Bring Your Bible to School Day
The Brees Connection:
If you’re like me, this national
holiday is one that I’d never heard of… that is until Drew Brees was caught up
in its promotion last week. He issued a short video that showed him giving a
‘thumbs up’ to the organization behind the drive.
Here’s what Heavy.Com Sports
blogger, Johnathan Adams, wrote: “Drew
Brees found himself in controversy heading into Week 1 [of the NFL schedule]
after appearing in a video for Focus on the Family as part of the ‘Bring Your
Bible to School Day.’ The video clip is just 22 seconds long but raised some
concerns about the organization putting on the event, Focus on the Family. Outsports.com
referred to Focus on the Family as ‘one of the main anti-LGBTQ lobbying groups’
in the country. Brees emphasized he was only aware of the specific event when
he agreed to do the video.”
Wow! Talk about ‘stepping in it’,
Drew tried to extricate himself from the mess only to ‘promote’ the holiday
even more.
Not going there:
Let’s just say, that’s another
whole can of worms that I’m not opening up… in this article.
Nor do I want to focus on the
organization behind the event. Focus on the Family, focusonthefamily.com,
is a pseudo-religious group out of Colorado Springs, CO. It was founded by
Darryl and Tracy Strawberry. He was an outstanding baseball player, lastly with
the NY Yankees. And she is his 3rd wife of 13 years. The goal of
Focus on the Family is, as per their website, ‘To cooperate with the Holy Spirit in sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ
with as many people as possible by nurturing and defending the God-ordained
institution of the family and promoting biblical truths worldwide.’
While I may not agree with
everything they teach and espouse, I do applaud their good intentions.
What is Bring Your Bible to School all about?
According to the website, they
answer this question with this statement: On
Bring Your Bible to School Day— this year’s event is on Oct. 3, 2019 — students
across the nation will celebrate religious freedom and share God’s love with
their friends. The event is designed to empower you as a student to express
your belief in the truth of God’s Word–and to do so in a respectful way that
demonstrates the love of Christ.
I don’t have a problem with this
national movement to promote God’s word. Obviously, one question arises out of
this movement. What are the legal ramifications surrounding such a mass
deployment of faithful believers of the Bible? They explain it this way:
1) First Amendment rights:
As a student in a public school, you have First Amendment rights to engage in
voluntary, free speech conversations in a way that does not interfere with or
substantially disrupt classroom time and academic instruction.
2) Equal Access rights:
Student clubs (including Christian ones) and individuals also have equal access
rights to participate in the same free speech expressions and activities
already allowed by the school for other clubs and individuals.
So, students have a legal right
to bring their Bible to school and can comment on their faith in the Word of
God. However, we all know that school districts across the country are gearing
up for this onslaught of religious freedom. And their FAQ addresses these
issues.
We are the Word of God:
However, whether you want to
participate in this particular demonstration of faith on October 3rd
is totally up to you. Nevertheless, this brings to mind the countless attempts
over the past 2000 years to quash God’s word. And yet, here we are in 2019
still faithful and true to His word. Hallelujah!!
First off, we are the light of
the word, just as our Lord was.
Then
Jesus again spoke to them, saying, “I am the Light of the world; he who follows
Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life. (John
8:12)
You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.
(Matt. 5:14)
Furthermore, Jesus became the
Word incarnate to illuminate the grace and truth of God.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word
was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through
Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In
Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. The Light shines in the
darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it… And the Word became flesh, and
dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from
the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:1-5 & 14)
In Romans 13:14 & Eph. 6:10-18, the apostle Paul
instructs Christians to ‘put on Christ’ and His word as if it were body armor.
And he further writes in Colossians 3 to take in Christ culminating in verses
16 & 17.
Let the word
of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing
one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with
thankfulness in your hearts to God. Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in
the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.
Therefore, any spear
thrown at us by Satan’s disciples will bounce off this protective layer, the
Word of God. And all they will see is
the Living Word when they look at us.
So, when we are at school, work,
the grocery store or anywhere we happen to be… others should see that we are
not only carrying the Bible with us, but that we are the Word of God, incarnate. And that our lives are so much like
Christ’s, we glow with the Glory of God. For, we are the Light of the World
dispelling the Darkness of sin and doubt.
Michael Choate
