Why Should I Believe You?
The eldest of our children attended public school for kindergarten and the first half of first grade. My husband and I tried to prepare her for anything she might encounter that would go against our Christian beliefs. One of the most likely things was evolution, although we really didn’t think that would be a problem for a few years.
Julie’s kindergarten teacher was young, attractive, energetic, and an obvious lover of children. We all liked her. Sometime, however, in the middle of kindergarten, Julie told us that her teacher was talking about how humans came from monkeys.
I immediately told our daughter that her teacher was wrong. God created humans as humans and monkeys as monkeys. Her thoughtful response was, “Why should I believe you?”
An Impossible Choice
What do you tell a five-year-old? Why indeed should my daughter have believed me over her teacher whom she thought was wonderful? I’m sure I must have told her that God wrote the Bible, and He was quite clear in it that creatures brought forth “after their kind.”
But the damage was done. Her parents who should have been a reliable source of knowledge for a five-year-old were now suspect. She needed to choose who she would believe. I am not sure what happened in that five-year-old mind, but I am quite sure that it was wrong to put someone so young in a position where she had to choose between her parents and their approved teacher.
I am happy to report that the next year, we both became convinced of the need for a Christian education. We removed Julie from the public school and homeschooled her through high school. She is now an adult who has a firm belief in the Bible and a firm belief that man did not come from monkeys.