Revive Us Again

The story goes that a public high school in West Virginia required the students to attend an "evangelical Christian revival assembly" where they were told that those "who did not follow the Bible would go to hell when they died." The story is problematic.

On the surface, a "revival" requires "vival" to get to "revival." That is, you can't revive something that never lived. So suggesting that getting kids who don't know Jesus need to be "revived" is nonsense. They are spiritually dead and need to be "vived" before they can be "re-vived."

Okay, a technicality, but there is more. First, the school claims it was voluntary, offered during an open period where you can read or study or ... listen to guest speakers. Two teachers brought their entire class. Only two. Beyond this, it is a sad commentary in the story when the high school senior says, "The separation of church and state is one of the country's founding basic tenets." That's interesting because you can't find it in the Constitution. You can't find it in the Bill of Rights. You can't find it in any of the amendments. It's not there. Many believe what this senior said, but it is, in fact, not part of the founding basic tenets. What is in there is "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof." That is, the government doesn't get to establish a religion. The government doesn't get to restrict the church. From that angle it is part of the original tenets. But the "separation of church and state" itself is not. Indeed, the notion that you can keep "the church" out of "the state" is only possible ... if you ban the church. Politicians with religious beliefs will go to Washington and make laws based on the principles of those religious beliefs and we can't stop it. It wasn't until Everson v. Board of Education (1947) that SCOTUS shifted to an interpretation that was aimed at a total (and impossible) separation of the two. Since then, of course, the government has moved more and more to the elimination of first concept of the First Amendment, religious freedom. But, sadly, actual history is on the decline in schools and in society, so we're largely without these facts these days. So the aim now is to eliminate even volutary religion from schools ... in direct contradiction to the First Amendment.

Of course, from a more "religious" -- a more Christian -- point of view, there is another problem. Who is teaching these kids that if they don't follow the Bible they would go to hell? They called it "evangelical Christian," a reference to "the good news" -- the Gospel. This is what Paul called "another gospel" which is "not a gospel," and what Paul called "anathema" -- cursed (Gal 1:6-10). While it is true that only faith in the death and resurrection in Christ will save us (according, even, to Christ -- John 14:6), we are saved by grace through faith and not of works (Eph 2:8-9). Teaching otherwise is not true, not "evangelical," not Christian. It is "anathema."

Those kids need Jesus. They don't need lies. They need life. They don't need "revival." They need forgiveness of sins. They don't need a "work for salvation" message. And, if they are given the genuine gospel and are saved, it would be the best possible thing. But, of course, Satan and his minions (you might call them demons or you might call them the ACLU or whatever) will work to stop that kind of goodness from happening to as many as possible.