Should Christians Use "The Good and the Beautiful" Curriculum?

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Is "The Good and the Beautiful" curriculum a wise choice for Christian homeschooling families? In this episode, Elizabeth Urbanowicz takes a closer look at this widely-used resource, examining its claims, content, and worldview. Discover the subtle ways Mormon doctrine is embedded in the curriculum, why it matters, and how Christian parents can navigate curriculum choices wisely. Whether you use this curriculum or are considering it, this episode provides thoughtful guidance to equip your children with a biblical foundation.

Resources Mentioned

Mike Winger - Mormonism Playlist

Transcript

Note: The following is an auto-transcript of the podcast recording.

Hello friends. Today we're going to be exploring The Good and the Beautiful curriculum to see is this a curriculum that Christian homeschoolers can and should use. Those of you who are familiar with this curriculum know that it is produced by members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, also known as Mormons. And so there is somewhat of a debate within the Christian homeschooling world as to whether or not this is a curriculum that can be used by those who hold to the historic Christian worldview and believe that Mormonism is actually a false religion. Now over the past several years, Foundation Worldview has received multiple requests to review this curriculum, and up until this point, I had not taken the time to investigate it simply because here at Foundation Worldview we are not primarily a curriculum review company, and so I only seek to review other products if they're really being far and widely used and there's something that we really need to investigate.

Well, this past summer I had two individuals who I have personal relationships with who are homeschooling, who asked me to look into the curriculum for them. And because of these two requests, I actually did take time to dive down into the curriculum. I went on The Good and the Beautiful website and I downloaded all of the kindergarten through fourth grade language arts curriculum, some of the science curriculum and took a look. And so that's what we're going to be looking at today is just my investigation of this curriculum and whether or not I would encourage you to use it. So that's what we're going to be looking at on the Foundation Worldview podcast where normally we seek to answer your questions so that you can equip the kids that God has placed in your care to carefully evaluate every idea they encounter and understand the truth of the biblical worldview.

I'm your host, Elizabeth Urbanowicz and I'm thrilled that you've joined me today for this episode that is a little bit outside of the box of what we typically do. Now I know that The Good and the Beautiful curriculum is widely used among Christian homeschoolers for several reasons. It's a fairly simple and straightforward curriculum. It's very easy to use. Also, it is available, at least its language arts and part of its science is available for free on the website. I believe also that their mathematics portion is free, and so this is huge for Christian homeschooling families who are usually trying to be very careful with their resources. So having a free curriculum that's pretty straightforward and easy to use is huge. Now, as I went through these materials, one thing that I really appreciated about them is they did match the name in that this curriculum focuses on what is good and what is beautiful.

The stories that were included in all five of the different language arts sections that I looked at, those stories focused on things that were good, on things that were uplifting, they focused on good morals, so really appreciated that even just from a physical aspect, looking at the curriculum, the fonts that they choose are very pleasing to the eye. Those who are on their graphic design team are doing a great job because they lay out the curriculum in a way that is very pleasing to the eye. They have appropriate spacing in the lines for different grade levels. That's something that's actually a little bit of a pet peeve of mind of some curriculum companies is that those who are creating don't seem to understand the appropriate amount of text per page for different developmental ages. And The Good and the Beautiful seems to get this correct.

Also, the illustrations that I saw were engaging and they were good and they were beautiful, and so that was something I really appreciated about these materials as I went through them. And so as I went through them, I said to myself, I really understand the appeal of this curriculum. It's focusing on what's good. It's focusing on what's beautiful. It is beautiful and it's presentation. It's straightforward, it's easy to use. It's not complicated. It doesn't involve a whole lot of prep work, and the fact that it's available for free to download on the website is huge. However, I must be honest that if I were homeschooling children, I would not use The Good and the Beautiful curriculum. Now for anyone who is listening or watching and currently uses The Good and the Beautiful curriculum, I know that when you are homeschooling and you are spending such large quantities of your time investing in the discipleship and training of your children, and someone makes a sentence like, I would not do that if I were homeschooling my children.

