Vol. 2 Timely
Greetings No. 40
THE ONLY
PEACE OF MIND
Volume 2
Number 40
Copyright, 1949 Reprint
All rights reserved
V.T. HOUTEFF
THE
EDUCATION OF CHRISTIAN YOUTH--
WHERE AND
HOW OBTAINED
TEXT OF ADDRESS BY V.T. HOUTEFF,
MINISTER OF DAVIDIAN 7TH-DAY
ADVENTISTS SABBATH,
MT.
The well-rounded education of Christian
youth is in three phases: the moral, the sacred, and the secular. These are obtained in three different schools:
the home, the church school, and the public school.
Each of these schools has its own
particularly important duty to perform for the child's welfare. The public school teaches the child how to
get along in society. The church school
teaches him how to enter into life eternal.
But the home school, besides teaching him moral behaviour,
lays the foundation for all phases of education.
Moreover, the child not only begins life in
the home, but also spends most of his time there. The home school, therefore, plays the most
important role in shaping the child's life.
From this we can quickly see why a broken or an unorganized, careless
home can never meet the needs of the child.
Only by a miracle can a child brought up in such a home become a decent,
law-abiding citizen of the nation, and a respected member in the church.
Yes, I say, only by a miracle can he climb
to the top of the ladder in the society of earth, to say nothing of his poor
chances in the society of Heaven.
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No. 40 26
Let me illustrate the work of the home: The
farmer casts the seed into the earth, and proper conditions make it sprout and
shoot its little blade through the soil.
To begin with, though, the tiny plant feeds on the pulp of the seed
while piercing its delicate blade upward and sinking its tiny roots
downward. Thus while within the shell
(the home) is the little plant (the child) enabled to begin to shift for itself
in getting food from the soil and sunshine from the air to maintain life. This very same principle works within the
home: The child while at home must be gradually at first and then fully put on
its own by the parents. If the parents
fail to carry out this duty to their child, then the child does not stand the
fair chance in life which the Creator has ordained that he should have.
Examples
of Good Homes
At this point I shall read to you something
about successful home schools:
Gen. 18:16-19 -- "And the men rose up from thence, and looked toward
It was Abraham's hospitality that brought
such a great blessing to his home -- the three Heavenly guests Who reaffirmed the promise of an heir. And his accommodating act of showing
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No. 40 27
Heavenly guests Who reaffirmed the promise of an heir. And his accommodating act of showing them the
way to the city by walking some distance with them,
caused the angels to confide to him their sad mission concerning
In the verses which we read a moment ago, we
are told that Abraham was to become a great and mighty nation because he would
command his children and his household after God, to keep the way of the Lord,
to do "justice and judgment."
God recognized that Abraham's home was to be a model home school, and
thus this Patriarch of the Ages became a "friend of God," and the
"father of the faithful." God,
you see, honors parents who run their homes right, who command their households
after Him.
Shall we now examine to see to what extent
Abraham's was a model home school? -- His son, Isaac, you know, was only about
seventeen years of age when the word of the Lord came to Abraham that he should
sacrifice his only son. The father
faithfully obeyed the command, and took Isaac on that trying historical as well
as educational journey. Not until the
very last minute was he told that he was to be the sacrificial victim. But did he become upset or did he resist when
told of it? -- No, indeed. On the contrary,
he did all that he could to comfort his father, and willingly and cheerfully
laid himself upon the altar!
What does all this mean? -- It means that
Isaac had received a perfect training in his home, and so he respected both the
father's
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judgment and religion.
He was submissive to his God, and full of faith. Knowing that God's way was for his best
interests, he resolved that it would be better to die than to disobey either
God or his father.
We shall now go further and look for an
example in Isaac's own home to see what kind of parent and teacher he was. Esau and Jacob were his twin sons, you know,
and both of them were raised in his home.
If you read between the lines in this familiar Bible story, you will
find two teachers and two sets of students in Isaac's home: Isaac loved Esau,
and Rebecca loved Jacob.
Jacob was a helping hand to his mother, and
thereby learned how to prepare food that was both attractive and tasty. Thus was he able to make a bowl of pottage
which sold higher than any other dish ever sold. Besides learning the culinary art, he was
intensely interested in religion, and fitted himself to sit on the patriarchal
throne.
On the other hand, Esau was interested only
in temporal things, and sacrificed his heirship to the throne for the sake of sports and
ungoverned appetite. Rather than become
skilled in his religious duties, he became skilled in hunting. Consequently the heirship
to the patriarchal throne meant no more to him than the price of a bowl of
pottage.
