Significance of the News By DAN GILBERT Washington, D. G , and San Diego, California
These were among the replies: “Science has not discovered where the human race originated, although it has disproved the account of crea tion as given, in the Bible.” - “It is impossible for us to teach anything regarding the origin of mankind. The w h o l e subject is steeped in a realm beyond our knowl edge. We can guess, but we cannot know.” "Mankind is part, parcel,, and prod uct of the animal kingdom. But as for a time and place at which man emerged from the jungle, we can have no accurate knowledge.” V Having eliminated the Bible as a guide and authority, modern educa tion seems to be bent on a course of directionless drifting. It. can no more give the a n s w e r to the question, “Whence?” than it can supply an an swer to the ^question, “Whither?” THIS NEW DARK AGE: • It is customary to call certain cen turies in the past “the dark ages.” But as the twentieth century has produced a “new barbarism,” so it has ushered in a “new dark age.” This dark age is characterized by the most dismal ignorance regarding things which bur fathers took for granted. It is true, of course, that this is also an age of scientific enlightenment. We know more than any previous generation regarding electricity,- high explosives, and the like. But we know less about the nature of man and his destiny than some of our forbears knew. OUT OF THE NIGHT: • A few decades ago, it was popu larly taught that science could replace religion in showing men how to live. Education can mean nothing unless it reveals to men the way in which they should utilize their lives. Education based on science alone leaves man uneducated, unlearned, in total ignorance. Education alone which is based upon the Bible can give to youth a goal and a purpose in life. Christian education alone can show youth how to live and how to die, and where to live aftér death. God’s truth alone can lead us out of this darkness, this wilderness, this dark age- “Back to thè Bible” must be the s l o g a n for our schools, oui homes, and our country.
THE DEEPER AND DENSER IGNORANCE:
THE HIGHER UNLEARNING: • This writer is constantly asked by parents to recommend institutions of higher learning. Uniformly, he sug gests that Christian parents should send their c h i l d r e n to definitely Christian educational institutions. This advice, however, is frequently protested, if not rejected.. The most common objection is that non-Chris tian or secular colleges and universi ties offer a “higher form of te am in g '1 than do our outrightly Christian in stitutions. To check up on this oft-repeated claim, a questionnaire has been di rected to faculty members of some twenty of the nation’s leading secu -. lar ‘ -universities, including Y a l e , Dartmouth, the University of Chica go, the University of California, the University of Wisconsin, New York University, and the. University of North Carolina. To the president of one of our larg-. est state universities, this question was directed: “What can a student expect to learn at your university re garding life after death?” My tetter was returned, with one word scribbled at the bottom, over the signature of the university presi dent. That one word was, "Nothing." Another ■ state university president was less blunt. He replied-, “It is not the business of this university to en deavor' to teach anything regarding a problematical existence for the in dividual beyond the grave.” In reply to that comment, I wrote, “What, then, is the purpose of your university?” He replied, “To prepare young peo ple to live this present life.” I answered by saying, “What is this present life except a preparation for the life eternal? This life is mean ingless unless it is related to the here after. An institution which teaches n o t h i n g regarding the life eternal would seem to be dedicated to un learning, rather than learning." I re ceived no reply to that letter. Even savages have' some conception of a life beyond the grave. Among the f i r s t thoughts of children are those which concern what happens after death. Educational institutions which leave'their students completely in the dark on this all-important sub ject have developed unlearning to, perhaps, its highest point.
.• This question was directed to the university head in a certain depart ment of psychology: “What do you teach regarding the immortal soul of man?” The reply was, “Nothing. So far as m o d e r n psychology'is con cerned, the soul is an unscientific con cept.” To the professor of ethics, this ques tion was submitted: “What standard of ethical conduct has God dictated to humanity?” The answer was, “We know nothing of any ethical standard derived from God. If such a thing exists, we have yet to discover it.” To the professor of sociology, this question was advanced: “Is marriage a divinely ordained institution?” The reply was, “Modern sociology knows nothing of any such thing as a di vinely ordained institution.” Other questions were answered in the, same spirit of prideful ignorance. Natural ignorance may be humble; but sophisticated ignorance, of the deeper and denser sort, seems to be always haughty and boastful. The pinnacle of intellectual superiority is assumed by those who proudly pro claim themselves agnostics, or self- confessed ignoramuses. DIRECTIONLESS DRIFTING: • It has been said of Columbus, “He did not know wherè he was going when he sailed for America. He did not know where he was when he arrived. And he did not know where he had been when he arrived back home.” Our universities profess the same ignorance as to man’s origin as they do with respect to his destination. This question was submitted to a number, of prominent educators: “Do you teach that, the human race originated in the Garden of Eden, and that Adam and Eve w e r e humanity’s original parents?” The query is simple and straightforward—surely n o t difficult to answer.
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