Christian Education as Preventative Counseling

Earlier this summer, my family was privileged to go to Kentucky. We accompanied my husband on a work trip and extended the excursion to include some family time at the Ark Encounter in Williamstown, KY. If you ever get the chance to go, I highly recommend it. The reality of God’s justice and mercy are emotionally overwhelming when you are next to the scale model Ark and consider the events surrounding the great flood of Genesis 6-9.

My husband and I stood in awe with silent tears streaming down our faces. My kids, on the other hand, were more or less unimpressed by the whole of it. They enjoyed their time and were surprised by the size, but it was hard not to get frustrated that some of the highlights from the day included the charter bus from the parking lot to the site, the petting zoo, and the playground. I was annoyed that we had spent good money for them to touch animals we have at home and swing.

While there is a sense that they are just kids and don’t appreciate what they have, I also realized that the information they digested while in the exhibits of the ark is not new to them because our homeschooling utilizes curriculum from the scientists behind the Ark Encounter. My kids weren’t being ungrateful; they had just been well catechized. The material provided in the scientific explanations of the Flood were not unimpressive to them; it was just what they had been taught to believe. The Ark Encounter didn’t have to undo evolutionary thinking; my kids had been taught Biblically from the onset. Our Christian education had been a tool to prevent misconstrued thinking about the world and, in a sense, provide preventative counseling to answer the necessary life questions that arise because of false worldviews.

Here are some of the theological lessons and preventative counseling ideals my family considered when we saw the Ark:

• Hearing about the justice of God in the flood is a sobering reminder of the seriousness of sin and warns against the danger of dismissing sinful acts in our lives. Even rolled eyes and “white lies” are the kinds of sins that led to the destruction of the whole world. This helps us to take seriously the ramifications of our own sinful choices and should cause us to pause before they are committed.
• Considering the kindness of God to spare Noah and his family reminded us of the graciousness of God’s saving grace that is found solely in the character of God. Because it is His work alone, we must be intentional about thanksgiving and watchful against discontentment with where He has placed us.
• Watching the reestablishment of the world after the Flood is an amazing reminder of the beauty of God’s plan. Even when sin – our own or the impact of others – has destroyed everything we know and love, God’s plan of recreation continues. He brings life from death and hope from chaos. Even when my world seems nearly unrecognizable from the effects of sin, I can trust that His power is continually at work to bring beauty and color to my otherwise grey and rainy world.

These were the kinds of conversations we could have with our children because of their intentionally Christian education. These are the kinds of lessons that my counseling clients often learn the hard way when God uses the circumstances of their own lives to bring about these same ideas.

But I’m thankful that I get to have these conversations with my kids before they even need them. I get to utilize their education as a sort of preventative counseling to their young souls. It takes work to step beyond teaching the subjects to consideration of their lives. But we homeschool not just for learning academics but for learning how to live life in God’s world.

It’s easy to be excited or to be worried about starting that new curriculum or textbook, but my encouragement to you in this new school year is to be intentional about the worldview and life lessons while you teach all the subjects. Be mindful about opportunities to do preventative counseling by having hard conversations now. Help your children see the lessons God is teaching them about the world while they are still in the greenhouse of your home.

Yes, I was disappointed that my kids were not in awe of the majesty of the Ark that we had spent money for them to see. But I am so thankful because that means the life lessons of the Ark are already implanted deep enough to be reflexive to their thinking. They were not emotionally unmoved because of indifference; they had already been trained to see how the Lord works all things together for good, and they were good with that.