Closer than you might think!

Proverbs 8:32-36

32 "Now then, my sons, listen to me;
blessed are those who keep my ways.

33 Listen to my instruction and be wise;
do not ignore it.

34 Blessed is the man who listens to me,
watching daily at my doors,
waiting at my doorway.

35 For whoever finds me finds life
and receives favor from the LORD.

36 But whoever fails to find me harms himself;
all who hate me love death.

How would you respond with biblical wisdom to situations like the ones presented below? The article is from the Boston Globe, January 31, 2008

BOSTON—A federal appeals court on Thursday upheld the dismissal of a lawsuit filed by Lexington parents who objected to same-sex families being discussed in their children's elementary school classrooms.

Tonia and David Parker of Lexington sued school officials in April 2006 after their son brought home a book from kindergarten that depicted a gay family. Joseph and Robin Wirthlin joined the suit after a second-grade teacher read the class a story about two princes falling in love.

In a ruling Thursday, the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with a judge who ruled in February 2007 that parents' rights to exercise their religious beliefs are not violated when their children are exposed to contrary ideas in school.

"Public schools are not obliged to shield individual students from ideas which potentially are religiously offensive, particularly when the school imposes no requirement that the student agree with or affirm those ideas, or even participate in discussions about them," the court said in its ruling.

Suppose your child came home from school and reported these events? How would you respond? How would you help your children and your wife deal with issues like this? This is not a situation in which a one sentence answer will do.

How can you apply the wisdom of Proverbs 8? Specifically, what will you tell your children about what was read to them at school? What actions should you and your wife take to prepare your children for these events? Is there anything that can be done in your community to alert people to the real possibility that this could happen here? How can your church help you with this situation? What resources and study tools do you need to wisely respond to these issues? Note the implications given in verses 35&36. Life and death, favor and harm depend on finding wisdom or not finding wisdom.

Spend time thinking about this so you can have a good discussion in your ministry group for this week. Also, why not take a moment to comment on our blog as well. These events are closer to us than we would like to think!

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