Busy Subduing

What does it mean to acknowledge God in the classroom?

Perhaps it means showing that there is a Bible verse about everything we teach our students.  For example, when we teach them multiplication, we can read the narrative of the loaves and fishes to demonstrate that God Himself multiplied, so we should also learn to multiply.  Perhaps.  But what do we do with the same students in math class six years later when they are learning trigonometry or calculus?  Is there a Bible verse about imaginary numbers?  Strong doesn’t mention it in his concordance if there is.  So our approach to Christian education must be more comprehensive.  We have to show that, yes, God does have something to say about everything we learn, even if there isn’t a specific verse.  For example, God tells Adam to “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on earth” (Gen. 1:28).  So if we are to fill the earth and subdue it, if we are to cultivate this garden that God has given us in raw form into a shining city, we must know the earth’s properties.  We must know how to manipulate imaginary numbers so that we are able to build bridges and conduct electricity and store data.  These are things we do, not because “thou shalt store data,” but because we are to be busy subduing.