Regarding Deconstructing the Coliseum
Deconstructing the Coliseum exists for God’s glory. We glorify God by promoting the family government’s exclusive jurisdiction (lawful authority) over education, to the civil government’s exclusion. In that regard Deconstructing the Coliseum promotes abolishing the largest church in America, the civil government school system. Thus DtC’s mission is proper, as most Christians erroneously frame the education issue by focusing on delegation (that is, Should I send my child to the civil government school system?) rather than jurisdiction (that is, Should there even be a civil government school system?). Delegation assumes a false premise: the civil government school system’s existence. That is a biblical mistake that Deconstructing the Coliseum is in the business of correcting. Moreover, when humanists promote slavery to sin using education as the vehicle, Christians tend to counter with more humanism (vouchers, school choice, and so on). We must not counter humanism with humanism; we must counter humanism with Christianity. Deconstructing the Coliseum counters humanism with Christianity: civil government school system abolition.
Regarding Education
God is sovereign and the ultimate authority, yet He delegates earthly authority to man. God delegates the authority to educate (heart and mind cultivation) children to the family government; the church government is to support the family government. Family government education requires total incorporation of the gospel of Jesus Christ: “And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” Deuteronomy 6:6-9. Likewise, “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.” Ephesians 6:4.
God never gave authority over a person’s heart and mind to the civil government, to be molded with force and coercion; therefore the civil government has no education authority. In conjunction, Romans 13 limits the civil government to promoting — not providing — good and punishing evildoers; thus the civil government has no right to operate a school system. On the contrary, the civil government is supposed to facilitate biblical education, not hinder it.
Promoting abolition
Promoting civil government school system abolition is the most productive evangelism, yet promoting it takes little time, since it is part of one’s already existing evangelism. During everyday encounters with people the Christian is seeking ways to evangelize others and show them how Jesus reigns over all of life’s areas — including education. So, active evangelism in everyday encounters with others merely means infusing abolition into those encounters. Moreover, you are not asked to convince a person who spent seventeen years learning that man is the center of the universe (humanism) that he is a sinner in need of a savior. Instead you are asked to promote the biblical education model: family government’s education authority, with church government as a back-up, and the civil government facilitating — not interfering with — the family government’s education authority. Put another way, the humanistic civil government school system seers the conscience, causing its graduates to consider repugnant the thought that we need a Savior and Lord. It is those people you are generally asked to evangelize. With DtC though you are asked to perpetuate the Christian platform, and its accompanying plank that the civil government has no right to operate a school system; that is obedience to God and therefore it properly sows the seeds that can be (even if later) harvested.
Note the contrast between what you are generally asked to do (abandon the biblical model that the civil government has no right to operate a school system) and what you ought to do (promote the biblical model that the civil government has no right to operate a school system). As disobedience to God the former brings destruction and death; in contrast the latter, as obedience to God, brings order and life. And strategically, the former is dealing with humanism’s symptoms; the latter with the humanistic disease itself.
Promoting civil government school system abolition is the most productive evangelism. Currently Christians accept the civil government school system’s existence, even though the Bible does not justify the civil government’s use of force and coercion to advance thought. Consequently, the inherently humanistic civil government schools “graduate” millions of humanists every year. Some of those graduates — who unlike mainline Christians are not repulsed by implementing their worldview in the civil realm — become policymakers. Thereafter, Christians not only react negatively to the humanistic policy, but expend valuable resources on defeating that humanistic policy. This is an unbiblical and unproductive approach to discipling the nations.
About Kevin R. Novak
Kevin R. Novak, a former homeschool administrator, is the President of Deconstructing the Coliseum, Inc. Separate from Deconstructing the Coliseum, Mr. Novak is a Texas and Virginia licensed attorney. Mr. Novak believes in defending homeschoolers because it is an offensive approach to advancing the gospel of Jesus Christ. Prior to lawyering, Mr. Novak spent over seven years in the insurance business and many years in Christ-centered basketball ministry and inner-city (Chicago) homeless outreach. Mr. Novak discourages the man-centered (humanistic) religion that arbitrarily excludes Jesus Christ from law and education.
Mr. Novak is an often featured radio and podcast guest, having been interviewed by American Family Association, Kevin Swanson (Generations), and Janet Mefferd. He is a commentator in the Escaping Common Core documentary, speaks at various events (including home school events) and hosts (through DtC) the annual Great Education Forum. Mr. Novak is a former Administrator at Alliance Christian Academy.
Publications: Reformation Without Tarrying for Any: The Future of the Free Exercise Clause; Impeachment of Christianity; John Milton Project: True Liberty in a New Media Age; Can Your Child Be Taught the Truth in a Public School?; Abolition: Overcoming the Christian Establishment on Education