House Churches and Homeschooling

Yesterday someone was trying to convince me that housechurches are a bad idea. They then compared the bad decision to go to a housechurch to the bad decision to homeschool your kids. This person knew I was homeschooled K-12. I mean, why try to convince me something that I do evidences a lack of faith in God and then use as an example the way that my parents brought me up was poorly decided? I had to try really hard not to laugh. I mean, I know people get all nervous when I bring up that I go to a house church, but the comparing it to homeschooling was rich. (Especially when the person brought up how poorly socialized homeschooled kids are - knowing what a social butterfly I am) I mean, it didn't really make his point - because obviously I'm not going to go "It evidences a lack of faith in God just like homeschooling? Well, I should stop going!" being as I completely agree that my parents homeschooling me was a good choice. Rather than being a convincing argument, it's just going to piss me off (I wasn't pissed off, I was amused, but that was more my reaction than the way the argument was set forth.)

In the end, the point he made was mine - public schooling is a government construct - not set up by God for the Enlightenment and Education of our youth. Also, it's a fairly new government construct. For most of history, public schooling was unknown; it's not a sign of a lack of faith in God to homeschool your children instead of sending them to public school, it's the traditional way to educate them. God has not given public schools the corner on educating children and told parents that even though they birthed the children they may not educate them unless they do not trust Him and are not Good Followers of Him. That argument is, frankly, ridiculous.

Now take house churches. House churches are the way the original New Testament church did things. This one pastor/one church mentality is new and a construct - not the way the New Testament church did things, not the way the Bible explains things "ought" to be. I don't necessarily have a problem with a 'normal' church, but to say that God has given the corner to 'normal' churches the way he has given the education corner to public schools is....well, not taking anything in the Bible in context. Is there further revelation? For sure, God is constantly revealing Himself - it didn't just stop when the copyright was put on the Bible the first time (thank you John Stott for putting this into concrete thought for me). However, saying that "God only supports public schooling" or "God only supports our modern notion of a church" (as opposed to the notion set forth in scripture) makes no sense to me. It doesn't seem to be a case of revelation after the Bible - it seems to be a cultural idea. A church being set up one pastor (or a even just a few/one church isn't even just a modern notion. After all, in China they still have house churches (and the Chinese church is thriving so much more than the American one. Interesting.) It's a modern, Western notion. All my advisor really said in his argument was "God supports these modern, Western cultural ways of setting things up over what was done all throughout history, or in the Bible, that actually have no basis in scripture, but still it is so." and then used one argument for a cultural construct to support the other. This is about as convincing an argument as "God only supports Republicans."

Furthermore: What sort of person uses an argument that will insult you (and your parents and many of your friends and their parents) to sway you into taking his or her advise? This is almost as convincing as when a someone on a sidewalk tried to convince me to donate to a charity and give them my credit card number without letting me check up on their organization first and as they were trying to convince me verbally bashed me, Jeremiah, and all who adhere to Christianity (after finding out that I am a Christian).

What are people thinking?