A Community of Faith - part 15
Train Them in the Way
In 1943 C. S. Lewis wrote a prophetic book called The Abolition of Man. It was prophetic in that the very things he laments concerning the effects 20th century education in the Western World have all come true. It’s a short read, less than 100 pages total, but packs a heavy punch. The first chapter introduces the problem, namely the increase in subjectivity and lack of objectivity in discussions of truth and values. It is worth noting that the UK has typically stayed a couple of decades ahead of the US in regards to education and general societal trends. So, when Abolition made its way across the pond, we didn’t see the same trends until the 60s and 70s. Now, almost 80 years after its first publication, the US also sees the same issue—“Men without chests.”
Lewis prophesied that if educators continued to gut their educational programs of imaginative literature, objective value judgments, and general patriotism, society would accumulate students (now adults) who have little imagination, no concern for morality, and a lack of zeal for country and others. In essence, they have “no chest.” Lewis is referring to the roles of head, heart, and chest. It is by the head a person makes rational, logical decisions. It is by the heart he makes emotional decisions. It is by the chest that a person is able to balance the two. Lewis writes, “It may even be said that it is by this middle element that man is man: for by his intellect he is mere spirit and by his appetite mere animal.” If we attempt to remove all imagination and emotion from the child, he will grow to be more robot than man. If we attempt to remove all logic and intelligence, then the child becomes more a base animal. It is only with both, and controlled by an objective third party, that the child can become an adult human.
If we continue this pattern of allowing children to grow without objective standards of morality, intelligence, and emotion, then we are left with a society devoid of the very things it needs to survive. Lewis summarizes the situation of 1940s UK in a way that could very well be said of 2020s US:
And all the time—such is the tragic-comedy of our situation—we continue to clamor for those very qualities we are rendering impossible. You can hardly open a periodical without coming across the statement that what our civilization needs is more ‘drive’, or dynamism, or self-sacrifice, or ‘creativity’. In a sort of ghastly simplicity we remove the organ and demand the function. We make men without chests and expect of them virtue and enterprise. We laugh at honor and are shocked to find traitors in our midst. We castrate and bid the geldings be fruitful.
- C. S. Lewis, Abolition of Man, 16.
Thus is the problem of our day. So, what solutions do we have? Well, as with all Sunday morning questions, we have a Sunday school answer—Jesus. Today, we are going to look at XII. Education of the Baptist Faith & Message and how it speaks to the current problems with modern education (or perhaps the better term, post-modern education). Contrary to our general society’s goal of moving further away from Christ and His objective Truth, what we really need is to pursue Christ. After all, Truth is Truth regardless where it is found. And, spoiler for later, Truth is still found in Jesus Christ.
Let’s begin.
Education is Foundational to Faith
Sometimes Christians can get a little too zealous in their fights against the trends of the modern age. The noble desire to uphold the tenets of our faith loses sight of the fact that our faith rests on the One Who reveals all truth to us. What is meant to be an attack on secularism or a defense of faith comes across as an attack on intelligence or the pursuit of intelligence. Rather the fact of our faith is this:
In [Jesus] are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
Colossians 2:3
There is no reason to shy away, or worse attack, the pursuit of Truth and education because we serve the One who reveals all Truth to us.
To pursue Jesus Christ is to pursue Truth which will always be victorious because Jesus is victorious.
Or, as the BFM states it:
Christianity is the faith of enlightenment and intelligence. In Jesus Christ abide all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. All sound learning is, therefore, a part of our Christian heritage.
XII. Education
Consider the number of places the fear of the Lord is synonymous with sound teaching and wisdom. Job says it succinctly with:
He said to mankind,
“The fear of the Lord—that is wisdom.
And to turn from evil is understanding.”
Job 28:28
Perhaps one of the greatest tragedies of our day is the rewriting of history to fit the narrative of secularists which decry all things religious as superstitions which hold back humanity’s growth and evolution. They forget things like, yes, Galileo went against the religious authorities with his theories and observations of the natural world, but he pursued such theories because he believed God gave humanity the faculties to understand His Creation. (In fact, the verses which “justified” Galileo’s trial demonstrate the Church’s misunderstanding and misapplication of them more than Galileo’s lack of faith.) On the contrary, God promises wisdom, knowledge, and understanding to the person willing to follow Him. At no point in Scripture is humanity called to be blind to truths of this world. On the contrary we read:
A discerning mind seeks knowledge,
but the mouth of fools feeds on foolishness.
Proverbs 15:14
And also,
Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God—who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly—and it will be given to him.
James 1:5
It is Satan who tempts people away from the Truth. Look at one more text:
Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared, who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer.
1 Timothy 4:1-5
I bring this one up because verse 3 refers to groups who professed to be following Christ, but they pursued a false version of Jesus. They had the appearance of godliness, even much of the same vocabulary, but their teachings were not true. They did not actually follow Jesus. Just like in later centuries the religious authorities may have had good intentions, they were not following Jesus in their dealings with Galileo and his fellow scientists.
The Lord will always point us to the Truth while Satan will always attempt to suppress the Truth.
And it is worth adding Paul reminds us Satan will disguise himself as an angel of light.
Faith makes Education Possible
The next section in the BFM continues this thought.
