You said,
“Really? Missionaries should go where souls need saving?”
Answer:
Of course. What is the mission if not to seek to win souls for Christ.
You said,
“Christians should go work in abortion centers, collect the money, and hand the instruments to the abortionist and clean up the mess afterward? Really? Hey! There are souls to be saved in almost any abortuary!”
Answer:
Just abortion centers? Or should Christians go where called to go by God and preach the Gospel? Your straw man argument is false as it assumes the Christian teacher is NOT somehow providing his/her students with some presentation of the Gospel, be it a word, a kindness (that sets them apart from the other teachers), a silent testimony (which glorifies God and which serves to act as judgment against godlessness.) Part of my testimony involves looking back over a life that God was always working on, even before I got saved. I see God’s hand was always on my life even when, as a child I struggled through my parent’s divorce, an adolescence filled with typical American angst and rebellion, a period of wandering in the deserts of hedonism and materialism. When I was ready to graduate from college at the age of 28, I got saved. I had already opted to go into the teaching field, but now it was apparent to me that God was bringing me to a place where I could use a life that had once been filled with childhood pain and suffering and discontent and sorrow but was now “become new” for His glory, and my life began to make sense. “All things work together for good to those that love God to those who are the called according to His purpose.” His preparation for me as a teacher was to endure the very things none of us want for any child and then to use those lessons to help others. There are souls to be saved in schools.
You said,
“Should Christian teachers establish godless schools, teach a godless worldview, hand out and grade godless homework and textbooks, and force children to think and reason godlessly so that the child can cooperate in the godless classroom? Should they actually **work** in such and evil place or should they be doing all that is possible to rescue children and get them **out** of these pits of depravity?”
Answer:
Again, straw man. Christians do not establish godless schools. Godless schools have arisen as a result of a nation that has drifted from God and good Christian men and women did nothing to prevent this take over. I’m pretty sure that Christian teachers do not teach their students to think godlessly, to lay hold of a godless world view, to conform to this world. As a (godless) former co-worker of my once said, “learning is a subversive activity in the public school.” Since I teach in high school, I teach my children to think, not to remember, not to recite, not to blindly, numbly record information/conform to the accepted norm, but to think. Now, is my job frustrating? Yes. Am I facing an uphill battle? Yes, just like any Christian who is witnessing to the lost, just like any missionary who travels to another land and seeks to present Christ. Is my goal to change the school system? I would love to see that done, but it is not MY job. My job is to teach, not reform society or society’s schools. I play a part in these, but it is not MY job...It may be that it is yours...and your neighbor’s...and your community’s...But it is not [solely] mine.
Finally, my own children live in a world that could be likened to a “pit of depravity” (just as your children, should you have any) do. I “remove” them from it daily by presenting them with the Gospel, attempt to live a Godly life before them, “church” them. But, ultimately, there comes a point when they are free agents when it comes to spiritual matters pertaining to their own souls. They move around in a hopelessly fallen world. My job as “first educator” of my children is to introduce them to Christ and to offer them an education that is Christ-centered. Public schools don’t do that. So my kids won’t go there. Other Christian parents do not have that luxury. Would you withhold from these parents any means of support for their desire to have whatever of Christ they can have in the public’s school? That seems a bit harsh of you.
You said,
“An aborted baby flies directly into the arms of Jesus. A child in a godless school, being taught to think and reason godless may not lose his life but risks losing his eternal soul.”
Answer
Again, straw man here. Your assumption is that the Christian teacher is perpetuating godless thinking and reasoning in the classroom, as opposed to offering the alternative to such thinking and reasoning.
You said,
If abortion centers are evil and Christians picket outside, then maybe this would be the Christian thing to do in front of godless government schools.
Answer:
Agreed. But until such time as these protests develop (and it would be good if you were to alert all Freepers when and where the protest you are heading up outside your local school will be held—who knows, it could very well spark a national debate)...until such time, the voice of Christ (YOUR VOICE, and the voice of those who love the Savior) will be offered up in the form of Christian testimonies in the classroom that daily enter the fray at the front lines and wage spiritual warfare against principalities and powers and places of wickedness as God directs them.
Do not be surprised when teachers in our nation's socialist-funded, single-payer, godless, and compulsory K-12 schools are shunned for willingly seeking a job that teaches children to think and reason godlessly and puts children at risk of becoming comfortable with socialism.
Do not be surprised when Christian teachers in our nation's godless, socialist-funded, single-payer, and compulsory-use schools are no longer seen as resurrected Mother Teresas but as hypocrites.