The President's Speech to our Nation's Students

This morning President Obama gave a speech to our nation’s students that was aired in many public and private schools all across our country. The administration of Lititz Christian School made the decision to participate in this broadcast. This decision was not finalized until the speech had been posted on-line in advance so that the content could be measured against our values. It was determined that the content of the speech was valuable and in no way compromised what our ministry stands for.

As Senior Pastor of our minsitry, I fully support and am proud of our administration and faculty for deciding to air this speech, even realizing that this decision would not be well received by everyone. I feel it was a bold step with wonderful opportunities that fit our values as a ministry.

It allowed us to show and teach our students the Biblical principle of respecting and honoring our authorities as taught by Paul in Romans 13:1-7. Keep in mind, that the power in authority at that time was Nero, arguably the cruelest and most anti-God ruler in the history of the world. Yet, Paul admonished the church at Rome to honor their authority and reminded them that all authorities (including Nero) are put in place by God. Now without question, if any authority instructs us to disobey Biblical principles, we should obey God rather than man (Acts 5:29). But the Biblical principle to honor and respect our authorities, even if we disagree with them, is still a command of Scripture that cannot be and should not be ignored.

It also allowed us the opportunity to be able to discuss the issues that we would disagree with the President on in a Christian setting and in the context of a Christian worldview. What better place to do so than in a Christian School and around the dinner tables of our homes as believers in Christ?

I realize that politics can produce some emotion in the hearts of people. Obviously, by airing the President’s speech, we were in no way making an endorsement of all of the administration’s policies. And no student was forced to watch the speech if they and their parents preferred otherwise. We did see this speech, however, as a historical and cultural opportunity to impart Biblical principles and a Christian worldview to our students in a safe setting.