Education

:a section from "Discipling Nations"

:written by Darrow L. Miller

The Theistic Purpose of Learning

 

"The highest purpose of education is theistic. We want people to know God. As John Milton said, "The end of all learning is to know God, and out of that knowledge to love and imitate Him."

Because, as we have seen, a unified field of knowledge exists, true education should give us an integrated, comprehensive view of reality.  Unlike the truncated and fragmented systems so prevalent today, learners informed by biblical theism should be able to find the relationship between God, man, and creation.  They should think broadly and across disciplines.  A real education examines both the physical and the transcendent, the eternal and the temporal.

We live in an intelligible universe.  Because truth is both real and knowable (at least in part), we are fully justified in developing our God-given spirit of exploration, discovery, and learning.  When relativism is king, knowledge is important only insofar as it is utilitarian. The drive to actually learn is shattered, replaced, at best with the method of observation, at worst with a lust to occupy one's mind and be entertained.  A passion for learning exists only when truth can be known.

How different is biblical theism when it comes to education!  Remember the debate between the secular humanist Dewey and the defender of a classical education, Hutchins?  The former wanted merely to prepare people for a job, while the letter wanted to prepare them for life.  The contrast is equally startling with animism, which imprisons the mind by prizing ignorance.  The problem with Africa is that the African mind is imprisoned.  If Africa is to develop, the African mind must be set free.  In Thai Buddhist culture, another expression of animism, Ya kit mak, is a popular phrase.  It means, "Don't think too much!"

I once heard Francis Schaeffer say, "Never let a child's schooling get in the way of their education!"  While his expression was grammatically inelegant, Schaeffer reocognized something that most of our secularized "education establishment" has failed to grasp- that man was created to think and create throughout his life.  

People live and think in very different ways, and some of these ways are radically inconsistent with the requirements of formal organizations."

Children's Hunger Fund

This semester I  am participating in an internship with Children's Hunger Fund.  I work in the Ministry Development, with SoCal Mercy Network Coordinator Steve Meister.  So far it has been amazing, I have served at CHF in the past by packing boxes, but it has been great to start to learn how CHF functions in full circle.  One of the goals of the internship is for me to develop a Biblical understanding of compassion.  This last week Steve and I studied Genesis 3:17-19 and Romans 8:18-25.  These passages cause me to realize that because of man's sin there will always be poverty, hunger, sickness, etc.  But God is restoring man and creation, through the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.  Only He will bring an end to hunger.  So as a Christ follower and intern of CHF it is not my goal to eliminate hunger or poverty, but providing for the hungry and poor it is a means for with to bring hope to those who feel hopeless, by bringing them the hope of the Glory of God.  

Mt. Allen

A storm was coming from up North, so my buddy Chase and I decided to go camping at Sycamore Canyon.  We packed up his parents motor-home, and took off after work. We woke up Saturday and got ready to go for an epic hike.  We started at about 11 am and got back to the campground at 8:30 pm. We hiked to Mt. Allen, it is the highest peak in the Santa Monica mountains, it is only 3,111 feet in elevation, which is not much but we had a great time.  It was about 20 miles. Luckily we packed our headlamps, it was a lot of fun to hike at night.  It was just nice to get out and enjoy God's creation, we saw some water falls and streams due to the rain the night before.  I enjoy being outside, away from the busyness of life. It was a peaceful day, which allowed me to think about some future goals for this next semester.