13. 2. True education is not just for
children but for all humanity
The result of education should be to
enable us to understand the voice of
God.... {1MCP 52.4}
14. 2. True education is not just for
children but for entire
humanity
Our ideas of education take too narrow and too low a range.
There is need of a broader scope, a higher aim. True
education means more than the perusal of a certain course
of study. It means more than a preparation for the life that
now is. It has to do with the whole being, and with the
whole period of existence possible to man…
15. 2. True education is not just for
children but for entire
humanity
It is the harmonious development of the physical,
the mental, and the spiritual powers. It prepares
the student for the joy of service in this world and
for the higher joy of wider service in the world to
come. 319 {CCh 202.2}
17. 3. True education is
redemptive
Now, as never before, we need to understand the true
science of education. If we fail to understand this, we shall
never have a place in the kingdom of God. “This is life
eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God, and
Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent” (John 17:3). If this is the
price of heaven, shall not our education be conducted on
these lines?—The Christian Educator, August 1, 1897, par.4.
{1MCP 53.2}
18. 3. True education is
redemptive
In the highest sense the work of education and the work of
redemption ARE ONE, for in education, as in redemption,
“other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is
Jesus Christ.” 1 Corinthians 3:11.320 {CCh 202.3}
19. 4. MUST be preparation
for life to come
To bring man back into harmony with God, so to elevate and
ennoble his moral nature that he may again reflect the
image of the Creator, is the great purpose of all the
education and discipline of life. So important was this work
that the Saviour left the courts of heaven and came in
person to this earth, that He might teach men how to obtain
a fitness for the higher life.321 {CCh 202.4}
21. 5. True education prepares
one for missionary life
Our schools are the Lord’s special instrumentality to
fit the children and youth for missionary work.
Parents should understand their responsibility and
help their children to appreciate the great
privileges and blessings that God has provided for
them in educational advantages. {CT 149.1}
22. 6. True education is
based on BIBLE FAITH
The true philosophy of education is to develop capacity
only with the good; …. The Bible as the basis of all
education and the text-book in every line of study, will
assure this. The philosophy of it is this: Christian
education, true education, is of faith. Faith comes by the
Word of God…. the Bible thus stands as the greatest
educating power in the world. [Colossians 1:9, 10:] Thus
the Bible as the basis of all education has the true
philosophy in it. {PBE 219.1}
23. What was God’s
Blueprint for education?
“The Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden;
and there He put the man whom He had formed.
And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow
every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for
food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden.”
Genesis 2:8, 9. Here, amidst the beautiful scenes of
nature untouched by sin, our first parents were to
receive their education. {Ed 20.3}
24. In God’s original plan there
was no schooling with
classroom walls and chalk
board and labs.
25. What was God’s
Blueprint for education?
The system of education established in Eden
centered in the family. Adam was “the son of God”
(Luke 3:38), and it was from their Father that the
children of the Highest received instruction. Theirs,
in the truest sense, was a family school. {Ed 33.1}
26. What was God’s
Blueprint for education?
In the divine plan of education as adapted to man’s
condition after the Fall, Christ stands as the
representative of the Father, the connecting link
between God and man; He is the great teacher of
mankind. And He ordained that men and women
should be His representatives. The family was the
school, and the parents were the teachers. {Ed 33.2}
27. Christ is the Prime
education officer!
In the divine plan of education as adapted to man’s
condition after the Fall, Christ stands as the
representative of the Father, the connecting link
between God and man; He is the great teacher of
mankind. And He ordained that men and women
should be His representatives. The family was the
school, and the parents were the teachers. {Ed 33.2}
28. What was God’s
Blueprint for education?
The system of education instituted at the beginning
of the world was to be a model for man throughout
all aftertime. As an illustration of its principles a
model school was established in Eden, the home of
our first parents. The Garden of Eden was the
schoolroom, nature was the lesson book, the Creator
Himself was the instructor, and the parents of the
human family were the students. {Ed 20.1}
29. What was God’s
Blueprint for education?
To Adam and Eve was committed the care of the
garden, “to dress it and to keep it.” Genesis 2:15.
Though rich in all that the Owner of the universe
could supply, they were not to be idle. Useful
occupation was appointed them as a blessing, to
strengthen the body, to expand the mind, and to
develop the character. {Ed 21.2}
30. What was God’s
Blueprint for education?
Jesus followed the divine plan of education. The schools
of His time, with their magnifying of things small and
their belittling of things great, He did not seek. His
education was gained directly from the Heaven-
appointed sources; from useful work, from the study of
the Scriptures and of nature, and from the experiences of
life—God’s lesson books, full of instruction to all who
bring to them the willing hand, the seeing eye, and the
understanding heart. {Ed 77.2}
31. A high standard of
education?
