Tomato Plants And Computers
Today I feel apprehensive—more than a little depressed as I sit writing this at seven in the morning.
The day itself is apprehensive. Fog has come “on little cat feet,” in Carl Sandburg’s words. It is unseasonably cold.
My mood is deepened by a letter I have just read. A man I do not know writes, “God says think positive. He made our minds like a computer: negative garbage in, negative garbage out. Positive thinking comes from God, negative thinking comes from Satan. The Christian should always be happy and upbeat.”
I’m not so sure.
In the providence of God (or by coincidence, if you want it that way), my morning reading fell in Psalm 6, where David wrote, “Pity me, Lord, I have no strength left. Heal me; my bones are in torment, my soul is in utter torment. Lord, how long will it be?… I am worn out with groaning; every night I drench my pillow and soak my bed with tears. My eye is wasted with grief.”
Thank you, Lord.
Last night, on a lovely, peaceful evening, I planted some tomato plants. They stood strong in the dimming light.
This morning they are drooping. But they’ll recover, aided by overcast sky and dampness of the day. They will grow until fruit appears.
Thank you for making me like a tomato plant, Lord, not like a computer.
EUTYCHUS VIII
Education Blueprint
I read with interest but real sadness the article “Should Churches Buy Into the Education Business?” (May 5). Perhaps a more appropriate question would be, “Should Christian parents and the church have disobeyed God by allowing their children to be educated by those who do not acknowledge his position in his universe and in particular the life of the individual?” As Mr. Willimon tackled the many issues with which he dealt, I was sorry to note that he did not look to the scriptures as his final authority on the matter. It would appear that he wrote out of a heart of love that was highly conditioned by situations created by man that were in conflict with Scripture rather than in response to a blueprint for educating the children of believers as laid down in the Word by God himself.
HERMAN VAN SCHUYVER
Director
National Association of Christian Schools
Wheaton. III.
Willimon’s article seems to have been written by one whose glasses only admit the light of racial issues. Whatever else is in it seems to be poorly founded opinion, confusion of fact, and less than responsible journalism. It may be that some schools are racially motivated. Personally, I have never encountered one. But to count Christian schools as illegitimate on that basis is absurd.
DAVID H. JINNO
Gray, Maine
I think Willimon needs to be reminded that for ten years those taking the S.A.T. tests have seen their scores dropping steadily in the public schools while eighth graders in the Christian schools can read at a tenth grade level. In public schools it now costs us $21,000 to take a student from K through 12. That is four times what we paid for public education in 1960. Our Christian education, which I believe gives quality education, only costs $9,800. Willimon needs to be reminded that last year in our public school system across America there were 100 murders, 12,000 armed robberies, 9,000 rapes, 204,000 assaults. Violence and vandalism cost the taxpayers 600 million dollars in 1977.… I would urge Christian parents to send their children to Christian schools where they can be rooted and grounded in the Word of the Lord and move out from there as missionaries to their community.
JACK WYRTZEN
Director
Word of Life International
Schroon Lake, N.Y.
Although the Willimon article pointed to blatant weaknesses in some kinds of Christian day schools, it was a singularly uninformed and superficial treatment of the idea of Christian education. The idea of Christian education is rooted in a biblical answer to what H.R. Niebuhr called the “enduring problem” of Christ and culture. That biblical answer, in the creation-redemptive perspective, is inhospitable to all forms of liberal culture-religion on the one hand and of fundamentalist dualisms on the other. Evangelicals must articulate that biblical answer in a way that acknowledges worldly obedience as religious obligation until the Lord returns. That articulation is required in our discussions of economics, of the arts, of social problems, and, most dramatically of all, in our discussions about educating young Christians.
This tie-in between the idea of Chirstian education and the Christ and culture problem has long concerned thoughtful evangelicals in discussions about higher Christian education. We should tie the two together in our discussions about Christian day schools too. CHRISTIANITY TODAY owes its readers a more thoughtful discussion of such schools than the Willimon article presents.
N. H. BEVERSLUIS
Professor of Education
Calvin College
Grand Rapids, Mich.
Thanks for Willimon’s article. He is so right in that the greatest mission field in the world today is America’s public schools. He clearly pinpointed the obligations of parents and church to the children from Christian homes. And that is to strengthen them to become witnesses to their peers—not remove the salt from the public schools. Nor is it to smugly insulate those children in a contrived atmosphere—Christian children, Christian friends, Christian schools, Christian teachers—and then expect them to cope with a secular world or university upon graduation.
God still has his remnant in our public schools. There are thousands of Christians teaching there, and as Willimon says, they desperately need the support of Christian parents and the association with Christian students. Many public school Christian teachers have banded together and united their witness through National Educators Fellowship, headquartered at 1410 West Colorado, Pasadena, California 91105. This growing organization has but one mission—to lead Christian teachers in upholding Christ in their classrooms. And we, too, need the prayers of Christian parents that God will prosper this urgently needed work.
E. A. PATCHEN
Executive Secretary
National Educators Fellowship
South Pasadena, Calif.
Eutychus Forgiven
Eutychus VIII made a lot of “cents” in his dialogue about “Junk and Jesus” (May 5). Much shoddiness is called evangelism. However, the last time I had a dollar bill (a real one), it was Washington’s picture and not Lincoln’s I saw. But then Eutychus can be forgiven of that mistake since he is not an American and lived a long time ago.
BOYD L. BAKER
Pleasant Valley Baptist Church
Camarillo, Calif.
