Oh Really?

Accidentals

“The world is millions of years old. We are descended from apes. Apes are descended from
more inferior beings. Inferior beings are descended from blobs of matter which in turn are
shaped out of random chemicals. These chemicals came into existence with a big bang. The
big bang resulted from spontaneous combustion, over time non-life changed into life.
Therefore, it follows – through the process of logical reasoning – that you are a mere
accident; you are a product of time and slime. No, it does not matter how expensive your
finery is for your evening out; it merely covers a coincidence, a further blob in the cycle of
this revolving universe. That is what you are.

In the beginning God. And God spoke: let Us make man in our own image. Male and female
He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill
the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and
over every living thing that moves on the earth.” Then God saw everything that He had made,
and indeed it was very good.

Meaningless or meaningful? That’s the question. Purposeful, God-ordained dignity, or

purposeless, accidental non-entity? What are you? What is your child?

The contrast shows in all of life’s battles:

Purposeful and dignified→ Life is precious, man is worthy of respect.
Purposeless and accidental→ Eat and drink for tomorrow we die.
Purposeful and dignified→ Created with meaning and purpose.
Purposeless and accidental→Happenstance, a ‘nothing’ on the waves of
time.
Purposeful and dignified → Ethical in action as guided by God-implanted
principles
Purposeless and accidental→ Emotional in action as guided by random
impulses

Which self image do you wish your child to walk away with from its education system?
Teenage suicide and self-hatred amongst youngsters has risen exponentially as generation
after generation of children is systematically impregnated with the idea that a person is no
more than a consumer item, usable – sure – discardable – definitely. No, I am not talking

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America. I am talking New Zealand and Australian statistics. (Ever given a thought to what it
means that a worker these days is called ‘a human resource?’)

Meaningless or meaningful? Augustine reputedly said, “Man has a God-shaped vacuum that
only God can fill,” and, “Man has eternity written on his heart.” Your child will always search
for meaning in life, consciously or sub-consciously. Many a child is led into the quicksand of
despair, finding none, depreciating self. A few there are who are tracking the right path,
finding meaning and fulfillment as their educators inform them of the only Meaning-Giver
there is, Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 12:3 declares: “No one can say, Jesus is Lord, except by
the Holy Spirit.” This selfsame Holy Spirit uses educators to inform the child’s search for
meaning. Which educators may they be?

God says (Proverbs 1:20), “Wisdom calls aloud outside, she raises her voice in the open
squares, she cries out in the chief concourses; that is she, among other places, is heard in halls
of learning. This wisdom calls loudly to your child in Christ-centered education. Do you want
your child to hear her? Or do you want your child removed from the voice of wisdom?
Proverbs 3:1-2 declares the blessing of having that wisdom even in this life, as we read: For
length of days and long life and peace they will add to you. Research regarding this very issue
of happiness and long life has provided startling conclusions in the USA: Among Anglo-
Saxons Christians lived on average 7 years longer than non-Christians; Afro-American
Christians lived on average 14 years longer than their non-Christian counterparts. Why?
Meaningfulness wins over meaninglessness, God-focussed life wins over godless life. It is not
necessary to reduce the message to a mathematical computation, but it is interesting to note
that the mathematical computation objectively supports the Biblical life search direction.

Do you love your child? Of course you do! The question is an insult. Funny though, how
parents who dearly love their children allow these loved ones to be reduced to the conviction
that they are worthless, as exposure is given to teaching which has randomness and
meaninglessness as its foundation. Does the non-Christian have meaning in life? Of course he
does, he needs it! But in what is it found? Neil Postman, late professor at Harvard, declares,
“All that is left in terms of meaning is expressed in the depressing statement that ‘this person
has been the most successful - as he dies with the most toys around his bed.’ Is the child’s life
going to be fulfilled with the hunt for toys? My little granddaughter gets the most beautiful
toys on her birthday; she plays with the wrapping and the box. Toys are nice, but they do not
build the person up, do not satisfy his innermost cravings. Back to Augustine: “Man has a
God-shaped vacuum that only God can fill.”

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Train your child in the way it should go, and it will not depart from it: Purposeful and
dignified, or purposeless and accidental? Christ-centered education gives the former as it
trains your child at every turn in stewardship under Christ; many places down the road offer
you the latter.

Dr Herm Zandman
23/03/2011