It was in the light of the Avondale experiment that Ellen White wrote that “human productions have been used as most essential” in prior Adventist education “and the Word of God has been studied simply to give flavor to other studies” (FE 395).
Part of the new covenant experience reflected upon in Hebrews 8 is educational. Central to the new covenant is knowing God and His will. With that in mind, it is no accident that the post-Minneapolis revolution which had begun to transform Adventist thinking on the place of Christ and the Bible in Adventism would also mistily shape the denomination’s educational philosophy.
It was in the light of the Avondale experiment that Ellen White wrote that “human productions have been used as most essential” in prior Adventist education “and the Word of God has been studied simply to give flavor to other studies” (FE 395).
That model, she asserted, must come to an end. “The Bible should not be brought into our schools to be sandwiched in between infidelity. The Bible must be made the groundwork and subject matter of education. . . It should be used as the Word of the living God, and esteemed as first, and last, and best in everything. Then will be seen true spiritual growth. The students will develop healthy religious characters because they eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of God. But unless watched and nurtured, the health of the soul decays. Keep in the channel of light. Study the Bible” (FE 474).
Again, “higher education is an experimental [i.e., experiential] knowledge of the plan of salvation, and this knowledge is secured by earnest and diligent study of the Scriptures. Such an education will renew the mind and transform the character, restoring the image of God in the soul. It will fortify the mind against . . . the adversary and enable us to understand the voice of God. It will teach the learner to become a coworker with Jesus Christ. . . . It is the simplicity of the true godliness — our passport from the preparatory school of earth to the higher school above.
“There is no education to be gained higher than that given to the early disciples, and which is revealed to us through the Word of God. To gain the higher education means to follow this word implicitly: it means to walk in the footsteps of Christ, to proclaim His virtues. It means to give up selfishness and to devote the life to the service of God” (CT11).
George R. Knight is a retired professor of Church History at the Adventist Theological Seminary at Andrews University. This article is from his book, Lest We Forget, a daily devotional, published by the Review and Herald Publishing Association, p. 306.
