Baltimore City Public Schools made national news in June when it came to light that over 12,000 high school students had their grades changed from failing to passing in order to graduate. The report issued by the Maryland Office of the Inspector General (OIGE) was a shocking end to a nearly three-year review into grade changes in the school system.
This report came less than a year after Baltimore City Public Schools (BCPS) themselves issued an investigative report detailing how former leaders at one school schemed to alter student attendance, grade average, and graduation rates. That came after city school administrators announced that they would no longer make failing students repeat their grade levels.
What an embarrassment to Baltimore’s education system! What an injustice to its students!
Did these students deserve to pass? No. Neither did they deserve to be sent out into the world, uneducated and unprepared to join the workforce and make their contribution to society. BCPS did not do these kids a favor by lowering the standards to allow them to graduate with failing grades. The pain they may have endured to repeat grades, to be properly tutored to catch up, is small compared to the pain of lost opportunities and shame they will face when they are unable to perform academically in the real world. Dumbing down the system is cruel in the long run.
My daughter Sarah attended public school from kindergarten through fifth grade. We live in the county around Baltimore city. When she was graduating to Middle School, we decided to put her in Christian school. The public school curriculum was becoming ultra-liberal and plagued with problems. She had good grades and near perfect attendance, but when she was tested by the Christian school, she was behind a grade level. They would accept her, but they wanted her to repeat the fifth grade. We were stunned. I told them that our concern was that Sarah had a tendency to lack confidence in herself and it would be devastating to her emotionally. They agreed to give her the summer to be tutored and would re-test her before the new school year began. We hired a retired school teacher to tutor her, and when Sarah was re-tested, she had not only caught up, she had surpassed her grade level in some areas. It was such a blessing. Had she remained in public schools, she would have continued to pass with no problems, but she would not have been amply prepared for college when she graduated. Lowering academic standards for kids to pass is not proper education.
A Spiritual Parallel
I believe there is a parallel in the church world today. New Testaments standards are being lowered to accommodate the degenerating social and sexual mores of this generation. What the Bible calls sin is not sin anymore according to some denominations and preachers. They teach and act as though God has relaxed the moral code of the Old Testament, and that it no longer applies to the Church. One well-known television evangelist claims that the 10 Commandments do not apply to Christians.
Is there any wonder that the Church is rife with fornication and homosexuality? The come-as-you are approach has kicked into the hyper-grace message of stay-as-you-are. It’s okay, because God loves you just the way you are. Yes, He does! And because He loves you, He is not going to allow you to stay in your sins and lose your eternal soul.
Some churches are now certifying homosexuality by marrying same-sex couples. Homosexuals are serving in the pulpit. There are even transgenders serving in the pulpit. These are an abominable affront to God our Creator. He did not create anyone to be homosexual or transgender, and He will liberate all who have fallen into this deception when they come to Him. To allow homosexuals to believe God accepts their sin of homosexuality because He loves them, is to “change the truth of God into a lie” (Romans 1:25), and to condemn them to judgment (v.32).
It was shocking to me in the aftermath of the overturning of Roe V. Wade, how many Christians decried it. They stand with the abortion industry, claiming it to be a compassionate work of God to women. God is a God of life. It is Satan who has come “to steal, to kill, and to destroy” (John 10:10).
Based on what is coming across many pulpits today, it would seem that sin is not what it used to be. Under the banner of grace, the moral code of the Bible is being relaxed, allowing active sin to go unchallenged in the Church. The mantra of grace libertines is that we are no longer under Old Testament Law, as though its moral code was rescinded. They cite Jesus’ words of love and forgiveness, inferring He would not condemn their sin today.
Did Jesus relax the moral code of the Law?
Not in the least! Actually, He raised the bar!
In the Sermon on the Mount, the Constitution of the New Covenant, not only did He not relax it—He beefed it up! The Law exacted the death penalty for adultery, but Jesus went further: “You have heard that it was said of them of old time, You shall not commit adultery. But I say unto you, whosoever looks on a woman to lust after her has committed adultery with her already in his heart” (Matthew 5:27-28).
And what about murder? Jesus said: “You have heard it said of old time, You shall not kill. But I say unto you, Whoever is angry with his brother without cause shall be in danger of the judgment” (Matthew 5:21-22). In earth’s civil courts, a person cannot be prosecuted for his wrong thoughts, but in the courts of Heaven, his guilt is sealed while his sin is still a mental crime. Jesus said, “For out of the heart proceeds evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies” (Matthew 15:19). He covered all sin and in no way eased the intent of the moral law.
Peter said: “Repent of this wickedness; if perhaps the thought of your heart can be forgiven” (Acts 8:22). We’re accountable for our thoughts—How much more our actions?
Nor has God mitigated the punishment of the moral law, and His righteousness demands the death penalty be carried out. What was sin under Law is sin under Grace, and what carried the death penalty under Law still carries it under Grace. This statement evokes strong cries of denouncement from the world. They laud love and liberty, but not justice. But a just God must regard His Word. All sin carries the death penalty: “The wages of sin is death…” (Romans 6:23).
The wonder of His grace is not that He lets the sinner off by overlooking his sins and sweeping them under the carpet of tolerance—the wonder of His grace is that He devised a way to uphold the just demands of His Law and still offer mercy to the guilty.
This meant someone had to die for every broken law committed by every lawbreaker. This death penalty was set in motion when Adam and Eve sinned. God slayed innocent animals to cover their nakedness and instituted the shedding of blood upon the altar as the only covering for sin. Under the Law of Moses, God codified the sacrificial system. Year after year, innocent animals died to make atonement for sin, and “without shedding of blood, there is no remission of sin” (Hebrews 9:14, 22).
Still, these animal sacrifices were temporary and limited, because they could not cleanse the conscience of its evil thoughts. Therefore, humans lived in a continual struggle against sin, because of the motions of sin in our minds and bodies. Until God sent His Son to be the final Lamb—whose innocent blood not only made atonement in forgiving the guilty, but freed us from its relentless seduction. Now we can say, “No” to sin.
This Grace is not sloppy, slippery, greasy, or capricious. It raised the bar.
About The Author
