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With 85% of children from active evangelical Christian homes failing to be active in their faith 2 years after graduating from high school, I’d say any seeds be thrown about are being thoroughly trampled by the Marxists pigs that control the schools and godless curriculum.

If the outcomes are **this** horrendous for children who parents are seriously committed to the Christian faith, how well are non-Christians or those from weakly Christian homes going to do?

What I see from Christian government school teachers are **rationalizations** for supporting and upholding a system that is extremely toxic and even **abusive** to children. Of course, financial remuneration would have nothing to do with it. /s

And....The very **worst** thing Christian government teachers do is set a bad example for naive and inexperienced parents. Hey! If Mrs. Honey Bun, the minister’s wife and choir director, can teach in the godless schools, then they can’t be **that** bad. Answer: They are **that** bad. And....The statistics for spiritually surviving the godless indoctrination are horrendous.

All this is carnal thinking. You think like a person of this world, rather than a person of the next. As such, you cannot see that the “seeds” that are being sown ARE FOR GOD to grow, not men, not women, not Godly parents, not teachers, but GOD. According to the parable, some seeds will be eaten by the birds of the air—the Marxist pigs, if you like. If God wants that seed to germinate and bring forth fruit, no Marxist pig is going to be able to do anything about it. Salvation is all of the Lord. Man does not control this. It is by God’s Spirit that a person responds to “the seed sown.”

The rationalization you see is through the lens that prevents you from trusting that God can do exceeding, abundantly above all that we ask or think. You look at this life and conclude how God must operate. You limit God. God is able to take the worst Marxist pig and turn him into the strongest Christian (and if you don’t believe that, may I introduce you to Paul). According to the parable, the seed was sown in a variety of soils. Not just the one deemed sufficient by the sower—everywhere! His job wasn’t to prepare the soil, his job was to sow the seed. If that is not what you are doing in your Christian life, then you aren’t living the Christian life. If the soil where you sow is rocky soil, you sow the seed. If the soil where you sow is strewn with thorns, you sow the seed. If the soil where you sow is by the wayside, you sow the seed. If the soil is good ground, you sow the seed. You make no distinction of the soil, you simply sow the seed. Jesus said this about this particular parable when questioned by His disciples, “Know ye not this parable? and how then will ye know all parables?” This is basic Christianity.

As to financial considerations: I taught for ten years in the Northeast and topped out at $37.5K. I left teaching for eight years (ostensibly, so I could make some money). I came back and have been teaching for the past 7 years. I am currently making $40K. I use to spend my “summers off” looking for a part-time job so I could get through July and August because, strangely, I wasn’t quite able to save enough of my salary (37K) to get me through those months living in the NYC area (imagine that!). I do not bring this up to sing the blues...I bring this up because you are under the impression that every teacher is somehow “in it for the money/benefits/time off. I teach because, by the grace of God, I am what I am. I can communicate effectively. I enjoy discussing books/reading/writing. I have a passion for persuading others (as you can tell by all my posting verbosity!—Hey, I may not be the best at it, but I enjoy it nonetheless). And, I am able to reach out to the more than 60% of teens growing up today in single-parent homes...or homes with drug-abusing parents...or parents who physically abuse their kids...or abandon them altogether...or who are just trying to make sense of the world that you don’t think they have a clue about! I am a guide and a helper to them, a living reference for their questions, doubts, fears, anger, confusion. They know more than you that schools are broken...they’ve suffered through such madness at the hands of public schools it would sicken you. They’ve seen their classmates behave like animals, their own teachers acting as if they don’t care, they’ve been socially promoted to where nothing has any value (since nothing of value can still receive a decent grade). I do not inflict abuse, I salve wounds. I imitate Christ:

Isa 61:1 The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;
Isa 61:2 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn;
Isa 61:3 To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.