In these two youth we see two opposing aims
in life -- one was given to sports, the other to religion. Isaac was well aware of this, but since he
loved Esau more than he did Jacob, and since Esau was the eldest son, he saw no
reason
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that Esau should not receive the blessing and sit on the
patriarchal throne. Rebecca, however,
was quick to discern that Esau was unfit for the position, and that Jacob would
make good at it. So it was that while on
the one hand Isaac instructed Esau to prepare a feast and come to him for the
blessing, on the other hand Rebecca advised and helped Jacob to impersonate
Esau and obtain the blessing by taking advantage of his father's dim eyesight. This deception, of course, worked out as it
did only because
Now, let us see what we have learned about
the training of Esau and the training of Jacob: Since Isaac was closely
attached to Esau, and Rebecca to Jacob, and since Esau was a failure and Jacob
a success, can it not be concluded that Rebecca succeeded in properly schooling
Jacob, whereas Isaac overlooked Esau's need of getting acquainted with God and
with the duties in the home that were his?
From this comparison I take the liberty to
say that Isaac was a somewhat indulgent father, and that Rebecca was a more
firm and strict mother. True, there must
have been one kind of material in the make-up of Jacob and another in the make-up
of Esau, but Esau should have been reproved; and if reproof could not help him,
then the blessing should not have been offered to him. No, firmness should never give way to
indulgence.
Next we shall peek into the home school
which Jacob himself conducted, and see what were the results. Considering the facts that his family was
larger (thirteen children in all) than the families of his forefathers; that
all of his sons
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were accepted to become the
progenitors of the subjects of the church eternal; that his son, Joseph, had
perfect control of himself, nurtured a forgiving spirit, respected his father,
clung to Heaven's precepts, and found favor with God and man; -- I say that by
all these facts we know that Jacob gave his household the finest training
possible. At the very least, he raised
one of the greatest and the most noble characters the
world has ever seen.
I believe that time will permit us to
consider another good home school, the home into which Moses was born.
Knowing that Abraham and his seed were to
sojourn in a strange land only 430 years, Moses' mother realized that the time
of deliverance from Egyptian bondage was at hand in her day. But Pharaoh's decree demanded that every
Hebrew male child be cast into the
Three months later, though, she found that
she could no longer hide Baby Moses, and so rather than take the inevitable
risk of losing him, she made a little ark, put the infant into it, and placed
it in God's care on the Nile. God took
charge of the situation and the child lived.
Now note the miracle: As soon as the king's daughter saw the child, she
knew that it was a Hebrew child, but rather than let him be
put to death as Pharaoh had decreed, she adopted him! Moreover,
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it was that Baby Moses was Providentially returned to
his own mother for care, and all home expenses were paid from the king's
treasure!
Evidently after witnessing all these
miracles, the mother knew positively that Moses was to be the deliverer. And the home training which he was given
during those twelve years with his mother, Moses never forgot even amidst the
rank and file of the world's greatest royal throne of his day.
Indeed, the training one receives in the
home, you see, is the foundation of his entire future.
Examples
of Bad Homes
In vivid contrast to these good homes, I
shall call your attention to one or two bad home schools, and the results of
them.
First I am thinking of
What a failure was
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had
May I now speak to you of another bad home,
that of Eli's, the ancient priest of
1 Sam.
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heart: and all the increase of thine
house shall die in the flower of their age.
And this shall be a sign unto thee, that shall
come upon thy two sons, on Hophni and Phinehas; in one day they shall die both of them. And I will raise Me
up a faithful priest, that shall do according to that which is in Mine heart
and in My mind: and I will build him a sure house; and he shall walk before
Mine anointed for ever."
These verses reveal that Eli was reproved
for his carelessness in not commanding his household after God. He was even forewarned of the inevitable
results of his laxness; that his household, his entire posterity, would die in
the flower of age if he thus continued on.
But Eli did nothing about it, and therefore suffered the results which
he had been warned about.
Are not these things written for our
learning, for our ensamples? Why, then,
are more homes wrecked today as a result of bad home training, or no training,
than were wrecked in the days of Eli?
And, strange as it seems, this catastrophe occurs more often than not in
homes where the parents are so very particular that their children not enter a
public school but obtain their entire education in the church school. Indeed, the fault does not lie with the
church school itself, but in the fact that the parents expect the parochial
school to assume the responsibilities of parenthood -- to do that which the parents
themselves fail to do. And let me tell
you that be it the church school or the public school, neither one can take the
place of the home school.
Besides, since the church schools are
largely a family affair, to a great extent ordered by the parents themselves,
these schools already
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have proved a miserable failure! If you doubt this alarming statement, then
poll your church membership, and to your surprise you will find that the
majority of them are the product of the public school, and that the majority of
the church school graduates are out in the world. After hearing these remarks, a sister polled
her church and found that 70% were educated in the public school; 27% in both
public and church school; and 3% in the church school only!
This is not all: You will find that the
church members who are half converted, or not converted, are usually, if not
altogether, the product of the church school.