• Created to be “the image and glory of God” (1 Corinthians
11:7), Adam and Eve had received endowments not
unworthy of their high destiny. Every faculty of mind and
soul reflected the Creator’s glory. Endowed with high
mental and spiritual gifts, Adam and Eve were made but
“little lower than the angels” (Hebrews 2:7), that they
might not only discern the wonders of the visible universe,
but comprehend moral responsibilities and obligations. {Ed
20.2}
32. A high standard of
education?
• In early ages, with the people who were under God’s
direction, life was simple. They lived close to the heart of
nature. Their children shared in the labor of the parents
and studied the beauties and mysteries of nature’s
treasure house. And in the quiet of field and wood they
pondered those mighty truths handed down as a sacred
trust from generation to generation. Such training
produced strong men. {Ed 211.2}
33. Effect of diverting from
the Blueprint?
In God’s plan for Israel every family had a home on
the land with sufficient ground for tilling. Thus were
provided both the means and the incentive for a
useful, industrious, and self-supporting life. And no
devising of men has ever improved upon that plan.
To the world’s departure from it is owing, to a large
degree, the poverty and wretchedness that exist
today. {CT 275.3}
34. Effect of diverting from
the Blueprint?
Isaiah 55:2
2Wherefore do ye spend money for that
which is not bread? and your labour for that
which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto
me, and eat ye that which is good, and let
your soul delight itself in fatness
35. Where it all began
• The educational work of our
denomination began with home
schools, in which one or several families
would have someone teach their
children in a home. To our knowledge,
the first church school began in 1853 at
Bucks Bridge, New York, and was taught
by Martha Byington (later Mrs. George
Amadon).
36. Humble beginnings
• One day in 1867, Edson White (18 then) saw a man
chopping wood at Battle Creek. He was a poor man
trying to recover his health at the Sanitarium.
• That man was Goodloe Harper Bell (1832-1899.
Edson asked him if, in his spare time, he would
teach him and some other young men grammar.
• In 1868, Bell opened a “select school”. Edson and
William (EGW’s sons) were among his first
students. Another teen, J.H Kellogg, also attended.
37. Church adopts Bell’s school
• Five years later, in 1872, the situation changed.
That spring, the Whites met with the church to
consider starting a denominational church
school in Battle Creek. It was decided to adopt
Bell’s school. Bell had no college degree.
• When it opened that fall, there were so many
students that Bell had to teach a morning class
for some and an evening class for those who
worked days at the Review.
38. EG White’s advice rejected
• In March 1873, the General Conference Session,
encouraged by James and Ellen White, voted to
form an Educational Society; $54,000 in cash, or
pledges, was raised by the end of the year.
• Ellen White wept when they rejected her advice to
purchase a 40-acre former fairgrounds, outside
Battle Creek, for the school; and, instead, they
purchased a 12-acre estate in the city, near the
Western Health Reform Institute.
39. Classical curriculum vs blueprint
• in 1875, Sidney Brownsburger, fresh from the
University of Michigan, was elected president.
Goodloe Bell was in charge of the English Department
and Uriah Smith was the Bible teacher.
• Brownsburger believed in a classical (liberal arts)
curriculum; he demanded that only that be taught.
• All the while Bell, along with Ellen White, continued
to urge her plan of education; but Brownsburger
would have nothing to do with it. Finally, in 1881,
Brownsburger resigned.
40. Two methods contrasted
• “The popular method of filling the student’s mind
with that which is not practical and hurrying him
through a certain course, in order that he may obtain
a diploma, is not true education. True education
begins on the inside, at the core, with that which is
practical. It builds up and strengthens a symmetry of
character that by and by, in this life, will show itself in
some grand, good, and noble work for the world. The
school at South Lancaster seeks to attain to this
ideal.”—G.H. Bell, Review December 26, 1882.
41. Other training schools started
• In the 1890s, a training school was established in
South Africa (Solusi in Rhodesia, modern Zimbabwe,
in 1894); and Ellen White started another one in
Australia (Avondale, in Cooranbong in 1897). During
those years, she wrote extensively on the blueprint
for our schools. One person who studied her writings
very carefully was E.A. Sutherland (1865-1955), head
of Walla Walla College, who instituted several
important reforms. He would later figure prominently
in the effort to salvage our educational blueprint.
42. Sutherland and Magan
• Percy Tilson Magan (1867-1947) was born in Ireland,
emigrated to the United States in 1886, and joined
the church that year. The following year, he worked in
Nebraska as a licensed minister. In 1888, he entered
Battle Creek College.
• A strong friendship sprang up between Sutherland
and Magan. That fall, Ellen White invited young
Magan to come live in her home. Sutherland visited
there frequently; and, as the coming years revealed,
both young men learned an immense amount.
