Education Under God- Prying an Ostrich’s Head from the Sand

[newton3005]

The Bible tells us that to understand what God wants, it is necessary to acquire knowledge and wisdom. Indeed, Proverbs 1:7 says “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction.” Of course, it is necessary not to take “the fear of the Lord” too literally, that is, to not take this as the ends as opposed to the means. Taking the rest of the Bible into context, including the New Testament, the “fear of the Lord” here refers to fear of displeasing Him. Our ends involves loving God, not fearing him, but in loving Him, we are fearful of displeasing Him; such fear is the means to an end of showing our love for Him.

Based on Verses like Proverbs 1:7, God has high regard for those who have wisdom. What is wisdom? It is the ability to use knowledge and experience to make good decisions and judgments. In a divine setting, this involves being able to discern between what is favorable to God and what goes against Him. Anything that is good is favorable to God, and anything that isn’t, which is anything that isn’t good, meaning anything that is evil, is not favorable to God. How can an otherwise God-fearing person discern between good and evil if they don’t know what evil is?

The responsibility of obtaining the knowledge and wisdom that is required to make wise decisions as far as God is concerned, rests with the individual. Galatians 6: 4 says to “let each one test his own work...For each will have to bear his own load.” That responsibility cannot be placed on others, and it cannot be placed on the governing authorities. Colossians 2:8 warns us not to leave it up to others to decide what it is we should learn. All the elements mentioned in that Verse, including “philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world,” can be found in others, including a rogue government that doesn’t govern with God in mind, whom we may be tempted to defer to.

Certain governmental jurisdictions have taken it upon themselves to decide what people should learn and what they shouldn’t. In their zeal in such an undertaking, certain truths become collateral damage, being put beyond the knowledge that people should have, in order to strengthen their wisdom. Those jurisdictions ostensibly don’t want their constituents to be upset by such knowledge.

Take slavery. Slavery, and its by-products including lynchings, breaking up of families, and the subsequent marginalization and disenfranchisements of those people, exists in the U.S. to this day. The interests of jurisdictions that want to deny such knowledge are ostensibly concerned that people learning of these things, things that their ancestors participated wholeheartedly in, may cause a mental meltdown. After all, how do you reconcile something like people who regularly attended church and who show they believe in Christ almighty and his teachings, yet have undertaken in things like slavery et al., disregarding things like loving your neighbor as yourself, loving a stranger among you as you love yourself, and recognizing that those who love God, no matter who they are, are entitled to the same inheritance of Abraham, being heirs according to the Promise to Abraham that God made?

In a sense, such a fear of a mental meltdown goes against human nature. It is more likely that an individual who is presented with conflicting knowledge will undertake every effort to reconcile the conflicts to see if there is an explanation they can live with. In most cases, people who are faced with such cognitive dissonance, especially when it involves people they love, will resolve it to their understanding. This is one way that one acquires wisdom. In accordance with Verses such as Proverbs 1:7, God wants us to acquire such wisdom. But to know wisdom is to know good and evil...and if we hide our heads in the sand to avoid learning of the evil that is in this world, we will not have the capacity to exercise wisdom.

 

[BobRyan]

Take slavery. Slavery, and its by-products including lynchings, breaking up of families, and the subsequent marginalization and disenfranchisements of those people, exists in the U.S. to this day. The interests of jurisdictions that want to deny such knowledge are ostensibly concerned that people learning of these things, things that their ancestors participated wholeheartedly in, may cause a mental meltdown. After all, how do you reconcile something like people who regularly attended church and who show they believe in Christ almighty and his teachings, yet have undertaken in things like slavery et al., disregarding things like loving your neighbor as yourself, loving a stranger among you as you love yourself, and recognizing that those who love God, no matter who they are, are entitled to the same inheritance of Abraham, being heirs according to the Promise to Abraham that God made?

In a sense, such a fear of a mental meltdown goes against human nature. It is more likely that an individual who is presented with conflicting knowledge will undertake every effort to reconcile the conflicts to see if there is an explanation they can live with. In most cases, people who are faced with such cognitive dissonance, especially when it involves people they love, will resolve it to their understanding. This is one way that one acquires wisdom. In accordance with Verses such as Proverbs 1:7, God wants us to acquire such wisdom. But to know wisdom is to know good and evil...and if we hide our heads in the sand to avoid learning of the evil that is in this world, we will not have the capacity to exercise wisdom.

So are you talking about slavery in the South in the 1800's where "Southern Methodist" and "Southern Baptist" denominations formed because the Christians in the South wanted to allow slavery, while "General Baptists" and other groups did not want slavery?

Are you talking about Democrats promoting "Jim Crow" Laws in the South and asking if they had church support for that?

Or are you claiming that Christian churches today argue for racial bias telling members not to hire certain races in their businesses or telling their members not to permit certain races to own businesses in the towns in which they live?