"The Lenses of Reformation Concerning Education Funding in 2024 State Budget"
by Dr. Patti Amsden
Everyone owns items or personal possessions over which they exercise authority, proprietorship, and responsibility. Ownership happens when that which formerly belonged to another is transferred to a new owner through some form of legal and ethical exchange. Ownership implies either personally paying a price or receiving a gift for which someone else has paid a price. Nothing is free. Although Christians often testify that salvation is God’s free gift, the statement is only partially accurate because what was free for the believer cost Jesus His life. Jesus and the cross paid the price for salvation, and the item of eternal life becomes a possession or a right both in time and in eternity for those who accept the gift.
Reformation lens #1 – Before any possession can be placed into the hands of a new owner, some form of legal transaction must occur whereby the new owner gives to the past owner some item of equal value that constitutes a fair and just exchange.
Owners have rights. In part, those rights include the right to manage what they possess in a way that will benefit themselves and others; or they have the right to mismanage what they own, which might lead to devaluation of the property. Rights are tied to ownership. Non-owners do not possess rights over that which is the possession of others. Non-owners may wish for certain items and may even believe that any particular item might be critical for survival or sustainable well-being, but need does not establish rights. Needs might be legitimate but only ownership constitutes rights.
Reformation lens #2 – Needs are met when the one with the need makes a legal and fair exchange to procure the items needed along with the rights that appertain to the newly acquired possessions.
When a society equates the word ‘needs’ for the word ‘rights’ and thus makes the two words synonyms, that society attempts to transfer the possessions of the owners, who have the rights, to the non-owners, who have the needs, without a legal or ethical exchange. Those with the needs are viewed as entitled to have the possessions or to be given rights. Such a sociological view creates entitlements, meaning the one in need is given ownership of items that he or she did not purchase and the rights associated with legal possession that he or she has not earned. In entitlements, the civil government, which has the power to take private property through coercive taxation policies, acts as the middleman to distribute to non-owners those items defined in an ever-morphing category of man-defined rights.
Reformation lens #3 – Entitlements and entitlement programs result when the civil realm determines that certain people or people groups are deserving of or entitled to particular privileges and that those privileges should be provided for them without the new owner engaging in a legal or covenantal exchange.
One of the biggest entitlement programs in modern society and in developed countries is free education for all children. Education is not free. To obtain knowledge and be trained in skills has a price tag attached, and those that pay for the education have legally possessed the right to steward the knowledge they have procured. Education in the form of schooling is desirable, helpful, and pertinent to sustainable well-being; but education is not a right. Rather, education is a need or a longing. Civil governments have appointed to themselves the authority, which biblically belongs to either the family or the individual, to buy education and then dole it out for free. Because nothing is free, the civil realm pays for education out of the coffers of taxed money which is collected by threat of punishment from the citizenry at large and, more specifically, from the more affluent of the citizenry. A case could be made that free education is paid for with stolen or confiscated money.
Reformation lens #4 – The right to possess knowledge is a God-given right inherent in all people, but the right to knowledge is not the same thing as the entitlement to a formal education.
As Reformers, we must care for our children and be compassionate for our neighbor’s children, and we must never turn a blind eye or a deaf ear to those who have longings and needs but do not have the means to buy for themselves. Christian charity demands providing helping hands for those whose economic or social status has positioned them in a place of need. We must also remember that meeting needs must be in harmony with God’s Word. God does not empower the civil jurisdiction to provide education. God has granted that right to the family. God does not empower the civil realm to make laws that take the rights that belong to owners and give those rights to non-owners. Careful consideration of the topic of entitlements shows that many civil leaders use the common kitty to provide entitlements for their constituents with the goal of securing votes from their voting base rather than acting out of a more pure motivation of helping those in need.
Reformation lens #1 – Before any possession can be placed into the hands of a new owner, some form of legal transaction must occur whereby the new owner gives to the past owner some item of equal value that constitutes a fair and just exchange.
Owners have rights. In part, those rights include the right to manage what they possess in a way that will benefit themselves and others; or they have the right to mismanage what they own, which might lead to devaluation of the property. Rights are tied to ownership. Non-owners do not possess rights over that which is the possession of others. Non-owners may wish for certain items and may even believe that any particular item might be critical for survival or sustainable well-being, but need does not establish rights. Needs might be legitimate but only ownership constitutes rights.
Reformation lens #2 – Needs are met when the one with the need makes a legal and fair exchange to procure the items needed along with the rights that appertain to the newly acquired possessions.
When a society equates the word ‘needs’ for the word ‘rights’ and thus makes the two words synonyms, that society attempts to transfer the possessions of the owners, who have the rights, to the non-owners, who have the needs, without a legal or ethical exchange. Those with the needs are viewed as entitled to have the possessions or to be given rights. Such a sociological view creates entitlements, meaning the one in need is given ownership of items that he or she did not purchase and the rights associated with legal possession that he or she has not earned. In entitlements, the civil government, which has the power to take private property through coercive taxation policies, acts as the middleman to distribute to non-owners those items defined in an ever-morphing category of man-defined rights.
Reformation lens #3 – Entitlements and entitlement programs result when the civil realm determines that certain people or people groups are deserving of or entitled to particular privileges and that those privileges should be provided for them without the new owner engaging in a legal or covenantal exchange.
One of the biggest entitlement programs in modern society and in developed countries is free education for all children. Education is not free. To obtain knowledge and be trained in skills has a price tag attached, and those that pay for the education have legally possessed the right to steward the knowledge they have procured. Education in the form of schooling is desirable, helpful, and pertinent to sustainable well-being; but education is not a right. Rather, education is a need or a longing. Civil governments have appointed to themselves the authority, which biblically belongs to either the family or the individual, to buy education and then dole it out for free. Because nothing is free, the civil realm pays for education out of the coffers of taxed money which is collected by threat of punishment from the citizenry at large and, more specifically, from the more affluent of the citizenry. A case could be made that free education is paid for with stolen or confiscated money.
Reformation lens #4 – The right to possess knowledge is a God-given right inherent in all people, but the right to knowledge is not the same thing as the entitlement to a formal education.
As Reformers, we must care for our children and be compassionate for our neighbor’s children, and we must never turn a blind eye or a deaf ear to those who have longings and needs but do not have the means to buy for themselves. Christian charity demands providing helping hands for those whose economic or social status has positioned them in a place of need. We must also remember that meeting needs must be in harmony with God’s Word. God does not empower the civil jurisdiction to provide education. God has granted that right to the family. God does not empower the civil realm to make laws that take the rights that belong to owners and give those rights to non-owners. Careful consideration of the topic of entitlements shows that many civil leaders use the common kitty to provide entitlements for their constituents with the goal of securing votes from their voting base rather than acting out of a more pure motivation of helping those in need.