43. A useful lesson
• One Sunday morning, Ed Sutherland held the plow
and Magan drove the team while 225-lb. J.G. Lamson
sat on the beam—and the three of them plowed up
the tennis court and turned it into a vegetable
garden.
• Then friends helped purchase an 80-acre farm. Fruit
trees, shrubs, and vines grew on 30 acres; and the
remainder supplied the college with fresh produce.
Another advantage was that the new farm provided
employment for students.
44. A warning rejected
• “The health reform is a branch of the special work of God for the
benefit of His people. I saw that in an institution established
among us the greatest danger would be of its managers’ departing
from the spirit of the present truth and from that simplicity which
should ever characterize the disciples of Christ.
• “A warning was given me against lowering the standard of truth in
any way in such an institution in order to help the feelings of
unbelievers and thus secure their patronage. The great object of
receiving unbelievers into the institution is to lead them to
embrace the truth. If the standard be lowered, they will get the
impression that the truth is of little importance, and they will go
away in a state of mind harder of access than before.”—1
Testimonies, p. 560 (cf. 1 Testimonies, pp. 633-634).
45. What was the big ‘secret’?
• In 1891, Dr. David Paulson stopped by to see
John Harvey Kellogg, M.D., at the Battle Creek
Sanitarium. Paulson asked a question he had
been thinking about for some time. “John, how
is it that you are able to stay five years ahead of
the rest of the medical profession?”
• Kellogg leaned back in his chair, and the answer
he gave was one that Paulson never forgot.
46. Five years ahead of the game
• Kellogg replied that, “if something new was
advocated, he instantly adopted it if, from his
knowledge of Mrs. White’s writings, it was sound.
When other physicians finally accepted it, after slowly
feeling their way, Kellogg had a five-year head start.
On the other hand, Kellogg rejected some of the new
medical fads because they did not measure up to the
light given [to] Mrs. White. When other doctors
finally discovered their mistake, they wondered why
Kellogg had not been caught as they had.”—Richard
A. Shaefer, Legacy, p. 60.
47. A twofold approach
• “I tried to make it plain that sanitarium
physicians and helpers were to cooperate
with God in combating disease not only
through the use of natural remedial agencies
He has placed within our reach, but also by
encouraging their patients to lay hold on
divine strength through obedience to the
commandments of God.”—EGW, Review,
June 21, 1906.
48. The right methods of treatment
• “The education that meets the world’s standard is to
be less and less valued by those who are seeking for
efficiency in carrying the medical missionary work in
connection with the work of the third angel’s
message. They are to be educated from the
standpoint of conscience; and as they conscientiously
and faithfully follow right methods in their treatment
of the sick, these methods will come to be recognized
as preferable to the methods of nursing to which
many have become accustomed, which demands the
use of poisonous drugs. —March 24, 1908; printed in
The Medical Evangelist, Vol. 2, No. 1, 1910.
49. The healing heaven approves
• “There are many ways of practicing the healing art, but
there is only one way that Heaven approves. God’s
remedies are the simple agencies of nature, that will not
tax or debilitate the system through their powerful
properties. Pure air and water, cleanliness, a proper diet,
purity of life, and a firm trust in God, are remedies for the
want of which thousands are dying, yet these remedies
are going out of date because their skillful use requires
work that the people do not appreciate. Fresh air,
exercise, pure water, and clean, sweet premises, are
within the reach of all with but little expense; but drugs
are expensive, both in the outlay of means and the effect
produced upon the system.”—Counsels on Health, p. 323.
50. The only true remedies
• “Pure air, sunlight, abstemiousness, rest,
exercise, proper diet, the use of water, trust in
divine power—these are the true remedies.
Every person should have a knowledge of
nature’s remedial agencies and how to apply
them. It is essential both to understand the
principles involved in the treatment of the sick
and to have a practical training that will enable
one rightly to use this knowledge. —Ministry of
Healing, pp. 126-127.
51. More of the Bible
• “Study the Bible more and the theories of the medical
fraternity less, and you will have greater spiritual
health. Your mind will be clearer and more vigorous.
Much that is embraced in a medical course is
positively unnecessary. Those who take a medical
training spend a great deal of time in learning that
which is worthless. Many of the theories that they
learn may be compared in value to the traditions and
maxims taught by the scribes and Pharisees. Many of
the intricacies with which they have to become
familiar are an injury to their minds.”—Counsels on
Health, pp. 369-370.
52. Discussion
• How does education reform link with other
reforms (Sabbath, health, dress reforms, country
living etc)? (2Tim 3:17)
• What challenges prevent today’s church from
implementing true education? How can these
challenges be overcome?
• From Vance Ferrell’s ‘Broken Blueprint’, what
ruined the blueprint? How can it be restored?
• Do we need true education institutions today?
What practical steps can we take to implement
true education?
