Editorial
‘Christian values’ are not enough
It has always been uncomfortable to me that Christians use the Bible to justify treating other people poorly. For example:
- Famed 13th-century philosopher, Thomas Aquinas, justified slavery.
- Harry Truman, 33rd President of the United States, opposed interracial marriage.
- Contemporary Christian voices are now calling to repeal women’s right to vote.
Even though many social justice causes are driven by strong Christian voices, we cannot deny that they were often opposed by protestors holding placards with Bible verses.
These people claimed to be upholding Christian values, but we can see something entirely different when we look at their speech and behaviour, especially after enough time has passed for us to see them more clearly.
When anthropologists and missionaries go into an undocumented culture and do not have access to the language of those people, they watch the group’s behaviour to interpret their values, which are then used to infer their beliefs.
We can do this too. We can see a person’s actual values and beliefs by watching their behaviour.
Likewise, it is false to say that we have the College value of ‘Building Community’ if this is not shown in our behaviour.
It is equally absurd to say that we value ‘Striving for Excellence’ if there is no belief about the purpose of excellence. Why should we strive for something we don’t see as true or good?
Christian schools are only Christian if they have people that believe, value, and act according to the Bible with open-hearted faithfulness.
Therefore, PVCC is not a ‘Christian school’ because we have ‘Christian values’.
We are a Christian school because we strive to:
- Demonstrate Christ-like behaviour…
- Which is based on Biblical values…
- Which are based on Biblical beliefs.
Our beliefs justify our values which show us how to behave.
Our behaviour shows what we value which reveals what we believe.
This is a challenge for every Christian individual and community. Just as Jesus asked, “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?” (Matt 7:3). We must attend to the contrast between our own beliefs and behaviour first, lest we become the hypocrites of this age.
Daniel Symons
Deputy Principal
