Education
How much better to get wisdom than gold! To get understanding is to be chosen rather than silver.
Proverbs 16:16
Jim Henry, who lives at Mystic, Connecticut, was in the third grade when he was pulled out of school by his Portuguese immigrant father to work on his fishing boat. As a child he made a promise to learn to read. The life an illiterate man was difficult. Unable to read a restaurant menu, he would listen to what others ordered and order the same. He shared “Inside I felt so ashamed. Sometimes I cried.”
He started his journey to read with a tutor, Mark Hogan a retired English teacher. They began with the basic ABCs, graduating to Jim writing in longhand his experiences in life – his youth in the Azores islands to his adventures at sea. The tutor encouraged his student to put his notes into a book, which he did at the age of 90. In 2010, Jim published In a Fisherman’s Language.
Jim Henry’s ability to conquer illiteracy demonstrates what we intuitively know about the importance of being an educated individual. I believe that education should expand our consciousness, capabilities, sensitivities, and cultural understanding. It should enlarge our worldview. We live in two worlds: the world within us and the world around us, the core purpose of education is to enable us to understand both worlds.
Education is extremally important in this era of social media and conspiracy theories. The need for discernment is paramount in today’ society. Falsehoods are spewed by corporate leaders, politicians, social media influencers, and evangelical pastors.
A highly publicized case of false teaching is the evangelical pastor Mark Driscoll, the founder of Mars Hill Church in Seattle that has multiple campuses. On October 14, 2014, Driscoll was dismissed from Mars Hill Church. Within three months of Driscoll’s resignation, Mars Hill Church, which was established on the charismatic personality of a cult leader, was dissolved leaving each church campus to either close or become autonomous.
Driscoll denies the full humanity of women in both word and deed, advocates profane views of gender and sex, has unrepentant pride, engages in habitual self-promotion, lives an affluent life, endorses the prosperity gospel as he manipulates and abuses others.
Even more disturbing is the politician Donald Trump because of his worldwide stage. His unceasing ability to lie and misrepresent the truth is well documented, and even his most ardent MAGA followers acknowledge this character flaw. John Bolton was the National Security Advisor in the Trump administration. Regarding his experiences with the 45th president Bolton evaluated Trump with this condemnation, “Trump can’t tell the difference between what’s true and what’s false. It’s not that he lies a lot because to lie, you have to know it consciously. He just can’t tell the difference. So, he makes up what he wants to say ant any given time. So, in his mind, the truth is whatever he wants it to be.”
A Christian must have the ability to discriminate between true and false teachings. This is necessary if we are to take the gospel message from the sanctuary into the public forum. This is necessary if we are to have an astute comprehension of the scriptures, preventing us from succumbing to the teachings of false evangelical demigods.
A knowledgeable Christian versed in scripture and theological doctrine, also mandates an education in all academic disciplines. Theology is considered the “Queen of the Sciences” because all academic disciplines reside in her shadow.
Ernst Faber was born in Koberg, Germany in 1839. It was his ambition to be a missionary to China. After completing his theological studies, he continued his education not content with a theological education alone. In his view, to be an effective missionary a broader education was required. He then became learned in botonny and zoology. After six years of higher education, he set sail to China with the Rhenish Missionary Society. Faber is best known for his research on the Chinese language and literature. He wrote commentaries of the gospels of Mark and Luke that are still read today.
Faber was convinced that missionary work would only succeed if Christians built on points of agreement between local cultures and Christian teachings. To this end he listed areas of agreement between Confucianism and Christianity, areas of antagonism, and areas in which Confucianism was deficient. One such deficiency was Confucianism lack of understanding of sin and the need of a savior.
“How much better to get wisdom than gold!”