That can feel very much like a personal attack. So if what I just said feels like a personal attack, please know that is not at all how I meant it. What I'm going to do is I'm just going to outline why I would personally choose not to use The Good and the Beautiful, and then at the end of the podcast, I'm going to circle back and say, if after what I've presented, you are not convinced that this is a curriculum that you should avoid, how can you approach wisely using this curriculum? Now, the reason that I would not use this curriculum and I would actually advise others not to use it is that this curriculum does subtly sneak in Mormon doctrine that as I went through every single curriculum subject matter that I went through, there was different Mormon doctrine that was woven throughout. Now, I do not think that this was intentional.

I do genuinely believe that those who are creating The Good and the Beautiful are trying to create good and beautiful materials that anyone could use. However, it is very, very difficult when we as humans are deeply steeped in a worldview to create materials that are neutral. So the people who are creating The Good and the Beautiful who for their entire lives have been steeped in LDS doctrine, asking them to create materials that do not contain LDS doctrine would be like asking me to develop a worldview neutral curriculum that I am so steeped in the historic Christian worldview that no matter how hard I tried to create a worldview neutral curriculum, my worldview is so deeply embedded in the historic Christian faith that those beliefs would be embedded throughout the materials I created even if I tried really hard not to place them there. And so what I'm going to go through now is five different areas where I found Mormon doctrine embedded in the curriculum just to show you where it shows up.

Now, the first place which Mormon doctrine, it doesn't show up, but I think it's just very misleading, is they have in all of their curriculums as they introduce the curriculums, they have a very misleading claim about the foundation of the curriculum. In each of the curriculum teachers' guides, they have this sentence, it says, this course has a non-denominational Christian foundation with the goal of producing not only intelligent minds, but also high character and hearts that love God, nature and good literature. And so this claim is that the entire course has a non-denominational Christian foundation. And this claim is very misleading because Mormonism is not Christianity. It is not Christianity. And actually in the past, the Mormon leaders made clear that Mormonism is very different than what Protestant and Catholic denominations teach. It's only been within the past about 15 to 20 years that the Mormon Church has changed their message, and it's been like, no, we're just like you.

We just have some differences. Now, outlining in depth why Mormonism is not Christianity goes beyond the scope of this podcast that we work really hard to keep under 20 minutes. What we're going to do is in the show notes, we will provide a link to a teaching series done by Pastor Mike Winger, the Bible thinker that does a thorough evaluation of Mormonism. So if you want a comprehensive understanding of what the Mormon Church actually teaches, highly recommend you check out this video. What I'm going to do in the next 15 or so minutes of this podcast is I am going to highlight foundational pieces of evidence that make it obvious that Mormonism is not Christianity. Now, first, just one piece of evidence. We know as Christians that Christianity is based on the teachings of the 66 canonical books of the Bible and the belief that these 66 books as God's word are inerrant, infallible, authoritative, and they are the complete word of God.

So Christianity is based on the Bible. Now, on the Mormon website, the website for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints, just lds.org, there is an article that is entitled What Latter Day Saints Believe about Jesus Christ. And I've just pulled out one sentence that's going to show you that what I just said about what Christians believe about Scripture is different than what the LDS Church teaches. And so in this article entitled What Latter Day Saints Believe About Jesus Christ, they write, we do not believe the Bible to be Iner complete or the final word of God. So the Mormon Church teaches that the Bible is not in errant, it contains errors, it's not complete, and it's not the final word of God. So these are two completely different perspectives. So I think it's very deceptive of The Good and the Beautiful to make the claim that this curriculum has a non-denominational Christian foundation because Christians believe that the Bible is the authoritative, inerrant, infallible, complete word of God, and that is not what the LDS Church believes.

Now the second thing that I found in The Good and the Beautiful curriculum is a faulty view of Jesus. Now, in Mormonism, Jesus is not viewed as the second person of the Trinity. He is viewed as a completely separate being who is the firstborn spirit child of God, the Father. And so I'm going to show you a few places directly from the horse's mouth again, right from the official website of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, where this teaching is made clear. So in an article called, oh, sorry, the same article, what Latter Day Saints Believe About Jesus, another quote, they say, latter Day saints believe that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost are separate and distinct personages, that they are one in purpose, God the Father, Jesus Christ and the Holy Ghost are separate beings. Then in another article called God the Eternal Father, they write God the eternal Father whom we designate by the exalted name, title Elohim is the literal parent of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, end of the spirits of the human race.