Still further, you will find that the greatest champions against timely
Truth, against "meat in due season," and the promulgators of
abominations in the church, are generally the product of the church school!
My experience for years in the gospel work
has proved to me that what I am saying is true.
Do not misunderstand me; I am not accusing anyone. I am only trying to help each of you for your
own good to awake to the situation, and to take heed to the Word of God. Soon the authorities may begin to jail the
parents, too, upon the arrest and misdemeanor of the children, if the homes
continue to carry on as they now do.
A noted writer and authority on social
relations and problems, Leon J. Saul, has this to say in his book entitled,
Emotional Maturity: "There are no problem children, only problem parents
and problem environments."
And if I now become your enemy because I
tell you the truth, then will you not yourself confirm these things?
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God's
System of Education
We have now seen the results both of good
home schools and of bad home schools, but we shall be most helped by looking
into the system of education which Inspiration recommended, and by making it
our system for teaching the young. It is
this:
Exod. 12:22-27 -- "And ye shall take a bunch of hyssop, and dip
it in the blood that is in the bason, and strike the
lintel and the two side posts with the blood that is in the bason;
and none of you shall go out at the door of his house until the morning. For the Lord will pass through to smite the
Egyptians; and when He seeth the blood upon the
lintel, and on the two side posts, the Lord will pass over the door, and will
not suffer the destroyer to come in unto your houses to smite you. And ye shall observe this thing for an
ordinance to thee and to thy sons for ever.
And it shall come to pass, when ye be come to
the land which the Lord will give you, according as He hath promised, that ye
shall keep this service. And it shall
come to pass, when your children shall say unto you, What
mean ye by this service? That ye shall
say, It is the sacrifice of the Lord's Passover, Who
passed over the houses of the children of
Josh. 4:5-7 -- "And Joshua said unto them, Pass over before the Ark of the Lord
your God into the midst of Jordan, and take you up every man of you a stone
upon his shoulder, according unto the number of the tribes of the children of Israel:
that this may be a sign among you, that when your children ask their fathers in
time to come,
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saying, What mean ye by these stones? Then ye shall answer them, That
the waters of
God, we see, sets memorials for the
important things of life so as to provoke inquiries. Parents should do likewise to create interest
in the things they want their children to be instructed in.
Deut. 6:4-9 -- "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord: and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine
heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this
day, shall be in thine heart: and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest
in thine house, and when thou walkest
by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine
hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine
eyes. And thou shalt
write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates."
The important things of life should ever be
held before the children, and always in an interesting way, -- never in a way
to make them tired of religion, and never in a way that will cause the study to
become a drudgery.
A
Bad Tree Cannot Give Good Fruit
Both parents and children should ever
remember that God is counting on them, and that they themselves can either
build or restrict
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No. 40 37
their futures. This
we see most notably in the following:
Because the work of Jesus was of tremendous importance
and of great consequence, God was exceedingly particular about the parentage of
Jesus. For this reason he chose the
lineage of Abraham (a good tree), of Isaac, Jacob, Judas, Jesse, David, and
down through the line of lineage to Joseph, who became the husband of
Mary. Even though Joseph was to be but a
foster father to Jesus, God was particular in choosing him.
And as careful as God was about who the foster father of Jesus should be, He was even more
particular in the selection of a mother for Jesus. Thus God chose the Saviour's
mother from the line of Joseph, the son of Jacob.
How do I know what was the parental lineage
of Jesus? -- Well, His foster father's lineage I know from the chronology which
Saint Matthew gives. And His mother's
lineage I know from Moses' prophecy of which I shall now read: "Joseph is
a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches run over the
wall: the archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and hated him: but
his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the
hands of the mighty God of Jacob; (from thence is the shepherd, the stone of
Israel)." Gen. 49:22-24.
Not only was Jesus' parental lineage
carefully selected, but so also has been selected the lineage of every one of
God's men who were entrusted with weighty responsibilities. Why, I ask you, would such precautions be
taken if the parents do not bear the most important part
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in the life of the children?
It must now be remembered, then, that though
the child obtains his properly rounded education in three schools -- the home,
the church school, and the public school, his most important school is the
home, for the child is largely what the home makes him.
The
Results
"And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the Lord thy
God, to observe and to do all His commandments which I command thee this day,
that the Lord thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth: and
all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God.
"Blessed shalt
thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the
field. Blessed shall be the fruit of thy
body, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the increase of
thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep. Blessed shall be thy basket and thy
store. Blessed shalt
thou be when thou comest in, and blessed shalt thou be when thou goest
out." Deut. 28:1-6.
It would do your soul good if you read at
home about the parents' duty as set forth in Counsels To Teachers, pp. 158,
159; Testimonies For The Church, Vol. 3, pp. 143, 144; and the children's duty
in Exodus 20:12; 2 Cor. 6:14-18; 1 Cor. 6:15-20.
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