PrincipledMom™

When you see this title you probably immediately think of civil government, maybe even specifically federal government. When you think governmentally it means something else altogether.

To think governmentally is to always be conscious of "who or what is directing, regulating, controlling or restraining" (see Webster's 1828 dictionary for complete definition). This changes the way you live in the world. And we will explore how your philosophy of government is your philosophy of education.

There are three divine governmental institutions--home (Gen 2:24), church  (Mat. 6:18)and civil government (Gen. 9:6)--that man is to administrate according to God's Law. FOr any of these to be called truly Christian, they must be based on Biblical principles and administrated with the Christian idea of God, man and government (see above definition).

A philosophy of government is a philosophy of education. This may be a new concept to you, because education and government do not appear to you to be connected. You may have thought of your statement of faith as sacred and your philosophy of education as secular. This is not biblical (Prov. 1:1-7, Psa. 2:10-12). On the contrary, they are inseparably connected. "The relation between education and government is discerned by reasoning governmentally" (p. 22). The idea of government is a philosophical one. Once you get that revelation, the idea that they are the same will make sense.

As a teacher you fill the three roles of government; lawgiver, judge and king. We plan (give laws), present it (king) and grade performance (judge). The source of wisdom for these functions is determined by your philosophy of education/government. "The Christian view of government conceives government as first internal, causative then external, with Christian civil government the effect as each individual acknowledges the sovereignty of God through Christ by the Holy Spirit" (p. 22)

 Education is first internal and governed by who or what the person accepts as authority. So as you can see "who or what is in control" is of vital importance. The people you allow to influence your child, the philosophy of government of the materials you allow in your home--these are all important things to consider.

Everything works from internal to external. The same is true of education.

internal philosophy of Gov't.--->philosophy of education--->external form and quality of education--->form and quality of government (its form and functions)

I encourage you to read this step to further study what is being said here. There is more that I have not even touched on, such as the Christian idea of man and government and the pagan idea of man and government, which I may come back to at a later time.

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