The Dangers of Christian Education “What condemnation to profess a religion that must be Spirit and life, while devoting genius and learning to the fleshly pursuit of the dead letter, denying for today that same powerful moving of the Holy Spirit that marked the first church!” William Law This article is part two of “Learning Spiritual Truth.” If you haven’t read that article yet, please do so before reading this one. It will help avoid confusion! You may ask, “Is Christian Education really dangerous?” “Yes, very dangerous!” First, let’s define Christian education as any institution or learning environment that requires an academic study approach to the Bible. Do they have grades? Do they have tests? Does it result in the accumulation of biblical facts? If the answer is yes, then it is the Christian education that I’m addressing in this article. It’s really very simple. If you’ve read “Learning Spiritual Truth,” then you know that we learn spiritual truth only by the Holy Spirit. There’s no particular study technique or advantage to possessing more intelligence when it comes to learning spiritual truth. We must humbly come to God for spiritual truth from the scriptures as the Holy Spirit reveals it, which results in knowing Jesus Christ. Any study of the Bible that doesn’t depend on the Holy Spirit’s revelation results in knowledge about the Bible, but not spiritual truth or knowing Jesus. This was exactly the issue with the Scribes and Pharisees. They knew all about Bible, but they didn’t know Jesus! (John 5:39-40) In Ephesians 1:17, the Apostle Paul wrote “I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation so that you may know him better.” If academics were necessary to know Jesus, then Paul might have prayed that they would learn good study techniques and study hard, but Paul knew that it was only by the Holy Spirit that Jesus would be revealed. So where’s the danger? The danger is in accumulating knowledge that doesn’t lead to knowing Jesus, but instead produces pride. In 1 Corinthians 8:1-3 we read “Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that we all possess knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but love builds up. The man who thinks he knows something does not yet know as he ought to know. But the man who loves God is known by God.” “Puffs up” equals pride, and that’s bad because “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” (James 4:6) | ||||||
 | ||||||
"Is Christian Education really dangerous?" "Yes, very dangerous!" | ||||||
 | | | | | | |
1 | 2 | ||
| | |
 | |
| |