And then in another article called Doctrines of the Gospel student manual, they write among the spirit children of Elohim. The firstborn was and is Jehovah or Jesus Christ, to whom all others are juniors, okay? So there's a very different view of Jesus that Jesus isn't viewed as the second person of the Trinity. He is a God, but he is a separate God than God the Father. And in Mormonism it is taught that Jesus did not become fully God until after his resurrection. In that same article, the gospels, or sorry, the doctrine of the Gospel's student manual, the LDS church writes, the Savior did not have a fullness at first, but after he received his body and the resurrection, all power was given unto him, both in heaven and in earth, although he was a God, even the Son of God with power and authority to create this earth and other earths.

Yet there was some things lacking which he did not receive until after his resurrection. In other words, he had not received the fullness until he got a resurrected body. Okay? So there's some big differences here in what the Bible teaches about Jesus and what the Mormon Church teaches about Jesus. Now, these things are not directly taught in The Good and the Beautiful curriculum, but some of the language uses shows that the authors have a different view of Jesus in the level one language arts coursebook. On page 212, 1 of the sentences reads, only Jesus has been a perfect person. Now, you might say, well, Jesus is perfect, Elizabeth, yes, that is correct. Jesus is fully God and he's a fully man and he is the only one who lived a perfectly righteous life. But do you see by how labeling Jesus a perfect person there is showing this difference?

It's not viewing Jesus as always having been fully God, the second person of the Trinity, but he was a person who lived perfectly and then gained full Godhead, or full God, I should say, after his resurrection in another language arts course book the level three language arts coursebook on page 173, they're teaching children about hems and it says, the orange boxes show the hems perfect and perfect. I'll use the words in sentences. Jesus was perfect. I want to perfect my piano skills. Okay, so they're using just these sentences to teach kids about heteros, and did you hear the language Jesus was perfect? You might say that's true, Elizabeth, what's wrong with that? Well, it's using a past tense verb. Jesus is perfect. There is no difference in Jesus's essential essence between when he was on this earth and now as he is seated at the right hand of the Father.

But do you see how that past tense verb is pointing to the fact that Mormons believe there is grave difference between Jesus before he was resurrected and after he was resurrected in his essence? The third thing that I've found in this curriculum is a faulty view of humans. Now, Mormonism teaches that all humans are God's children, that we are literally his spirit children, and as such, we all have the potential to become Gods through perfect living. Now, this is different than what Christianity teaches, that we are all creatures of God, that humans all bear his image, but that we only become his children through adoption when we receive the forgiveness of Jesus. Now on the LDS website, in an article called Becoming Like God, this false belief about humans being all God's children is outlined. It says, Latterday Saints see all people as children of God in a full and complete sense.

They consider every person divine in origin, nature, and potential. Each has an eternal core and is a beloved spirit, son or daughter of heavenly parents. Each possesses seeds of divinity and must choose whether to live in harmony or tension with that divinity through the atonement of Jesus Christ. All people may progress towards perfection and ultimately realize their divine destiny. Just as a child can develop the attributes of his or her parents over time, the divine nature that humans inherit can become developed to become like their heavenly Fathers. Okay? So in Mormonism, it's this teaching that we are all the literal spirit children of God, that therefore we have divinity in us, and the ultimate end in Mormonism is to become exalted, to become your own God. This is vastly different than what is taught in Christianity that we can be adopted into God's family to become his children, but we do not become Gods.

Now, this view of all humans being God's children and having this potential of divinity is subtly included in The Good and the Beautiful curriculum in the Level K language arts coursebook. On page one 11, they write, it is wonderful that we have so many different people in our world. They are all children of God. And now when you read that at first you might think, oh, maybe they don't mean that. But when you read that, what I just quoted from that article on the LDS website becoming like God, it becomes clear that Mormons are viewing all people, everyone as literal spirit, children of God. This is repeated again in the level two language arts and literature coursebook on page 203, it says, when people move to a new country, they bring some of their customs and traditions with them. We are all children of God using our abilities to make the world a better place.

