise Christ followers and leaders in a culture that interprets everything through this framework. Does truth exist? Whose truth is truth?  How are we as Christians called to respond? What truths are essential to equip future generations? 

NAVIGATING OUR CULTURE

In the current cultural and political landscape, my wife and I often wonder, “What is the right course to successfully raise our three boys to love and fear the Lord. Do we remove them from the culture? Do we just ignore the prevailing winds of change and hold on to the ways of the past?”

Personally, we have a chosen a path that embraces a blended approach, accepting both the timeless and the timely. Our goal as parents is to equip our sons to be “culturally competent” without becoming “culturally relevant.”

CLINGING TO TRUTH

As parents and Christian educators, we must cling to the truth of the gospel and work together to equip our children to live in this cultural landscape.

We must lay deep into our students and children’s lives the truth and promises found in God’s word …

• We must set an example for our children: “Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old, he will not depart from it.” Proverbs 22:6.

• We must be in awe of the Lord and seek His wisdom: “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight.” Proverbs 9:10

• We must not forsake godly discipline: Tedd Tripp, in his book “Shepherding a Child’s Heart,” states that discipline should be a “focus on the heart rather than external behavior.”

• And as Bobby Scott reminded us in his blog last week, we must talk to our children about all aspects of life to prepare them to live in our culture while remaining true to who the Lord made them to be: “You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.” Deuteronomy 6:7

Let’s continue to build on what our covenant community has been learning about timeless and timely parenting and education as we continue to point our children to the timeless truth of the gospel.