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The Scholarship of Truth
Text: “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction” (Proverbs 1:7)
The book of Proverbs is a book of wisdom. In our day,
there is little regard for wisdom. This is the reason hardly a year
passes that we do not publicly read through the book of Proverbs.
Truth and Education
Allow
me to pose a few questions. “Is Truth essential for knowledge?” In other
words, “Can there be knowledge where there is no truth?” Truth is basic
to all pedagogy. To the degree Truth is lacking, knowledge is also
lacking. Is this not so?
“What, then, is the Truth that is the basis of
knowledge?” Note the text: “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of
knowledge.” “The fear of the LORD,” then, is the basis of knowledge.
Therefore, knowledge, hence education, is religious in nature.
All education is religious education. This has been
acknowledged for thousands of years, even by the heathen. In ancient
Egypt, education was committed into the hands of the priesthood. In
Babylon it was the same. In Israel, boys were taught at home until they
turned seven years of age at which time they went to the synagogue.
Nations have always recognized education as being
religious. In fact, in the history of the world, only two nations have
tried to divorce education from religion. Both countries have attempted
it this century. The first was the Soviet Union, and the second was the
United States.
Religion and Education
According to the text, “The fear of the LORD is the
beginning of knowledge.” It is the foundation, the basis, and the primer
of all education. It is here – upon the fear of the LORD, that all Truth
is predicated. The fear of the LORD is essential for knowledge, because
knowledge is founded upon Truth.
“Is it possible, then, for a person to be taught how to
drive an automobile by one who is not a Christian?” Certainly! The kind
of knowledge we are talking about is the knowledge that deals with the
philosophy or theology of life, the knowledge that is found in the study
of History, and Science, Law and Religion. In recent years, American
education has cast off the fear of the LORD. This is the reason the
study of History has been displaced by “Social Studies,” and why
Science, “falsely so called” (I Timothy 6:20), has invaded the realm of
Theology. This is the reason the studies of Law and Religion have lost
their moorings.
The knowledge we are dealing with here is the
knowledge that is basic to everyday living. Where the fear of the LORD
is lacking here, there is no knowledge because there is no Truth; and
where there is no Truth there can be no scholarship.
“Can any man be educated who has not learned to fear
the LORD?” And, “does it really matter what schools, or how many schools
he has attended?” it is a sign of national apostasy when the people of
God are blinded so as to think scholarship lies in State Certification,
and National Accreditation.
“Can a man be a scholar who does not know the LORD?”
300 years ago, the founder of Yale, Princeton, Harvard, etc. said no man
could be considered educated who did not know the LORD.
The American colonists were aware of the need for
education, but they did not begin with a nursery school. In order to
reach the present generation, they began with a college. In one
generation, England had more preachers from New England than New England
had from Old England. Harvard then shook the world for God; but in the
last fifty years, it has shaken the world for the Devil. Mao-tse Tung
graduated from Harvard, and returned to his homeland to butcher thirty
to fifty million Chinese people in order to force those that remained to
bow to communism.
It is interesting to note that the atheistic
socialists who conquered American society in the 1960’s followed the
same plan as the godly Puritans: they first took over American colleges,
and now are seeking to damn all American school children, even those in
nursery schools, with their Philosophy of evolution and sodomy.
Scholarship and Knowledge
“Can scholarship be separated from knowledge?” In other
words, “Can a man be a scholar who does not know anything?” In America’s
godless educational system, evolutionists who freely use words like
“perhaps,” “possibly,” “we think,” “it may be,” etc. are revered as
scholars. “Can a person be a scholar who does not know anything?” Truth
dresses in the garb of simplicity; it is Error that is complicated.
Modern educators do not think Truth is important.
Teachers are no longer required to know their subject. They are taught
how to plan a bulletin board, but the knowledge of their subject is no
longer considered important. Yet, teachers can be certified only after
they subject themselves to the Continuing Education programs, whose sole
purpose is to re-educate teachers in the acceptable philosophy of the
hour.
In Georgia, these agents of social change are
attempting to introduce Quality-Based Education, which will do away with
grading as we know it and will allow four classroom levels. The only way
for a student to pass to the next grade would be to adopt the
politically-correct New Morality, and to accept the homosexual
lifestyle. With the conversion to anti-Christian “wisdom,” American
education has become a brothel. Scholarship is no longer assessed
according to knowledge, because modern educators think knowledge is
relative; and the reason they believe knowledge is relative is because
they believe Truth is relative.
Accreditation
Modern education has become cultic. One day a man asked
me if our Bible school was accredited. I answered, “No, sir. If the
world approved of me, I would be scared to death!” The idea of
accreditation is as new in the realm of education, as the idea of
incorporation is in the realm of law. They are the new children on the
block.
Modern education has become political. If you accept my
degree, I will accept your degree. But, which of this nation’s problems,
whether economical, educational, religious, scientific, or legal – which
are not the results of experts who are duly accredited, certified, and
properly recognized?
“Can a person who hates Truth, know Truth?” “If a
person hates Truth, can he or she approve of Truth?” “Can a person who
hates God properly teach History or Science?” Will he not bludgeon the
doctrine of God, the Bible, and everything that is holy? Why would I
want to send my son or daughter to an institution where they would learn
everything except Truth? Help me; I cannot figure this out! “The fear of
the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.”
106 out of the first 108 schools established in America were
founded upon the Bible. Princeton, Yale, Harvard, and others were
established in order to train men for the Christian ministry. The
backbone of their educational philosophy was the Word of God. But, these
same schools have repudiated Truth, and have turned their backs on
righteousness.
Suppose I could send my son or daughter to Harvard, to
Princeton, or to Yale, what would they learn? True, a student who
attends one of these institutions can use their library, and would be
able to read vast numbers of books, and write numerous research papers;
but this does not necessarily constitute an education. For instance, if
in the study of Law, the faculty of an institution denies the existence
of the Law Giver, how can they teach my son Law? They do not know where
Law comes from. “The fear of the Lord is the BEGINNING,” not the
completion, but the very basic rung of education.
If they deny
it is God who raises up one, and puts down another; that is “the Most
High (that) ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he
will” (Dan 4:32); how can I pretend to think that they can teach my son
or daughter History?
If they flaunt their lack of the fear of the Lord, how can I
expect them to be capable of teaching my son Theology?
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