Kirk Cameron v Public Schools

so the other day I was Doom scrolling through Twitter and as I was going through Twitter I came across uh it might have been the friendly atheist actually now that I think about it it might have been the friendly atheist on Twitter um but there was a clip of Kirk Cameron talking to some some interviewer and Kirk Cameron the the actor remember from growing pains right um man I used to I used to dress like that guy I used to dress like his character drives me nuts the t-shirt and an unbuttoned shirt over top of it anyhow um got me my like got me a date with a girl that I had a crush on because dressing like that strange anyhow Kirk Cameron so Kirk Cameron uh he he well he he's fullon Christian right like he's he's fullon he's he's doing he he's he's living that he's living that life and he's he's pretty loud about it um he has some really really harsh things to say about about others but he's I think he's living he's living his Christian Life in the best way that he possibly can but in this interview he was talking about his kids and he was talking about homeschooling his kids and keeping his kids from going to public school and how that's what we should do because if we send our kids to public school they're going to come back socialists and marxists and they're going to come back you know I don't know maybe they're going to come back gay they're going to come back trans they're going to come back and blah blah blah blah blah but B the bottom line is we send our kids to public school they're going to be indoctrinated and they're going to come home and they're not going to be the same kids we sent they're going to be harmed they're going to be damaged so we should we should be homeschooling our kids that way we get to control what they learn we get to control how they learn it we get to control the subject matter all that kind of stuff now I'm not against homeschooling I'm not against homeschooling at all I think for many children it's the right option for some families it's the right option I'm I'm not here to argue for or against homeschooling I'm sure people that homeschool their kids have great reasons for doing it and people that send their kids to public school have great reasons for doing it my wife and I years ago when uh our two oldest were in high school there were some things going on um we weren't Terribly Happy with with some of the things and we for literally a day we talked about it and I when I mean a day I mean we talked about it for a whole day we really gave it a lot of thought and then we were going to pray on it um we talked about all the pros and all the cons we talked about the work it would take we talked about uh what it would save we talked about what their how their lives would be different we talked about the things they would lose we talked about the things they would gain we went through the gamut um and we did talk about the subjects and and the things that they would be learning not only from teachers but from other students the whole works now when we said okay we're we're going to think about this we're going to pray on this we're going to to let this germinate we came back and we decided to leave our kids in in public school we're going to leave our kids in public school and the reason was it had nothing to do like nothing changed we still weren't happy with the things that were going on we still weren't necessarily happy with our kids coming home and and no know learning the latest curse word or the latest uh sexual innuendo or we weren't necessarily happy with our kids coming back I mean I remember having a conversation with my son about some Theory one of his teachers shared about the evils of of meat or uh you know whatnot and so I I wasn't all that thrilled with everything they were bringing back but the reason we left them in there was because we love our kids we trust our kids and we know that our kids are important to the people they come in contact with we know that our kids bring light into the world and we wanted our kids to continue being a shining light into the world that they were going out into every day I.E the school and their teams and their friends we knew that our kids were being we hoped that our kids were being a good example we hope that our kids were were teaching certain things we hope that our kids were were were helping people and being compassionate towards others encouraging others and empowering others to be compassionate we hoped that our kids were being examples of mercy and we hop that our kids were being examples of forgiveness we hoped that our kids were being examples of of of of G you know being gentle being examples of what gentleness and meekness is we hoped that they were being a Christian example to the people that they were coming in contact with now that isn't to say that's your responsibility and that's what you must do it was the hope and the Hope Came From we were hoping that they were picking it up from us they were picking it up from the church they picking it up from the congregation and what they were picking up from us they were willing to go they were able to go and share just passively unconsciously share this blessing with others now it's again to his point your kids are going to come home with crazy stories your kids are going to come home with the latest curse word your kids are going to come home with again the latest sexual innuendo your kids are going to come home with all kinds of things that they've learned some of which you you're not going to be happy with but again we worked really really hard to develop the kind of relationships again where I hope my kids were willing to come home and have those conversations with us they were willing to come home and say you wouldn't believe the thing I heard today or they were willing to come home and tell us about anything that was going on in their life now I'm well aware my teenage kids didn't tell me everything well aware of that but the opportunity our our sense was they should know they are always they're always welcome to share whatever they want that it's a that they're always safe to share whatever they want because if it's safe for them to share whatever they want to share with us if there if it's safe for them to share the latest curse word the latest sexual inuendo the latest Marxist theory that some teacher has been sharing with them then it gives us an opportunity to speak into their life as well we can have that conversation I don't have to worry about my kids being indoctrinated if my kids are willing to talk to me I don't have to worry about my kids being indoctrinated if they're inviting me into the conversation I don't have to worry about my kids being indoctrinated if they're willing to to have a back and forth if they're willing to to listen to uh to another uh listen to another thought on the subject you know your kids go to school sure they come home with all kinds of craziness but they're also bringing to you what's going on in the world and again as a Christian this is another point but as a Christian I want to know what's going on in the world I want to know what's going in on in that school because if I know what's going on in that school as a Christian maybe I can help maybe there's something I can do maybe there's there's there's a way that that I can pitch in maybe there's a way that I can share that light the idea that we should be that the idea that we should you know in order to the idea that we should be protecting our children in this fashion listen there's enough for us to protect our children from without there's enough for us to protect our children from but I want to equip my kids more than anything else I know I can protect them from these 10 years in school 12 years in school sure I can do that and I can protect them from the world for these 12 years but that's not equipping them for the world that they are someday going to have to go and step out into I I need more than to protect them I need to prepare them more than protect them I need to equip them and I need to empower them and I need to to help them so again when they come home with that crazy Marxist idea and we can have that conversation that's me teaching them how to be critical thinkers that's me teaching them that there's another side to what another Authority in their life has shared with them it's giving them it's teaching them that it's okay to doubt and it's okay to question even the most staunch Authority that they bump into but I can't I I just can't see how I can do that if I've got them wrapped in bubble wrap if I if I've got them wrapped in a bubble and if I'm hiding them away from the world I can't see how I can possibly be teaching them and training them to to to go out into the world to be Christ out in the world to be his hands and feet alive and active in the world I can't imagine I can't see how I'm possibly training them to do that if I've got them sequestered in the home again I would I would challenge part of my job as a Christian father as a father who is Christian my job is to raise my children with my belief now they may or may not it may or may not stick but my job is to share my belief with them and my job is to teach them how to be the best possible people that they can be and the only way they're going to get to practice that if they get to go out and actually do it with strangers with friends in public I need more than to protect them from the Marxist Boogeyman more than to protect them from a book about Two Dads more than protect them from from people who are different than them I need to equip them I need to prepare them I need to empower them I need to train them I need to help them practice using their gifts and their skills out there in the world Amen