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Proverbs 22:28 warns "Remove not the ancient landmark, which thy fathers have set." Meanwhile the Psalmist lamented (11:3), "If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?" In 1978 I began my first Christian school in a small town in Tennessee, and became deeply involved and active in the Christian school movement. I remember those days with fellow pastors; we were greatly concerned about the children of our churches attending the godless, government, education system which corrupted young people philosophically, morally, and spiritually. We wanted to raise up champions for Christ, champions who stood for righteousness. We were more concerned that our young people were advanced in godliness than in scholastic scores. Our handbooks reflected our desire for godliness. Ungodly behavior and worldly dress were not tolerated in our students. We expelled children and parents who would not conform, regardless of what such decisions would cost our school or church. Our primary qualifications for our teachers were standards of holiness and spiritual sincerity, with any educational achievements being an added benefit, but not necessary. Some of our teachers had not graduated from high school, yet alone college; but they loved God; they loved the children and were willing to work for pitiful wages to serve the Lord.

God blessed that commitment to holiness by allowing us to see our children score 18 months to 2 years above their public school counterparts. Since fearing the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, we were starting at the beginning and God was honoring us.

That was then. Today, however, the emphasis is on education, not godliness. We have raised the educational standards for our teachers, while dropping the standards for daily living. Today's student handbooks reflect a slightly better dress code than today's public schools, yet it is as bad or worse than the public schools of the 70's. Scholastic credentials have become king, having dethroned godliness and righteousness. We have relaxed our standards to draw more students. Our excuse is so that we can impact them with our philosophy. Unfortunately, it is the philosophy of our compromise which they are catching.

Where our landmark was the Bible, it has become the SAT and ACT scores. The majority of our "best(?)" students are choosing secular colleges and careers over red-hot fundamental Bible colleges who would train them to serve the Lord. Even our teachers' conventions, which use to feature fiery fundamental preachers, now feature academicians or pastors who seem more interested in impressing the academic establishment rather than possibly offending the crowd with a call to return to the old paths.

God blessed the landmarks of the Christian schools of the 70's. Sure, we needed to improve our academics, our pay scales, etc., but I submit we could have done that and remained where we were spiritually. Today's crowd has become so "spiritually sophisticated" they can explain away the necessity of those landmarks, and mock those that still hold them. Today's Christian school crowd and associations are far from the spiritual landmarks with which they began.. They didn't leave over-night. They inched away without even realizing it. Unfortunately, now they are far from where we began, and they resist any call to return. I can only wave goodbye from a distance because I, for one, am going to cling to those old landmarks.

Dr. Mike Allison
Madison Baptist Church, Madison Al.