Over and over again I have talked with parents and grandparents whose hearts are broken over a child or grandchild who has abandoned the Christian faith. I usually meet these precious folks after I have given a speech on the powerful role education plays in shaping a child’s worldview. They say things like, “If only I had known 20/30/40 years ago what you shared tonight, perhaps my child would not be so far from where I dreamed they would be.” One man told me that his wife wept over her lost son’s soul on a regular basis. I have no doubt that most of these folks would give away their retirement funds if it would bring back their child.
Here’s what I have learned. We can faithfully help our children develop a biblical worldview, and some of them will still go astray. But, if they truly believe the truths of Scripture, there’s a high probability that they will come back to the faith at some point in their life. However, if a young person ever loses confidence in the authority of God’s Word, the chances of them coming home to the faith are much slimmer. I like to put it like this: We can lose a child’s heart for a while but if we have their mind, they most often come back to the Christian faith. However, once we lose a child’s mind, they rarely come back to the Christian faith. Secular education is consistently attacking scriptural validity and teachings. Christian education is consistently strengthening scriptural validity and teachings. If we hope to win the hearts and minds of this generation of children, we must place them in educational settings where their faith will be established, not destroyed.
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