Education
is impossible to avoid. We don’t choose to be educated or non-educated. The
only options we have are what we are educated in and the level of education we
obtain. The human brain is an amazing creation. The brain can process massive
amounts of information from multiple sources. Our brains are constantly coding
information into our storage systems while refining sensory modules to process
information more efficiently. We have the ability to naturally learn our first
language with amazing speed and effectiveness. We can call multiple factors to
the fore of minds, reconcile schedules, relationships, preferences, and past
experiences as we work up the courage to ask a friend to lunch. But our brains
are far more than computational processors or storage devices. Our brains
produce beauty and evil. The same species that is responsible for the hydrogen
bomb also produced Handel's Messiah. The Imago
Dei which rests upon every human being is by its own nature creative. Education
should magnify the image of God: what we produce becomes more godly as we
become more educated.
It is the
educational responsibility of the believer to seek alignment with the mind of
Christ (2 Corinthians 10:5). This is not easy. The world we live in is opposed
to our conformation to Jesus. The development of our minds is a battle ground
where holy and unholy ideas compete. Education, when done properly, enlightens
our minds to God’s truths affirmed and found in Scripture: “Do not be conformed
to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing,
you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and
perfect” (Romans 12:2).
A Christian
worldview is difficult to develop as biblical truths must be learned in order
to counter unhealthy thinking. The Spirit of God is pressing us to become a more
perfect image of Jesus. The world we live in imposes an opposition pressure to
be conformed to the culture of our surroundings. Education is the holistic
development of the person through moment by moment sensory input. The
information processed by our senses molds our being into an image of our mental
content. May the believer follow the admonishment of the Apostle Paul to think
on what is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent, and
praise worthy (Philippians 4:8).
My
philosophy of education is founded on my philosophy of existence. I believe the
world to be more than the complex interplay of energy and matter. God is a
force that supersedes our materialistic universe. God can interact with his
creation at will. In his interaction with humans we are taken outside of a
mechanistic universe as we move beyond the natural forces that effect the world.
This is not an unusual occurrence and the supernatural working of God happens
every time a human is brought into fellowship with him through salvation in
Jesus. Salvation is a special type of education, which is the illumination of
God in man.
The pursuit
of knowledge is a pursuit of God. Again, the Apostle Paul says, “in [Christ]
are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Colossians 2:3). The
truest wisdom and knowledge is found in Christ and made known to man through
divine revelation. God makes himself known to every human through his created
order (Romans 1:20). However, this general revelation of God to humans teaches
us about God and how he works but doesn’t show us how to have a relationship
with God. This only comes through God’s specific revelation of Jesus as Savior
recorded in the New Testament (Hebrews 1:1-2).
It is my
educational philosophy that every believer, after he or she is illuminated
through God’s special revelation of Jesus, should pursue knowing God better
through his Scriptures and his creation. By studying nature, we study the
nature of God. His creative works reveal what type of God we worship. By
studying the Social Sciences, we study God’s special creation and understand
better the human condition. Humans produce an array of languages and cultures.
By knowing more about human social systems, we know how to better win the
members of these systems to Christ.
Before the
ascension, Jesus told his followers that “you will receive power when the Holy
Spirit has come upon you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all
Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth” (Acts 1:8). The church has been
given a great commission to make the Gospel accessible to every people group.
By studying human societies and cultures, the church will know how to best to
communicate the Gospel and fulfill the command of Christ to “go and make
disciples of every nation” (Matthew 28:19). My educational philosophy is based
on the church’s responsibility to take the message of Jesus to all the world.
The reason why we educate ourselves is to know God more. The reason why we
educate others is that they may know God more.
Educating
others is required by Scripture. Paul states that Christian leaders must be
able to teach: “The things which you have heard from me in the presence of many
witnesses, entrust these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also”
(2 Timothy 2:2). Every believer, like every other human, is in a constant state
of cognitive development. It is the responsibility of Christian leaders to
teach from a Christian worldview. Many of those within the church have a
severely underdeveloped Christian worldview. The average church member has a
worldview more in line with others of the same political party than with those
of the same faith. A Republican Christian’s worldview has more in common with a
Republican non-Christian, than with a Democrat within the same church. This
anecdote brings to light a failure of the church to educate in a way that
impacts not only how we act but how we think.
A Christian
worldview should permeate our teaching. A student should have a fundamentally
different experience in relation to the faith of the teacher. A Muslim,
Christian, or atheist will teach the very same subjects from a different
worldview. This is not limited to religious education but should be evident in
any subject including the Arts and Sciences. Christians in every academic
discipline should press hard to discover what God has hidden within these fields,
which will bring glory to him. As a church planter, I have benefited greatly from
modern advancements in Anthropology, Sociology, and Ethnography. Woefully, much
of what missionaries use today in cross-cultural ministry was given to the church from the
Academy.
If we are
teachers, what should we teach and is the scope of our teaching limited? The approach
of our teaching must be twofold: we must keep Scripture as our authority and we
must seek to understand the world we live in. The authority of Scripture is
foundational and serves as ballast in our lives keeping us upright before God.
Our devotion to scripture serves as a counterbalance to all other educational
pursuits. With Scripture as our equipoise Christians can pursue all fields of
knowledge with courage.
Because I
believe in the security of the believer I do not fear that any educational direction
can separate me from my relationship with God. My study of Linguistics and
Anthropology has made me a better Christian. My desire to study the Social
Sciences requires me to deepen my understanding of Scripture to maintain a
balanced view of the world in relation to biblical truths.
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