A picture of Pleasant Valley Grade School, as it was called back in the day, that I attended eight years. My father attended here too when he was a child.
The girls had to wear dresses or skirts on cold days pants under them to keep warm on the way to school.
The boys had to dress well, any holes in their pants they were sent home to change. As far as I knew no one was ever sent home because everyone wanted to look nice in those days.
We walked in line to go from place to place in the building, to lunch, to gym class and to the playground. There was no chaos in the classroom.
Parents were supported by the staff, their standards and discipline were upheld.
On the day that President Kennedy was killed the principle came over the intercom to announce this sad thing, the children and the teachers cried. Then the principle told us all to get on our knees beside the desk as he prayed for the country. His prayer rang out over the entire school and he did it in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Gideon Bibles were handed out by the Gideons in the class rooms sometimes. No child left that school without a Bible.
This all sounds wonderful, however few people who received one actually read it. Parents thought it was a good idea but most didn't read a Bible. They considered it good to teach rules and decency to the children but were not all that concerned that anyone trusted in Christ. Most of us had parents who rarely if ever read the Bible and they never spoke of it in the home.
My mother once told me that "religion is a private thing" as though we shouldn't bother others with it, even though she donated occasionally to missionaries in her church and through the Billy Graham ministry.
When "religion" is the goal for the purpose of being a decent person the message of the gospel loses its truth. We were taught regularly that people who were bad did bad things, leading us to believe that if someone doesn't do bad things they are good people.
Sadly this is the gospel that is being spread today. It was more subtle in our youth but remains the same deception of good works gets people to heaven.
It wasn't until after I became born again as an adult that I understood that no one can be good and that only Christ can save us through the shedding of His blood. Many churches taught the blood of Jesus Christ but they also taught that it is also through our good works.
Across the street from this school was the community church of this small hamlet, it was called "Pleasant Valley Church." I knew people who went there who never spoke of Christ or even God. They loved their security of being seen as a good person but likely had no relationship with Christ. I believe this because of their reluctance to speak of Him and their embarrassment when He was mentioned by someone else.
You see, our nation has been sliding down the slippery slope of superficial Christianity for several generations. Each new generation more off than the last one and now in most cases completely apostate. These are sad days but not all that different from the days of our youth.
We had more rules to keep people in line but not much more dedication to Christ, only the appearance of it.
The girls had to wear dresses or skirts on cold days pants under them to keep warm on the way to school.
The boys had to dress well, any holes in their pants they were sent home to change. As far as I knew no one was ever sent home because everyone wanted to look nice in those days.
We walked in line to go from place to place in the building, to lunch, to gym class and to the playground. There was no chaos in the classroom.
Parents were supported by the staff, their standards and discipline were upheld.
On the day that President Kennedy was killed the principle came over the intercom to announce this sad thing, the children and the teachers cried. Then the principle told us all to get on our knees beside the desk as he prayed for the country. His prayer rang out over the entire school and he did it in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Gideon Bibles were handed out by the Gideons in the class rooms sometimes. No child left that school without a Bible.
This all sounds wonderful, however few people who received one actually read it. Parents thought it was a good idea but most didn't read a Bible. They considered it good to teach rules and decency to the children but were not all that concerned that anyone trusted in Christ. Most of us had parents who rarely if ever read the Bible and they never spoke of it in the home.
My mother once told me that "religion is a private thing" as though we shouldn't bother others with it, even though she donated occasionally to missionaries in her church and through the Billy Graham ministry.
When "religion" is the goal for the purpose of being a decent person the message of the gospel loses its truth. We were taught regularly that people who were bad did bad things, leading us to believe that if someone doesn't do bad things they are good people.
Sadly this is the gospel that is being spread today. It was more subtle in our youth but remains the same deception of good works gets people to heaven.
It wasn't until after I became born again as an adult that I understood that no one can be good and that only Christ can save us through the shedding of His blood. Many churches taught the blood of Jesus Christ but they also taught that it is also through our good works.
Across the street from this school was the community church of this small hamlet, it was called "Pleasant Valley Church." I knew people who went there who never spoke of Christ or even God. They loved their security of being seen as a good person but likely had no relationship with Christ. I believe this because of their reluctance to speak of Him and their embarrassment when He was mentioned by someone else.
You see, our nation has been sliding down the slippery slope of superficial Christianity for several generations. Each new generation more off than the last one and now in most cases completely apostate. These are sad days but not all that different from the days of our youth.
We had more rules to keep people in line but not much more dedication to Christ, only the appearance of it.
No comments:
Post a Comment