Education Under God...Reading is Fundamental

newton3005

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Jun 29, 2019
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Romans 13:1 says “Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.” Some may find it odd that the topic of God and education would begin with a Verse having to do with the governing authorities, but in countries like the U.S., it appears that some government authorities have taken an interest in what is made available and what is taught in schools and colleges. Given the coverage of the quest by certain governing jurisdictions to withhold certain facts and ideas, may compel us to ask if that serves God’s purpose.

The earliest incidence of God withholding knowledge is found in Genesis when He forbade Adam and Eve to eat from the Tree of Good and Evil. To the extent we’re are aloud under Isaiah 1:18, we might reason that God may have had no problem with them knowing what good is, but He may have had a problem with their knowing what evil is. But after they acquired that knowledge from eating the forbidden fruit, it would seem, from reading the New Testament, that God resolved that it is better that people know what both good and evil are, that they may hopefully strive for what is good, than for them to know only what it is to be good. Seems that to know what one is, and not the other as well, is to only know the geographic term “longitude” without knowing what “latitude” is, causing one to drift toward unchartered waters having evil perils that await.

A reading of the New Testament compels one to surmise that as far as God is concerned there are two types of education toward righteousness: One type involves knowing what God is in terms of what He expects from us, and the other is knowing what God isn’t and what He regards as sinful. One can get a better understanding of what God wants from us if we also know what He doesn’t want from us.

To wit, 1 Thessalonians 5:21 says to test everything and hold fast what is good. Well, it would seem that if you are not aware of all the variables associated with good and evil, how would you know what to test and how to test it? And it would seem that testing anything involves some degree of exposure to the subject matter, but, in light of the testing itself, that may not necessarily mean that such exposure causes one to turn away from God and His precepts. To learn about something is not the same as to subscribe to it. In our quest to test things in terms of whether they stand for God, we may learn abut things that fall under the sins of evil that God abhors, but that doesn’t mean we would turn away from God and become evil ourselves.

Some, perhaps like the governing authorities who are busy purging books from school libraries and forbidding the teachings of certain things in schools and colleges, may believe that a temptation will be formed and exist to lore people toward the sins they learn about. If so, are they really governing under God? Did God decree that it is a sin to learn OF certain things, as opposed to LEARNING certain things? If so, then how are we to test things?

Some might say, ‘Leave it up to us who govern under God, to discern what is good and what is evil, and to enact laws that shield you from what we the government believe to be evil; and this we will do when you vote for us.” But does a passage like 1 Thessalonians 5:21 say something like, ‘You who govern, test everything for the people’? The Bible strongly implies that the responsibility of knowing what is right and wrong is up to each individual. Galatians 6: 4-5 says to “let each one test his own work...For each will have to bear his own load.”

Two things to share with you. One of these things is brought up in light of governing jurisdictions in the U.S. who are at least considering the banning of certain math books, if they haven’t been already banned: Acts 7:22 says that Moses “was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was mighty in his words and deeds.” Commentators have written that the things that Moses was taught by the Egyptians included mathematics. Were those Egyptians concerned with what Moses would do with what they teach him? Did those Egyptians consult their Pharoah or those who worked for him before teaching Moses certain things?

And, as far as our God is concerned, Daniel 1:17 says “God gave [Daniel] learning and skill in ALL LITERATURE and wisdom, and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams.” ALL LITERATURE, get it? ‘Huckleberry Finn,’ anyone? I understand that Huckleberry Finn is one of the books being considered for banning in certain schools where the government here in the U.S. is keeping a close watch on what books are in school libraries. Is that a government under God? Would God approve of that?