Then again, in the level three language arts literature, coursebook on page 94, they give students the instruction. They say, write an opinion essay on why it is important to serve others. Do you need some ideas? And then the first idea sparker they give is write about how we are all God's children. So this idea is continually repeated. It was repeated in other places, but I didn't want to give more than three examples and bore you, but just pay attention. If you are using this curriculum, it's going to say, in many places, we are all Gods children, which biblically, that is inaccurate. And what Mormons mean by we are all God's children is something vastly different than what Scripture teaches about it. The fourth thing I found in the curriculum is a faulty view of salvation. Now, according to LDS teaching, Jesus's death and resurrection made it so that all humans can be resurrected from the dead.

So Jesus's death and resurrection apply to all people that through Jesus' death and resurrection, all people receive resurrection. Now, salvation according to the LDS church, which is entrance into a higher level of heaven, is gained through righteous living. So according to Mormonism, Jesus' death was not sufficient to fully redeem us. It was sufficient to gain us resurrection from the dead, but then it is our good works, our effort that actually enables us to get into higher levels of heaven. On the LDS website, in an article called What Latterday Saints Believe about Jesus Christ, they write, we believe that the effects of his rise from the tomb pass upon all men in women as in Adam, all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. So do you hear that verse that is quoted from scriptures, quoted from Romans, and in its context that verse means all who are in Christ, those who have been forgiven of their sins, those who have repented, who have been redeemed, who have been regenerated, they are made alive, they are made regenerate in Christ, where according to the Mormon church, all are made alive in Christ, all have gained resurrection from the dead.

In another article, the doctrines of the gospel student manual, they write as the Son of God, Jesus fills many roles essential to our salvation. Did you catch that? That's a really important statement. I want you to hear it again. As the Son of God, Jesus fulfills many roles essential to our salvation. What is this sentence essentially saying? Jesus is not sufficient for our salvation. He fulfills many of the roles that are required for us to be saved, but not all of them. And then finally in an article entitled What Latter Day Saints Believe About Jesus Christ, if You can't Tell, I got a lot of quotes from that article, same article they write, we do not believe that we can either overcome the flesh or gain eternal reward through our own unaided efforts. We must work to our limit and then rely upon the merits, mercy and grace of the holy one of Israel to see us through the struggles of life and into life eternal.

And that is quoted from second Nephi 31 19 and Marna six four from the Book of Mormon. Okay, so did you hear that? That we are to work to our limits and then rely on God's grace? That this is just the opposite of what is taught in Scripture, that in Scripture we are taught that we are saved by grace alone through faith alone, and then we obey God out of love for him, that our obedience has nothing to do with our salvation. We can't earn our salvation. Our obedience is proof of our salvation. It's evidence pointing towards our salvation, but it has nothing to do with us actually being granted salvation. Now this view, this faulty view of salvation is also subtly included in The Good and the Beautiful curriculum in the level one language arts coursebook. On page 1 57, they write, the most important thing that we can do in this life is to become more like Jesus.

Now as Christians, are we called to become more like Jesus? Yes. Is God's spirit at work conforming us more into the image of His Son? Yes, it is. But do you see how from the Mormon perspective becoming more like Jesus is important because you are actually working to earn your salvation. So the most important thing for us to do in this life is to repent of our sins and surrender to Jesus and receive his grace and then rely on Him on his Holy Spirit to conform us more into his image. Now in another section, in that same level, one language arts coursebook on page 278, they write on a warm, sunny day long ago, Jesus told people a story. It was about 100 sheep. One of them was lost because all the sheep were dear to the heart of the shepherd. He searched for the missing sheep.

