1897

August 1, 1897

True Education

EGW 

Education, as it is conducted in the schools of today, is one-sided, and therefore a mistake. As the purchase of the Son of God, we are his property, and every one should have an education in the school of Christ. Wise teachers should be chosen for our schools. Teachers have to deal with human minds, and they are responsible to God to impress upon those minds the necessity of knowing Christ as a personal Saviour. But no one can truly educate God's purchased possession unless he himself has learned in the school of Christ how to teach. ChristianEducator August 1, 1897, par. 1

I must tell you from the light given me by God, I know that much time and money are spent by students in acquiring a knowledge that is as chaff to them; for it does not enable them to help their fellow men to form characters that will fit them to unite with saints and angels in the higher school. In the place of crowding youthful minds with a mass of things that are distasteful, and that in many cases will never be of any use to them, a practical education should be given. Time and money are spent in gaining useless knowledge. The mind should be carefully and wisely taught to dwell upon Bible truth. The main object of education should be to gain a knowledge of how we can glorify God, whose we are by creation and by redemption. The result of education should be to enable us to understand the voice of God. ChristianEducator August 1, 1897, par. 2

The earth is corrupt and dark and idolatrous, but amid the darkness and corruption a pure, divine light, the word of God, is shining. But although we have known the truth for many years, little advancement has been made by those who have been given light. Whose plan was it to produce that class of books that have been patronized in our schools? It was largely the plan of men who did not have the experience of Moses and Joshua and Daniel, and the other prophets and apostles, who endured the seeing of Him who is invisible. Seeing God by faith, gives a conception of the divine character, the perfection of heaven. But to place in our schools the books that have been placed there as standard books, is an offense to God. In this age, as never before, when the two great forces of the Prince of Heaven and the prince of hell have met in decided conflict, our youth need instruction in Bible principles. Like the branches of the True Vine, the word of God presents unity in diversity. There is in it a perfect, superhuman, mysterious unity. It contains divine wisdom, and that is the foundation of all true education; but this book has been treated indifferently. ChristianEducator August 1, 1897, par. 3

Now, as never before, we need to understand the true science of education. If we fail to understand this, we shall never have a place in the kingdom of God. “This is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent.” If this is the price of heaven, shall not our education be conducted on these lines? Christ must be everything to us. “Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder; and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.” What a foundation is here laid for the faith of those who shall live in all ages. When Christ ascended to heaven, he ascended as our advocate. We always have a friend at court. And from on high Christ sends his representative to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people. The Holy Spirit gives the divine anointing to all who receive Christ. ChristianEducator August 1, 1897, par. 4

This is the great subject that underlies all true, sanctified education. When this is made the theme of our conversation, no idle, common talk will fall from our lips. Jesting and joking are heard because the soul temple is unsanctified and unholy. ChristianEducator August 1, 1897, par. 5

God, the everlasting Father, gave his only begotten Son to the world that all who come to him might have everlasting life. And in this gift he opened to us a channel of the richest and most inexhaustible treasures. This sacred theme should be the food of our minds. With this bread of life we should satisfy our soul-hunger. If we do this, we cannot hunger for worldly excitement or grandeur. Our religious experience is of exactly the same quality as the food we give our minds.... ChristianEducator August 1, 1897, par. 6

The truths contained in the Scriptures are grand, elevating, uplifting, ennobling. If the lost image of God is restored in this world, these truths must be cherished. They are graced with such simplicity that they could not possibly have originated in any human mind. A sower from a higher world went forth to sow the world with the seeds of truth. Only this higher phase of education is able to prepare students for the higher school, where Christ and God will be the teachers, and where, throughout eternity, we shall learn how best to magnify and glorify God's name. ChristianEducator August 1, 1897, par. 7

Men who are not burdened to learn Greek and Latin may yet possess a most earnest zeal to prepare in this life to receive life eternal, and enter the higher school, taking with them the result of their studies in this world. When they reach the heavenly school, their education will have advanced just in proportion as in this world they strove to obtain a knowledge of God and the world's Redeemer. And just in proportion to the advancement they have made in seeking God and his righteousness will they be rewarded in the future immortal life. ChristianEducator August 1, 1897, par. 8

The scheme of redemption is not a common study. Had it been so, many souls would not have been disloyal to God. Commencing with the apostasy and the gospel presented to Adam and Eve in Eden, and tracing down prophetic history, the word of God unfolds the plan of redemption, gathering fresh and increased evidence, until the fulness of the time came, and then Christ made his advent into the world. In Christ the deity was represented. He was the great instructor in divine philosophy. He came without display, having no outward glory to stimulate mere admiration, and possessing no earthly riches.... ChristianEducator August 1, 1897, par. 9

But as a golden treasure, truth was entrusted to the Jewish nation. The Jewish economy, bearing the signature of heaven, was instituted by the great teacher, Jesus Christ. In types and shadows, important truths and mysteries that needed an interpreter, were veiled. The shadow pointed to the substance; and when Jesus came to our world, it was to let spiritual light shine forth. Hear, O heavens! and be astonished, O earth! The appointed instructor was no less a personage than the only begotten Son of God. God was revealed in Christ. He made plain the treasures of truth. He displaced the rubbish that had been piled on the Sabbath of the fourth commandment, declaring himself the Lord of the Sabbath. He who made the world and made man, also made the Sabbath, and gave it to man to keep holy.... ChristianEducator August 1, 1897, par. 10

God's standard of character is his law. Satan said, I will tear down this standard, and will plant my own standard in its place. This he has tried and is still trying to do, that God's standard may be eclipsed or seen through a glass darkly. The Jews did not see it, and that is why they crucified Christ. The Christian world do not see it, and that is why they refuse to acknowledge the law of God. In so doing they make themselves accountable for the sins that destroyed the inhabitants of the old world by a flood, that brought fire and brimstone upon Sodom, and that destroyed the Jewish nation. Shall those to whom God has given wonderful opportunities and great light follow in the tread of those who rejected light to their ruin? Shall those to whom God has entrusted wonderful truth remain on the low level of the teachers of this generation? ChristianEducator August 1, 1897, par. 11

Mrs. E. G. White