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An Educated Person

   Written by on November 3, 2016 at 9:50 am

logo-crotts-stephenWhat is an educated person? I’d like to try to answer that question from the Bible.

1. A learned person can read, and does. The Bible, a Latin word meaning library, contains history, poetry, biography, allegory, theology, narrative, prophecy, and even maxims. Clearly God meant for Christians to read widely! Jesus could read. The New Testament gives the story of Christ reading Isaiah 61 in the temple. Yet 24 millions of Americans cannot read. Millions more can read but don’t. The average American doesn’t even read one book a year.

2. A learned person can write. Jesus knew how. Though He wrote no essays, letters, or books, the gospel of John shares a vignette in which Christ wrote something in the dust on the ground (John 8:6).

3. A learned person can think critically.  This person can analyze, weigh options, see the pros and cons, think. He is a problem solver. Psalm 32:9, “Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding, which must be cured with bit and bridle, else it will not keep with you.”

4. A learned person knows Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord. Dr. George Buttrick, writing in Time magazine of May 19, 1952, said, “The major question that education must face is God, for if God is the sovereign fact of life, God is the sovereign fact of education. If God is, education must live under the acknowledgement of God.” Jeremiah the prophet said, “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, let not the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches, but let him who glories, glory in this—that he knows Me” (John 9:23). And God has made himself known in Jesus. Christ said, “If you have seen me, you’ve seen the Father” (John 14). And, “There is no other name given among men whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).

5. A learned person has a trade, some labor that contributes to the needs of others. John Calvin wrote, “There is no work, however vile or sordid, that does not glisten before God.” Nurse, garbage collector, cook, teacher, minister, attorney, janitor…The best way to serve God is in your daily labors. Peter urged in 1 Peter 4:10, “As each has received a gift, employ it for one another as good stewards of God’s varied grace.”

6. A learned person has good values. Exodus 20 gives the Ten Commandments, the civilizing, freeing behavior God endorses. If one throws them out, then he must find his own values through trial and error. And I do mean trial. And I do mean error. If one lives long enough, he’ll be a sixty year old man when he returns to the values of God’s law.

7. A learned person values relationships. This person can begin and maintain relationships with God, with peers, family, friends. spouse, coworkers, even with the environment and with oneself. The first word of the gospel is found in Mark 12:29-31, the Great Commandment. An educated person can love in many directions.

8. A learned person is a lifelong learner. He does not complete his education, make a graven image of God, become fixed. Rather he grows daily in his understanding (2 Peter 3:18).

Now the question is, how does one get such an education? Home schooling? Christian education? Public education? Deuteronomy 6:7 explains it is parents who supply it. “You shall teach these things to your children and your children’s children.” It’s up to Mom and Dad to discover what works for them, to tinker with it constantly until you find the right mix for your child.

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The Reverend Stephen Crotts is pastor of Village Presbyterian Church in Charlotte Court House, VA. He is also the director of the Carolina Study Center, Inc., a campus ministry, located in Chapel Hill, NC. Pastor Crotts may be reached at carolinastudycenter@msn.com.

About Stephen Crotts

The Reverend Stephen Crotts is pastor of Village Presbyterian Church in Charlotte Court House, VA. He is also the director of the Carolina Study Center, Inc., a campus ministry, located in Chapel Hill, NC. Pastor Crotts may be reached at carolinastudycenter@msn.com.

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