The new birth opens all human faculties and creates a thirst for knowledge. Moreover, the cause of education in the Kingdom of Christ is co-ordinate with the causes of missions and general benevolence, and should receive along with these the liberal support of the churches. An adequate system of Christian education is necessary to a complete spiritual program for Christ’s people.
When a person becomes a Christian, they also inherit the desire to help others pursue Truth and wisdom, as well. Education of self goes hand-in-hand with missions and benevolence. Last week, I made the point, “There is no better way to show love to others than to tell them about Jesus.” Evangelism and Education are essentially the same. Evangelism is just more focused on the Truth about Jesus whereas education is more general.
A sound education is a necessary part of discipleship and evangelism.
Christians have always been a “people of the book.” A little trivia for you, we have the modern book because of Christianity. In the first and second centuries, Christians quickly began collecting copies of the letters and gospels of what would become the New Testament. Churches wanted an easier way to handle them than the traditional scroll, and the codex was born. The codex developed in monasteries into what we now call books. This entire process happened because Christians valued the written word, including those classics which were not part of Scripture.
But these collections were not just to benefit our heads. Just as Lewis warned against an intellect without heart, Scripture presents sound knowledge as a requisite for sound living.
I have treasured your word in my heart
so that I may not sin against you.
Psalm 119:11
Proverbs 3 provides a long description of Wisdom and her benefits which begins this way:
Happy is a man who finds wisdom
and who acquires understanding,
for she is more profitable than silver,
and her revenue is better than gold.
Proverbs 3:13-14
Now, what is interesting in regards to the link between wisdom and morality is that immediately following the description of all the benefits of wisdom comes a discourse on doing good to those around us. In other words, a right application of wisdom will always lead to a right application of morality. Goodness follows wisdom. The writer warns:
When it is in your power,
don’t withhold good from the one to whom it belongs.
Don’t say to your neighbor, “Go away! Come back later.
I’ll give it tomorrow”—when it is there with you.
Proverbs 3:27-28
A whole and proper education will always include and produce a whole and proper ethic.
Christians pursue educational excellence not because we want to win some academic argument, but because living well requires understanding what “well” means. The last section helps define what “well” means. It is the pursuit of Truth under the Lordship of Christ.
Education is Subject to Jesus
In Christian education there should be a proper balance between academic freedom and academic responsibility. Freedom in any orderly relationship of human life is always limited and never absolute. The freedom of a teacher in a Christian school, college, or seminary is limited by the pre-eminence of Jesus Christ, by the authoritative nature of the Scriptures, and by the distinct purpose for which the school exists.
Christian education should have the same balance of head, heart, and chest as it requires of its students. It should never lean to hard to the head and lose its passion for Christ, nor should it lean to hard on its heart and lose its intellectual pursuit of God and His Creation. It must remember its freedom is not freedom to sin but freedom to pursue God unbound by the works of Satan. It does so by remembering the objective reality of God, His commands, and His revealed nature through Jesus Christ.
James describes this type of wisdom in James 3.
But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, open to reason, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial and sincere.
James 3:17
How can we know if we are on the right pursuit of education and wisdom? James gives us 6 descriptions.
A sound education is first and foremost pure. It is pure in regards to its motivations. It exists to pursue God and help others, not to benefit its own agendas.
A sound education is peaceable. It promotes the peace of others and with others. Jesus said to “love your enemies.” Any education that seeks to “destroy your enemies” is not of Jesus. The devil wants you at odds with your intellectual opponent. Jesus wants you to build bridges of peace.
A sound education is gentle. No one ever changed their mind because they were yelled at. Christians should certainly be assertive, but never aggressive in their educational programs.
A sound education is open to reason. Other translations have ‘compliant’ which has a bit of a bad connotation these days, but the word simply means ‘being teachable.’ Humility requires us to remember that sometimes we can be wrong. Sure, some people are wrong more often than others, but there was only one perfect human—who isn’t me or you.
A sound education is full of mercy and good fruits. Much like “peace-loving” Christians are called to demonstrate mercy toward others. Those people who are wrong more than others need mercy, not condemnation. Christian educators must always keep in the front of their minds we all were once “dead in our transgressions.” They must demonstrate the fruit of the Spirit—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, and self-control.
A sound education is impartial. The Christian educator cannot dismiss outright. Perhaps someone is wrong, but an impartial pursuit of Truth must allow for the right to be wrong. Allow evidence and Scripture to demonstrate the Truth. Suppressing the voices of others suppresses the pursuit of Truth, which we have already seen is the work of the devil.
A sound education is sincere. Other times this word is used, it is rendered “unfeigned” or “without hypocrisy” or “pure”. It is a negative prefix on the word for “feign”. Literally, you could render it “not fake”. The Christian educator educates based on experience and understanding. They practice what they preach.
When all of these descriptions are put together, we have simply:
If the goal of Christian Education is to know and practice the Truth of Jesus, then Christian educators must know and practice the Truth of Jesus themselves.
As we close today, as much as I want us to reflect on the lack of virtue in our current system of secular education, I am much more concerned about the status of education for us as believers. Do we demonstrate a pure Christian pursuit of Truth? Do we demonstrate the products of sound education?
In other words, do we practice what we preach? As we close, look again at the list from James 3:17 and reflect on your own head, heart, and chest. Can you see the virtue of Christian Education in your own life?