Jón Bjarnason Academy - 01.05.1935, Blaðsíða 14

save us. This is the Christian religion. Democracy is hut a
side issue. The paramount issue underlying democracy is
the religion of Christ and Him crucified,—the bedrock of
civilization.” In view of our heterogeneous citizenry, including
all types and nationalities of men, ranking from Atheist to pious
Christian, our state endowed schools do not teach any religion.
It is therefore the business of the Christian Church to foster
Christian education in the home and in the church school. The
church is responsible for the task of establishing and main-
taining Christian schools and colleges. Every Christian should
he a devoted disciple of this cause.
Christian education is necessary to spread the eternal
truth, to prepare efficient leaders in all walks of life. Wisdom,
understanding and knowledge of God’s revealed truth is pro-
mulgated and preserved only through the medium of Christian
education. It is absolutely necessary to preserve the moral and
spiritual values which have so widely been eliminated by our
Godless, modern, secular education.
We glory, all of us, in the triumphs of true science. But
so much is taught today in many secular schools which is not
science, for science is a systematic presentation of truths sub-
stantiated by facts, not merely hypothesis and learned theories.
In the study of the earth men have lost sight of the beautiful
vision of the sky. In their observation of the creature and his
habits, they have lost sight of the Creator and his will. In
their admiration of the trinity of matter, force and motion,
they have too often sacrificed the worship of the Holy Trinity—
Father, Son and Holy Spirit. As Paul so well puts it in Romans:
“professing themselves to be wise, they became fools and
changed the glory of the incorruptible God, into an image made
like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts,
and creeping things.” What else can be expected?
In view of this appalling condition dare the Christian church
he idle and indifferent, and permit the youth to be educated
only in secular branches? Is it wisdom? No, it is not. It is
the business of the church to transform life by wisdom, under-
standing and knowledge of the Most High God.
President Thompson of Ohio State University recognizes
the need for Christian education when he writes: “It is to her
own schools that the church must look for leaders and workers
generally. In our days a youth may receive his degrees from
any of the best universities and he as ignorant of the Bible and
the great literature it contains, the moral and spiritual truth
it represents, and the fundamental principles of religion; the
facts and methods by which they are defended, their nature
and value to society, as if he had been educated in a non-Christ-
ian country! Who is to supply this lack if not the church school?
Is not the church with all its institutions set for this duty?”
God favors Christian education! The Old and New Testaments
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