July 1928
T h e
K i n g ’ s
B u s i n e s s
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What Is True Christian Education? B y D r . G. C am pbell M organ Bible Institute of Los Angeles
S T is an ancient and very wise proverb which charges a cobbler to stick to his last. I propose ||gf to follow its advice. Whether for good or ill, I *rrfj have devoted my life so exclusively to the Holy jEiL Letters that I am unable to approach any subject save through their light—and I do not hesitate to say that if they haye no light on the subject of Education we are without light. I turn, then, to words from the pen of Paul, that great Hebrew-Greek-Roman-Christian writer, and in them find the light I seek remarkably focused. They are found in the letter to the. Ephesians (6:4), when in addressing fathers he said, “Ye fathers, provoke not your“children to wrath; but nurture them in the chastening and admonition o f the Lord.” When Paul wrote these words to Gentile Christians he was carrying over into the realm of Christianity, the ideals and methods of his Hebrew birth and training; for in the Hebrew world fathers were held responsible for the train ing of their children. I am not now interested in the negative aspect of this command, important as it is; but rather in the positive:— “Nurture them in the chastening and admonition of the Lord.” That covers the whole ground of Christian education. The word which we have translated “bring them up,” or “nurture them,” is a word which was in common use at the time,-, but more was meant by it than we mean by nur ture now. There is in the word a suggestion that reveals a conception to which I think we must return. It is not possible to convey its meaning any more per fectly than by going back to an Old Testament verse. “Train up a child in his way, and when he is old he shall not depart from it.” Not “Train up a child in thé way he should go” ; a most mischievous translation and an inac curate one ; but train up a child in his way. That is to say, the training of a child is the development of that which is already within the child. D iscover H idden P ossibilities Those who are responsible for the training of children, have first to discover in each cas£* «liât lies within the child, and then to set themselves to straighten it out, to develop it. That which is involved is to be evolved ; that which lies there slumbering, a potentiality, is to be realized, is to be fulfilled. That is the true signification of the word itself. The business, then, of those who train the child is to discover these hidden possibilities and realize them. This is the great scheme of child-training suggested by this carefully chosen word of the Hebrew-Greek Apostle who wrote under the inspiration of the Spirit of God. This applies to the whole child, its physical nature, its mental faculty, and its spiritual essence; and any training that neglects any part of a child, is false. There must be the development of the whole fact of the child. The whole future of the church depends upon our recognition of the importance of the training of the child. In this hour, when we are moving toward a better under standing of the true emphasis of education, we are not in
advance of the Scriptures, but far and away behind their revelation of the deep and profound things in the educa tion of the child, using that word “education” in its now more common sense. Fundamentally, then, education must be Christian, that is, religious in the true sense. God must be recognized in the education of a child. To train a child on the level of the earth i i to leave the child on that level, and that is not to nurture the child, for in the child is the capacity for God. That capacity is central to the life of every child, and all must be related to it. T h e C onsciousness of G od In order to do this, His revelation must be made known to the child, His revelation of Himself in the sacred writ ings, His revelation of Himself in the world of nature, His revelation of Himself in the march of history, and supremely His revelation of Himself in Jesus. We must bring the children tq the constant conscious ness of God, refusing to speak of Him as if He only answered one special aspect of human need; and insisting upon it that wherever the wondering eyes of childhood are turned, there they may see His goodness and His glory. That will not make us careless in the interpretation of the wonders of nature, that will not make us superficial in our interpretation of history. It may demand from us that we cannot employ a great many books on history that we are using in our schools today, but it will help us to look at history from the standpoint of the Divine move ment, and when the child begins to see that, then it is being led to the attainment of true mental outlook. Those of us who really believe in the Christian revela tion, and are Christian people, must finally decline to make a distinction between secular and sacred education. There is no secular for the Christian man, if by secular we mean something removed from the realm of the sacred. Every thing is sacred. God is exiled from nothing in human life. Consequently, to deal only with the things of detail, and to forget the great essentials in the training of chil dren, is to proceed upon a line that must end sooner or later in disaster. The method of Christian training must first be that of education, the firm but gentle discipline which develops. Here two rules must be observed. There must be no haste, there must be no halting. Do not hurry that dull boy; give him time. Do not allow that smart boy time to linger. There must be the quiet beating out with gentle strokes, never causing pain but impulsating advancement. There must be instruction which is patient impartation, but which insists upon reception according to' capacity, and. always in order to the enlargement of capacity. These are the great ideals suggested by these words of the apostle. O ur E ducational P eril The' modern school is approximating to these ideals, but the greatest danger threatening us educationally at the present moment is that of the neglect of religion, that is,
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