Education
by Ellen G. White
Chapter 20: Bible Teaching and Study
In childhood, youth, and manhood, Jesus studied the
Scriptures. As a little child He was daily at His mother's knee taught from the
scrolls of the prophets. In His youth the early morning and the evening
twilight often found Him alone on the mountainside or among the trees of the
forest, spending a quiet hour in prayer and the study of God's word. During His
ministry His intimate acquaintance with the Scriptures testifies to His
diligence in their study. And since He gained knowledge as we may gain it, His
wonderful power, both mental and spiritual, is a testimony to the value of the
Bible as a means of education. {Ed 185.1}
Our heavenly Father, in giving His word, did not overlook
the children. In all that men have written, where can be found anything that
has such a hold upon the heart, anything so well adapted to awaken the interest
of the little ones, as the stories of the Bible? {Ed 185.2}
In these simple stories may be made plain the great
principles of the law of God. Thus by illustrations best suited to the child's
comprehension, parents and teachers may begin very early to fulfill the Lord's
injunction concerning His precepts: "Thou shalt teach them diligently [186]
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." Deuteronomy 6:7. {Ed
185.3}
The use of object lessons, blackboards, maps, and pictures,
will be an aid in explaining these lessons, and fixing them in the memory.
Parents and teachers should constantly seek for improved methods. The teaching
of the Bible should have our freshest thought, our best methods, and our most
earnest effort. {Ed 186.1}
In arousing and strengthening a love for Bible study, much
depends on the use of the hour of worship. The hours of morning and evening worship
should be the sweetest and most helpful of the day. Let it be understood that
into these hours no troubled, unkind thoughts are to intrude; that parents and
children assemble to meet with Jesus, and to invite into the home the presence
of holy angels. Let the services be brief and full of life, adapted to the
occasion, and varied from time to time. Let all join in the Bible reading and
learn and often repeat God's law. It will add to the interest of the children
if they are sometimes permitted to select the reading. Question them upon it,
and let them ask questions. Mention anything that will serve to illustrate its
meaning. When the service is not thus made too lengthy, let the little ones
take part in prayer, and let them join in song, if it be but a single verse. {Ed 186.2}
To make such a service what it should be, thought should be
given to preparation. And parents should take time daily for Bible study with
their children. No doubt it will require effort and planning and some sacrifice
to accomplish this; but the effort will be richly repaid. [187] {Ed 186.3}
As a preparation for teaching His precepts, God commands
that they be hidden in the hearts of the parents. "These words, which I
command thee this day, shall be in thine heart," He says; "and thou
shalt teach them diligently." Deuteronomy 6:6, 7. In order to interest our
children in the Bible, we ourselves must be interested in it. To awaken in them
a love for its study, we must love it. Our instruction to them will have only
the weight of influence given it by our own example and spirit. {Ed 187.1}
God called Abraham to be a teacher of His word, He chose him
to be the father of a great nation, because He saw that Abraham would instruct
his children and his household in the principles of God's law. And that which
gave power to Abraham's teaching was the influence of his own life. His great
household consisted of more than a thousand souls, many of them heads of
families, and not a few but newly converted from heathenism. Such a household
required a firm hand at the helm. No weak, vacillating methods would suffice.
Of Abraham God said, "I know him, that he will command his children and
his household after him." Genesis 18:19. Yet his authority was exercised
with such wisdom and tenderness that hearts were won. The testimony of the
divine Watcher is, "They shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and
judgment." Genesis 18:19. And Abraham's influence extended beyond his own
household. Wherever he pitched his tent, he set up beside it the altar for sacrifice
and worship. When the tent was removed, the altar remained; and many a roving
Canaanite, whose knowledge of God had been gained from the life of Abraham His
servant, tarried at that altar to offer sacrifice to Jehovah. {Ed 187.2}
No less effective today will be the teaching of God's [188]
word when it finds as faithful a reflection in the teacher's life. {Ed 187.3}
It is not enough to know what others have thought or learned
about the Bible. Everyone must in the judgment give account of himself to God,
and each should now learn for himself what is truth. But in order to do
effective study, the interest of the pupil must be enlisted. Especially by the
one who has to deal with children and youth differing widely in disposition,
training, and habits of thought, this is a matter not to be lost sight of. In
teaching children the Bible, we may gain much by observing the bent of their
minds, the things in which they are interested, and arousing their interest to
see what the Bible says about these things. He who created us, with our various
aptitudes, has in His word given something for everyone. As the pupils see that
the lessons of the Bible apply to their own lives, teach them to look to it as
a counselor. {Ed 188.1}
Help them also to appreciate its wonderful beauty. Many
books of no real value, books that are exciting and unhealthful are
recommended, or at least permitted to be used, because of their supposed
literary value. Why should we direct our children to drink of these polluted
streams when they may have free access to the pure fountains of the word of
God? The Bible has a fullness, a strength, a depth of meaning, that is
inexhaustible. Encourage the children and youth to seek out its treasures both
of thought and of expression. {Ed 188.2}
As the beauty of these precious things attracts their minds,
a softening, subduing power will touch their hearts. They will be drawn to Him
who has thus revealed Himself to them. And there are few who will not desire to
know more of His works and ways. [189] {Ed 188.3}
The student of the Bible should be taught to approach it in
the spirit of a learner. We are to search its pages, not for proof to sustain
our opinions, but in order to know what God says. {Ed 189.1}
A true knowledge of the Bible can be gained only through the
