Attending Sunday school throughout my childhood, I learned the Bible’s account of creation. I knew what was created on each of the six days, and I came to understand that human beings are the crown of God’s creation, the objects of his special love.

Attending excellent public elementary and middle schools, where the very best principles of modern education were practiced, I learned the current theories of evolution. I knew all of the eras, which fossils were common in each era, and how old the earth really was.

My eighth-grade ears then heard things in confirmation class that did not jibe with what I had heard in school, and my eighth-grade brain came up with a solution. I was pretty sure that each of the days of creation was really a billion years. I wondered why no one had come up with such an elegant solution.

In ninth grade I attended a Lutheran school for the first time. Early in the curriculum, the subject of the origin of the world came up. In those days of Lutheran school, the preferred method of teaching was lecture, and in the lecture the teacher introduced the idea that each of the days of creation was really a much longer time period. I sat up straight in my desk, ready to support the teacher in this obvious solution. Imagine my surprise when he told us, “This heresy is called theistic evolution.” I don’t suppose that anyone in the room knew why I was blushing.

Today I know that the human brain will naturally harmonize two conflicting ideas unless one of them is specifically pointed out as untenable. I realize in my own work as a Lutheran educator that false ideas must be identified so that they can be disproven by Scripture rather than combined with the truth.

Today I see the value of Lutheran education from cradle to grave in order to raise up the next generation with the truths of the Bible clearly in mind. If the basic principles of evolution are mixed into our understanding, we tend to see human beings as constantly improving rather than steeped in sin. If the principles of the Bible are the basis for our view of the world, we will see sinful human beings as souls in need of the Savior. And we will have the background to present the Savior as he presents himself to us in Word and sacraments.

The difference between the market-driven humanism of secular education and the Spirit-driven focus on God and his gifts in Lutheran education is extraordinary, affecting every part of our lives.