Jesus also loves us in this way and calls for us when we wander. Okay? That last part says, and calls for us when we wander. That is not the teaching of Scripture. It's not the teaching that Jesus, he just calls for us. When we wander, we are all born wandering. We are all born wandering. We are outside of the flock of God, and Jesus calls us. He seeks us out. He calls us to repent so that we might be brought in to the fold of God. Where do you see in this Mormon view? It's just like, oh, sometimes we're going to wander sometimes on our own effort, and then Jesus calls us back because who is ultimately responsible for our salvation? In Mormonism? We are. And then in the level two language arts and literature coursebook on page 91, they write, when we let our light shine, we can be like a lighthouse leading people to the safety of Christ.

Even that wording, okay, you might say, well, Elizabeth, that's biblical leading people to the safety of Christ. It's not just safety of Christ, it is the salvation of Christ. It's not that just Jesus makes us safe by being a good example for us, he gave the ultimate sacrifice to be the propitiation for our sins. The fifth error that I found in The Good and the Beautiful curriculum was a really intense focus on feelings. Now, those of you who have followed the Foundation Worldview ministry for a while, you know that we are constantly encouraging you to help your children discern between objective truth claims and subjective preference claims. And the amazing thing about the Christian worldview is that it is built on objective claims that Christianity actually could be proven false if it could be conclusively proven that Jesus is still dead, that would disprove Christianity.

Mormonism is different according to Mormonism. One learns that the Book of Mormon is true not through objective evidence as the Bible encourages, but through subjective feelings. Those of you who have ever had Mormon and missionaries in your home and have conversed with them for a while, you know that as you talk with them and as you try to provide them with evidence against the Mormon faith, and there is a lot of evidence against the Mormon faith. There is archeological evidence that the claims made in the Book of Mormon and doctrine and Covenants and the Pearl of Great Price and the Book of Abraham, that those books are not true. There's archeological evidence. There's historical evidence even since the discovery of the Rosetta Stone when now we can read ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics that the Book of Abraham that Joseph Smith supposedly translated, that his translation of these ancient Egyptian symbols was inaccurate.

There is objective evidence that Mormonism is false, but when you try to bring this up to Mormon missionaries, your home, what they will tell you is that you need to pray and you need to ask God if the Book of Mormon is true. And when you do, when you pray and ask that question, you'll receive this burning feeling, this deep heavy peace within you, and you will know that the Book of Mormon is true. Mormons used to call this the burning of the bosom, and this is actually described on the LDS website in the doctrine and Covenant student manual, they write Elder s Dilworth Young said, if I am to receive revelation from the Lord, I must be in harmony with him by keeping his commandments then as needed. According to his wisdom, his word will come into my mind through my thoughts accompanied by a feeling in the region of my bosom.

It is a feeling which cannot be described, but the nearest word we have is burn or burning. Accompanying. This always is a feeling of peace, a further witness that what one heard is right once one recognizes this burning, this feeling, this peace one need never be drawn astray in his daily life or in the guidance he may receive. So you see how one figures out what God has said and that the Book of Mormon is true by this burning in the bosom, this feeling of intense burning and peace knowing that the Book of Mormon is true despite the fact that all of the historical evidence speaks to the opposite. Well, this focus on inner subjective feelings is woven throughout this curriculum. The Good and the Beautiful really primes the pump for focusing on subjective feelings rather than objective evidence. Now, I did not read every single story in every single language arts coursebook, but I did find this in some of the different stories that I read.

For example, in the Level K language arts coursebook, on page 2 62, there's a story about this little boy named Henry and him doing a good deed, and it says, Henry thought about the warm feeling in his heart that day, which had told him what to do. Henry smiled shook his head and said, no, Annie, that was the work of God. Okay, so do you see how Henry realized that what he was doing was the right thing by the warm feeling in his heart? That is not how Scripture guides us. Scripture tells us objectively what is right and what is wrong, and that we are to follow, that we are not supposed to follow some subjective feeling in the level two language arts and literature coursebook. On page 1 76, it says, in the Bible, we also read Be Ye Clean. Isaiah 52 11, being clean in your book, in our book choices, leaves us feeling good.

