A FB post stayed on my mind for awhile making me think about praying and schools and who's responsible for teaching children to begin with. I was in public school from 1960 to 1973 and we never had a set apart time specifically for praying. Did any of you (other than you Catholic folks who went to your own school)? Times were modest back then. Girls wore just below-the-knee length skirts or dresses and boys kept their hair trimmed to above collar length. There were those whose dads or barbers gave them butch (flat top) hair cuts.
Things started to change when I was in 9th grade, if I remember correctly, and gals were allowed to wear pants - most of us wore jeans - and the skirt length went to finger-tip. We'd stand straight with our arms at our sides, hands straight down and the hem line best not be above that measurement. Do that now and man! that is short! Long hair on the boys was being allowed, but maybe shoulder length was the maximum.
By the time I was in 10th grade drugs were becoming evident, especially marijuana. The drug culture grew through the years in the town I grew up in. It wasn't that anyone stopped God from being there, but no one, no adult, stood up against the drugs and drinking because by then the teachers who went through college during the Vietnam era were pot smokers and peace freaks drinking Annie Green Springs and Boone's Farm. Some of them quietly promoted the rebellious spirit in their students.
I've never really put a lot of thought into this before, but sex, drugs and rock-n-roll pushed any hint of God right out the door and down the highway. The 60's ushered in a psychedelic way of thinking and viewing this country and the world. Music really influenced that generation (which I was a small part of) and most of that music was influenced by drugs.
It seems really clear to me now, in my mature years and with eyes to see, that prayer should not be part of the school's schedule. Kids are supposed to be taught about God at home by their parents; they should be reading Scriptures and in study of His Word as we read those instructions in Deuteronomy 11:18.
Personally, I was not raised up as a God Fearing child. I didn't stand a chance against the many temptations that came my way because I had no real knowledge of God, never read the Bible; I was not taught the truth by my parents because they did not know it, either. I don't blame them, it was just the way things were; we inherited the lies. How can we know sin if we are not taught our Creator's Instructions before our folks hand us off to the world?
Deuteronomy 11:18 ~ Therefore impress these My Words upon your very heart; bind them as a sign on your hand and let them serve as a symbol on your forehead, and Teach Them to your Children reciting them when you stay at home and when your away, when you lie down and when you get up; and inscribe them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates to the end that you and your children may endure in the land that Yah swore to your fathers, to assign them as long as there is a heaven over the earth.
Prayer is not something that should be repetitive or expected to be done at certain times of the day. Prayer is not something one needs to do in public and it is quite acceptable to our Creator to pray quietly by our selves... the key is for prayer to part of everyday life.
My conclusion would be that a child who was raised and taught the Word of Elohim would know about prayer, when to pray and how to pray without paid government workers telling them when, where or how. They would be better equipped to recognize sin, discerning good from evil, and make the choice to resist temptation. The devil will flee from those kids.
