Principles of Education for Findley Family Video Publications

(In honor of the launching our first full Curriculum offering, Findley Family Video Biblical Studies, a 600+ page compilation of Bible teaching, with a separate, full teacher’s manual, we begin a series of articles on our philosophy of education and homeschooling. The Biblical Studies book, a greatly expanded and complete revision of our original Biblical Studies title, should be up on Amazon, Scribd  and Smashwords later today.)

We seek to teach a biblical worldview and impart Scriptural principles.

Students cannot be permitted to divorce academic disciplines and areas of study from the Scriptures, as Secularists would have them do, to relegate God’s Word to Philosophy, Morality and the realm of feelings and emotions. At one time these disciplines were one study, interconnected at all points, and they need to be restored to that state. Even the arts exist to serve God and glorify Him, as men sang His praises and ornamented His house and His servants’ garments.

It is essential to view Creation and related scientific concepts as accurately recorded in the Scriptures, because this establishes the accuracy and authority of the Word of God from its very beginning. Paleontological finds are secondary to the true record of God’s Word, welcome as supports, but they must be handled without the bias and preconceptions secularists attach, frequently to try to disprove the Scriptures.

The genealogies and records of kings’ reigns in the Scriptures provide a close timeline of the history of the World, with the possible exception of a few missing generations or co-regencies. Reliance upon archaeological findings and artifacts should not be the primary, or especially the only, means of establishing history’s events. Consideration should be given to ancient documentation, primarily the Scriptures, and other discoveries secondarily, as welcome supporting evidence.

Literature is often the records of man’s achievements and seeks to glorify him. Only the Scriptures give glory to God while highlighting lives and characters of His choicest servants and those who failed to follow Him with all their hearts. We study other examples of poetry, prose and historical records to see where man’s sin nature has corrupted the truth, where the light of his former character as made in God’s Image still shines out, to learn to discern what is excellent and reject what is false and hurtful.

Especially we want to teach students to reject the pervasive, overwhelming secularist thinking in education and culture. We want to restore man to a right relationship with God. This can only be done as he learns to do justice, to love mercy, to walk humbly with his God. To do justice he must control his desires, do his rightful work, and serve others. To love mercy he must want to help others come to God and grow in Him and to love them as God loves them. Above all he must be humble, selfless, seeking God’s glory and not his own.

He must learn not to view disagreement, discipline, or correction as a personal attack. He is not a victim. If others have wronged him or sinned against him, he should seek to make that right by Scriptural means and then let God comfort him and bring him past any bitterness or pain. Conversely, he cannot forgive what has not been repented of, though he can let God strengthen him to look beyond personal wrongs or hurts.

He must not put the Scriptures into a mold made by Humanists that will require stripping it of its absolute authority. He must not listen to his heart, for it is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. He must not trust his feelings, for they come from his fallen, sinful nature and will make him behave without regard for God’s teaching and usually selfishly and proudly.

There is a spiritual component to life. There are Angels and Demons as well as God and Satan, Heaven and Hell. Only the Scriptures can “empower,” by teaching us how to live as God wants us to. We cannot “open our minds” or “empty them” to let in some mysterious wisdom, nor can we be guided by an “inner light.” These are concepts opposed to the teachings of the Word of God and make us vulnerable to Satanic Control and human failings.

We cannot be fascinated with unnatural or supernatural beings and their so-called powers. The obsession with personal advancement and power is evil unless it is through God’s spiritual gifts and as a means to serve Him better.  Resurrection from the dead or immortality should be considered only in the context of the miraculous instances in the Scriptures or the believer joining Christ in Heaven. We cannot speak with the dead. We cannot use nature’s “forces” or “spirits.” We cannot transform into something else except by Satanic means. No spirit or person can control our souls or spirits or eternal destinies beyond God’s power to redeem us.

Families consist of a mother and father who are legally married and wholly committed to a life together, each giving all to the other and to God. Parents must be an example of self-control, unselfish love for each other and their children. A family is a unit and under the best circumstances they will all work together to grow spiritually, physically and financially, sharing responsibilities of keeping an orderly, spiritual household and providing for its financial maintenance.

The woman’s place in the home is described best in Proverbs 31, where she earns income that benefits the household while making its internal maintenance, her husband’s security and reputation, and her children’s growth in character, her primary concerns.