You look at all this as a waste of time, given where it is done...or, worse, as antithetical to saving of souls, exacerbating the problem by offering some grand delusion that schools are okay [enough] to send one’s children to. All carnal. But it doesn’t really matter how wintertime (or Mardav) views this. What matters is what the Lord says about it. As a student of the Bible, I have found nothing in Scripture that indicates that what I am doing is antithetical to His purposes for me, for my students, or for my students’ parents.

As to statistics about success or failure (be it homeschooled children or public school children). Here are some statistics to bear in mind:

Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and MANY there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and FEW there be that find it.

And:
“Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. MANY will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. .

And:
“For MANY are called, but few are chosen.”

There are plenty of “professing Christians” who aren’t “possessing Christians” - they do not possess (or, actually, that are possessed by) the salvation of the Lord. Do you not suppose that some of these “MANY” will be found to have been homeschooled by their “christian” parents? Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for homeschooling (as I’ve said, we do it in our home), but the very act of homeschooling does not in and of itself, assure anyone of salvation. Salvation is a gift of God, not of works. Greater opportunity to witness, to present scripture, to teach Christ—True, True, True. But that “seed” still has to fall on the good soil and God still has to bring forth the increase. And that good soil can walk in the door of a public school on any given day just waiting for the sowing of a seed. And that’s where I and other Christian teachers come in. Until you (okay, not just you, but we—America) INSIST on tearing down public schools, you are just hyperventilating. Schools are bad, schools are horrible. Schools are corrupt. Schools are failing. ALL THE EVIDENCE ANYONE WOULD EVER WANT IS ON DISPLAY RIGHT NOW FOR ALL TO SEE. The test scores ARE in. The statistics ALREADY show the failure. The work force is ALREADY ill-equipped to take us into the next phase of economic growth and expansion. It’s there. It’s done. It’s a given. Where’s the change? You say, “Well, it’s because those danged Christian teachers are making it seem like things are going pretty okay.” Give me a break. If anyone heard you say that, they’d laugh you to shame. Christian teachers weep for their students KNOWING they won’t have a chance in this highly complex world, unless something drastic happens. Christian teachers aren’t the reason why public schools perpetuate. “Light has come into the world, but men preferred darkness because their deeds were evil,” is why public schools continue. We live in a lost and dying world. The sinning soul wants none of Christ. Withdraw the Christian teachers and you still have public schools, but maybe with more of an edge to them. The Holy Spirit is the only thing on this earth that is restraining sin from having its full sway right now. When the Lord comes and takes His people home, this will not be a pretty place. Take Christian teachers out of the schools and just how bad will they become?! Do we want to find out? This won’t shut them down. It will only create more job openings for the godless.

No, your problem isn’t the Christian teacher. Your problem may be you, though, and all the wasted energy you spend crying “Wah, wah, wah,” over the situation, instead of DOING something about it. You are angry, frustrated, and looking for someone to blame, ridicule, scorn for the blight placed upon our nation, finding part (much?) of the problem emanating from our public schools. But, you are not productive. Your energy is wasted. Complaining gets you nothing. Where’s your protest going to be on Monday, HMMMMMM? When are you marching down to your local church, to pray with the saints there, to ask them to gather with all the churches across your town so that you can go picket in front of every school in your district until changes are made, HMMMMMMM? When is wintertime going to take his/her own money and invest it in a full page ad (or a billboard) seeking to rally support for this noble cause, HMMMMMMM? What about all the petitions you’ve written to your congressman, your senator. What follow-up have you done to ensure that your voice is being heard, HMMMMMM? You’ve got passion. You’ve got energy to engage me for going on 3 days now. You’ve got a burden for this work. Why are you so unfocused when it comes to something you care so much about? You’ve got the Freepers here to help you. You’ve got the folks that correspond on that Homeschool List here at FR.

Oh, and after you’ve changed the schools, you may want to head on over to the abortion clinics, as they are still up and running, too! Sow some seed, man, but stop trying to trample the work of the Lord going on in my part of the garden!