Higher Learning Through Bumper Stickers
Years ago, when there was more concern about public decency, reading bumper stickers was not only an amusing way to pass the time on a long car trip, but was also a curriculum in itself. Not only could we discuss the logical or illogical basis of the statement being made, but also the worldview behind that statement. While many of today’s bumper stickers are not fit for younger audiences, with a bit of judicious weeding there are still plenty of opportunities to speak with your children about current sentiments. Children need to learn how to determine whom the bumper sticker is targeting, what the agenda is, why there is a passion for the topic, and ultimately, what God’s Word says about it.
Consider these current stickers:
“On what day did God make all the fossils?”
“Morality is doing what is right, no matter what you are told. Religion is doing what you are told no matter what is right.”
“So you are pro-abortion but against killing terrorists?”
“If you aren’t liberal at 18, you have no heart. If you aren’t conservative by 35 you have no intelligence.”
“Only a Liberal Could Turn a Terrorist Into a Victim.”
“Love thy enemies implies not killing them.”
“Those who beat their swords into plowshares will plow for those who didn’t.”
“Despite the cost of living, have you noticed how it remains so popular?”
“None Are More Hopelessly Enslaved than those who falsely believe that they are free.”
“If religious groups want to get into politics, they should pay taxes.”
Our children must learn critical thinking. A mother once asked me what program I would recommend to teach her young children logic with a Biblical slant. Our family used the book of Proverbs. As it is such a powerful book, we learned that if we went through a chapter a day we would drown our children in a tsunami of wisdom. Instead, we thoroughly examined one verse each day. We would ask the obvious and the not so obvious. And we would drill application: what it looked like for a child, what it looked like for an adult, and what it looked like for the fool. While we sell all sorts of curricula to teach logic, a systematic study of God’s Word will always beat any other logic program and will give children a jumping-off point to grapple with the ubiquitous bumper stickers, t-shirts and billboards that dare to oppose His wisdom.
Desiring to “destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ”