aid of that Spirit by whom the word was given. And in order to gain this
knowledge we must live by it. All that God's word commands, we are to obey. All
that it promises, we may claim. The life which it enjoins is the life that,
through its power, we are to live. Only as the Bible is thus held can it be
studied effectively. {Ed
189.2}
The study of the Bible demands our most diligent effort and
persevering thought. As the miner digs for the golden treasure in the earth, so
earnestly, persistently, must we seek for the treasure of God's word. {Ed 189.3}
In daily study the verse-by-verse method is often most
helpful. Let the student take one verse, and concentrate the mind on
ascertaining the thought that God has put into that verse for him, and then dwell
upon the thought until it becomes his own. One passage thus studied until its
significance is clear is of more value than the perusal of many chapters with
no definite purpose in view and no positive instruction gained. {Ed 189.4}
One of the chief causes of mental inefficiency and moral
weakness is the lack of concentration for worthy ends. We pride ourselves on
the wide distribution of literature; but the multiplication of books, even
books that in themselves are not harmful, may be a positive evil. With the
immense tide of printed matter constantly pouring from the press, old and young
form the habit of reading hastily and superficially, and the mind loses its
power of connected and vigorous thought. Furthermore, a large share [190]
of the periodicals and books that, like the frogs of Egypt, are overspreading
the land, are not merely commonplace, idle, and enervating, but unclean and
degrading. Their effect is not merely to intoxicate and ruin the mind, but to
corrupt and destroy the soul. The mind, the heart, that is indolent, aimless,
falls an easy prey to evil. It is on diseased, lifeless organisms that fungus
roots. It is the idle mind that is Satan's workshop. Let the mind be directed
to high and holy ideals, let the life have a noble aim, an absorbing purpose,
and evil finds little foothold. {Ed 189.5}
Let the youth, then, be taught to give close study to the
word of God. Received into the soul, it will prove a mighty barricade against
temptation. "Thy word," the psalmist declares, "have I hid in mine
heart, that I might not sin against Thee." "By the word of Thy lips I
have kept me from the paths of the destroyer." Psalm 119:11; 17:4. {Ed 190.1}
The Bible is its own expositor. Scripture is to be compared
with scripture. The student should learn to view the word as a whole, and to
see the relation of its parts. He should gain a knowledge of its grand central
theme, of God's original purpose for the world, of the rise of the great
controversy, and of the work of redemption. He should understand the nature of
the two principles that are contending for supremacy, and should learn to trace
their working through the records of history and prophecy, to the great
consummation. He should see how this controversy enters into every phase of
human experience; how in every act of life he himself reveals the one or the
other of the two antagonistic motives; and how, whether he will or not, he is
even now deciding upon which side of the controversy he will be found. [191]
{Ed 190.2}
Every part of the Bible is given by inspiration of God and
is profitable. The Old Testament no less than the New should receive attention.
As we study the Old Testament we shall find living springs bubbling up where
the careless reader discerns only a desert. {Ed 191.1}
The book of Revelation, in connection with the book of
Daniel, especially demands study. Let every God-fearing teacher consider how
most clearly to comprehend and to present the gospel that our Saviour came in
person to make known to His servant John—"The Revelation of
Jesus Christ, which God gave unto Him, to show unto His servants things which
must shortly come to pass." Revelation 1:1. None should become discouraged
in the study of the Revelation because of its apparently mystical symbols.
"If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men
liberally, and upbraideth not." James 1:5. {Ed 191.2}
"Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the
words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for
the time is at hand." Revelation 1:3. {Ed 191.3}
When a real love for the Bible is awakened, and the student
begins to realize how vast is the field and how precious its treasure, he will
desire to seize upon every opportunity for acquainting himself with God's word.
Its study will be restricted to no special time or place. And this continuous
study is one of the best means of cultivating a love for the Scriptures. Let
the student keep his Bible always with him. As you have opportunity, read a
text and meditate upon it. While walking the streets, waiting at a railway
station, waiting to meet an engagement, improve the opportunity to gain some
precious thought from the treasure house of truth. [192] {Ed 191.4}
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The great motive powers of the soul are faith, hope, and
love; and it is to these that Bible study, rightly pursued, appeals. The
outward beauty of the Bible, the beauty of imagery and expression, is but the
setting, as it were, for its real treasure—the beauty of holiness. In
its record of the men who walked with God, we may catch glimpses of His glory.
In the One "altogether lovely" we behold Him, of whom all beauty of
earth and heaven is but a dim reflection. "I, if I be lifted up," He
said, "will draw all men unto Me." John 12:32. As the student of the
Bible beholds the Redeemer, there is awakened in the soul the mysterious power
of faith, adoration, and love. Upon the vision of Christ the gaze is fixed, and
the beholder grows into the likeness of that which he adores. The words of the
apostle Paul become the language of the soul: "I count all things but loss
for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: . . .
that I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of
His sufferings." Philippians 3:8-10. {Ed 192.1}
The springs of heavenly peace and joy unsealed in the soul
by the words of Inspiration will become a mighty river of influence to bless
all who come within its reach. Let the youth of today, the youth who are
growing up with the Bible in their hands, become the recipients and the channels
of its life-giving energy, and what streams of blessing would flow forth to the
world!—influences of whose power to heal and comfort we can scarcely
conceive—rivers of living water, fountains "springing up unto
everlasting life." {Ed
192.2}
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