Always pay attention to how you feel after you finish a book. As we continue reading clean and uplifting books in this course from The Good and the Beautiful book list, let's try to notice all the good messages in them and how the books make us feel. Now, should our children be paying attention to the books that they're reading and whether those books have good and true messages, or whether those books have false messages, unclean messages, yes, our children should be paying attention, but the primary indicator of whether or not a book contains good content is not how we feel about it, but whether or not the content of that book aligns with Scripture, the same thing is encouraged again in the level four language arts and literature coursebook. On page 12, it says, to keep your mind pure and clean. In today's world, you may have to avoid many of today's popular books.

In the Bible we read, touch No Unclean Thing. Go ye out of the midst of Her, be ye Clean again, quoting Isaiah 52 11. In this course, you will have the chance to read many good and beautiful books, books that uplift and teach while they entertain. As you read, pay attention to the beautiful writing and descriptions and the way the books make you feel. Okay? We do not want our children to play so much emphasis on feelings. We want them to pay attention to the objective truths portrayed in God's word. And what this is doing, this continual focus on feelings, it's having our children focus on what is subjective, what is consistently changing, and it's priming the pump for this belief that you know that a book is from God or not from God by praying about it and then discerning how you feel about it.

So I hope that as I've gone through these five different issues that I found with The Good and the Beautiful curriculum, first, the misleading claim about it being a non denomial Christian foundation. Second, them having a faulty view of Jesus. Third, a faulty view of humans. Fourth, a faulty view of salvation. And fifth, a faulty focus on feelings. I hope that you see why this curriculum is not the wisest option for you to use with your children. Now, those of you who are watching, who are already familiar with The Good and the Beautiful, and have already been convicted that you should not use this curriculum because of the things I pointed out are because of other things that you've seen in the past. I just want to make sure that if you're watching this video and you're like, yes, I knew it, I knew it.

I was telling others they shouldn't use this curriculum, that you just take a moment to have a heart check. Because having this information is really good information. It's true information, it's important information, but we want to make sure that we are not delighting in the fact that something is wrong. In one Corinthians 13, we are told that love does not delight in evil, but it rejoices with the truth. And so we don't want to be rejoicing about the fact that this curriculum subtly sneaks in Mormon doctrine. Whether that's done intentionally or more likely, as I suggested, it's probably done unintentionally. So if you've been warning others against using this curriculum first would encourage you to have a heart check. Then as you're talking with others who may be using this curriculum, I would encourage you to ask good questions, to learn what they like about it, what they appreciate about it, why they're using it, and then ask them if they've considered some of these things that I've brought up in the video, you may even want to share this video with them.

So that would be my encouragement for those of you who when you started watching this video, you already agreed with mine's assessment. Now, for those of you who are watching this video who are currently using The Good and the Beautiful curriculum, and you have watched this video and you thought, you know what? I get what you're saying, Elizabeth, but I still want to use this curriculum first. I would really encourage you to reconsider. There are a lot of other great Christian homeschooling curriculums out there that you can use, and as you saw through this evaluation that I gave, the way that Mormon doctrine is snuck in is very subtle, but if our kids are consistently hearing things phrased in this way, they're very likely to have incorrect views of who God is and salvation and other things. So I would really encourage you to be careful with that.

But if you still want to use this curriculum, even after watching this video, my encouragement to you would be to make sure that you go through each lesson ahead of time before you go through a coursebook with your child. Go through each lesson ahead of time, see if any of these things are present, any of these things that I pointed out, these faulty views of Jesus, of humans, of salvation, this faulty focus on feelings. And then as you're going through the materials with your child and you read through those things, take your child directly to Scripture to show them how what is taught there or what is subtly assumed there is not accurate because you can use these faulty assumptions as really good teaching points for your child. And so just encourage you, if you're still convinced that you want to use this curriculum, just make sure you're going through it ahead of time and you're preparing your children to carefully evaluate the different messages they're receiving and to always hold them up against the truth of Scripture.

Well, that's a wrap for this episode. If you found this content beneficial, ask that you would make sure to like and subscribe so that you don't miss any future episodes. Also, if you have a question, question that you would like for me to answer on a future Foundation Worldview podcast, you can submit that by going to Foundation Worldview dot com slash podcast. As we leave our time together, my prayer is that no matter the situation you and the children God has placed in your care, find yourselves that you would trust that God is working all things together for your good. By using all things to conform you more into the image of His Son.