The RenewaNation Review 2019 Volume 11 Issue 1 | Page 39

3. Humans use what they have discovered to imitate God through “secondary creations” made out of God’s “primary creation.” 4. God is glorified through all voca- tions that imitate Him well. “ The purpose of education is to equip the next generation to govern well over all of God’s creation and to glorify Him in the process. Shoemakers and furniture makers imitate God by making beautiful and functional “secondary creations” out of God’s primary creation. The shoes and furniture serve the needs of people and glorify the Prime Creator through the imitation of Him, thus bringing glory full circle from God back to God through vocation. Bankers, lawyers, and businessmen each glorify God by serving the financial needs of people, bringing justice to the world, and creating employment for the community through the imitation of God via their respective occupations. As a result of this, their communities flourish. The Puritan Circle of Knowledge was a way of aligning both the works of God and the Word of God with educa- tion as human beings used their understanding of God’s works and God’s Word to glorify Him through all sorts of human vocations or “callings” from carpentry to shoemak- ing and farming to homemaking. It was the Puritan Circle of Knowledge that brought about a purpose for education far greater than “building democracy” or getting a high- paying job. The purpose of education is to equip the next generation to govern well over all of God’s creation and to glorify Him in the process. All legitimate work, at its core, is an act of governance. Governance over wood, metal, and cabbage. Governance over sound waves, electrical currents, and wind. Gover- nance over computer keyboards, fiber optics, and digital images. Governance over people. Governance over things. Governance over ideas. Work worth doing is any expenditure of energy, mental or physical, for pay or not, that rightly manages God’s stuff and employs one’s God-given abilities to benefit others, or prepares one to do so. This brings remarkable meaning and purpose to the study of mathematics and science. It brings meaning and purpose to learning how to govern over words, whether written or spoken. It brings meaning to the study of history, economics, and civics. When students solve math problems, they are governing over that part of God’s stuff we call “numbers.” When they create a piece of art, they’re ruling over that part of God’s stuff we call “paper,” “charcoal,” and “watercolor.” When they write an essay, they’re governing over that part of God’s stuff we call “language” and “logic.” When they do science exper- iments, they’re managing that part of God’s stuff we call “chemicals” and “electricity.” When they play a game of soccer, they’re ruling over that part of God’s stuff we call “legs and feet,” not to mention soccer balls and goal posts. TEXTBOOKS ARE NEVER NEUTRAL Textbooks that never mention the true reason for learning serve only to produce students who think the Bible may be relevant to church and person- al piety but not relevant to business, law, manufacturing, farming, or civil service. After all, if the Word of God isn’t relevant to any academic subject taught in school, how can it be relevant to what comes after graduation? This is a problem. Christian students reading textbooks that never make any connections whatsoever between the first commission of Genesis and the subject of the textbook may not become atheists, but they will certainly learn to think like dualists. A dualist is one who reads the Bible, prays, goes to church on Sunday, and yet doesn’t make a connection between God’s Word and what is studied in school because they think faith is a personal, private matter while academics are separate. When it comes to textbooks, the worldview of the writ- er will come through, either by design or by default. If the writer has no concept of the first commission of Genesis, the commission will certainly not be found in the text. And we must remember that textbooks should be measured not only by what is stated but also by what is not stated. Text- books are never neutral. The unspoken thoughts of the writ- ers influence the text, and this includes implied secularism, which happens when there is total silence on essential bibli- cal truths. This is the underestimated power of silence. The fact is, you will not find God’s purpose for learning anything stated in a secularized textbook. I recently saw the question “Why do science?” in a secu- larized science text. 2 Three reasons were given: (1) finding out information that can be applied to improve our lives, (2) discovering new information that will lead to scientif- ic investigations in the future, and (3) satisfying curios- ity. What’s the problem here? First, none of these reasons answer the “to what end” question. It may sound nice to “improve our lives,” but to what end? Who determines what is an improvement? By what standard? Second, are all scientific investigations God-honoring investigations? Again, we must ask, by what standard? Is discovering new information for future investigations in and of itself a good rationale for doing science? It depends on what those inves- tigations might be. Third, satisfying curiosity is not always a God-pleasing thing. Again, we must ask, by what standard? “ 39