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Homeschool Will Not Save Them By Scarlett Clay I shall be telling this with a sigh. of learning about our Creator and his creation. Like the woman of .. Two roads diverged in a wood, Proverbs, I smiled at the future. A Heart Revealed and I — Fast-forward to my daughter’s I took the one less traveled by. . . And it didn’t make the difference first year at the university. She came home one day and told me I had hoped for. “I had believed teaching her at she had watched a film in biology class that showed a whale with legs. home would save her.” Over a decade ago, I made the I laughed. She didn’t. Instead, she life-changing decision to teach my said these impossible words, “Mom, child at home. Our guest room I don’t believe the Bible is true anybecame a school room, our office more. I’m not a Christian.” As she spoke these words, there turned into a library, and the big wide world was our field trip desti- was a dresser in her old bedroom nation. I pored over homeschool upstairs covered with trophies. Her catalogs, accumulating materials competitive speeches on creationthat honored God in all subjects. ism, human value, and the defense Lovely hours were spent reading of the Christian faith had won rich literature, full of timeless sto- bronze, silver, and gold medals for ries of faith and courage. There was five years. This wasn’t a grown plenty of time to draw pictures, child who lacked biblical knowledge or apologetic training. This watch birds, and capture bugs. She memorized Scripture verses was a young woman’s heart in AWANA club and learned the revealed, a heart “deceitful above books of the Bible, days of cre- all things, and desperately wicked” ation, and the Ten Commandments (Jeremiah 17:9 KJV), and it was by heart. They were beautiful days just like my own heart had been that passed into gratifying years; before I had truly repented and and together, we reveled in the joy trusted in Christ.
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My daughter had never been reborn. My confidence had been misplaced. Months passed before I could fully accept that one of mine was not one of his — at least not yet. Crushing self-condemnation followed. I spent over ten years investing in her soul daily, and what was there to show for those efforts? I looked around at all the homeschooling families we knew, and they appeared to be models of godly excellence, graduating faithful and fruitful young adults year after year. None of their children departed to a far country. Despair hung heavy, as I seemed to have failed in the most monumental task of my life: the discipleship of my child. Salvation or Your Money Back “Months passed before I could fully accept that one of mine was not one of his — at least not yet.” Christian philosopher J.P. Moreland says we should try to have as many true beliefs as we can and reject as many false beliefs as we
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The Lord God of hosts, He who touches the earth and it melts, and all who dwell there mourn; all of it shall swell like the River, and subside like the River of Egypt. – Amos 9:5
can. In the months following our daughter’s announcement, I realized that I had held a false belief. I had believed teaching her at home would save her. Now, if you would’ve asked me this directly, I would’ve denied it. I knew in my head every individual had to repent, believe, and put their trust in Christ personally to be saved. Nonetheless, an idea had taken root, sprouted, and grown over the years, and it was this: By giving my child a distinctively Christian education, I was ensuring she would turn out Christian. It had been like a private insurance policy I had taken out with God. I thought he had agreed to my terms. In retrospect, the idea was not entirely my own. As I recall, the notion was, and still is, fairly pervasive in homeschooling catalogs and conferences. Calls are issued forth to “raise up the next generation of See HOMESCHOOL on Page
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