Page 315 - Counsels to Parents, Teachers, and Students (1913)

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False and the True in Education
311
only safeguard for the temperate man, is total abstinence. For the
lover of fiction the same rule holds true. Total abstinence is his only
safety.
Myths and Fairy Tales
In the education of children and youth, fairy tales, myths, and
fictitious stories are now given a large place. Books of this character
are used in schools, and they are to be found in many homes. How
can Christian parents permit their children to use books so filled
with falsehood? When the children ask the meaning of stories so
contrary to the teaching of their parents, the answer is that the stories
are not true; but this does not do away with the evil results of their
use. The ideas presented in these books mislead the children. They
impart false views of life and beget and foster a desire for the unreal.
The widespread use of such books at this time is one of the
cunning devices of Satan. He is seeking to divert the minds of old
and young from the great work of character building. He means that
our children and youth shall be swept away by the soul-destroying
deceptions with which he is filling the world. Therefore he seeks to
divert their minds from the word of God and thus prevent them from
obtaining a knowledge of those truths that would be their safeguard.
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Never should books containing a perversion of truth be placed
in the hands of children or youth. Let not our children, in the very
process of obtaining an education, receive ideas that will prove to be
seeds of sin. If those with mature minds had nothing to do with such
books, they would themselves be far safer, and their example and
influence on the right side would make it far less difficult to guard
the youth from temptation.
A Purer Fountain
“Bow down thine ear, and hear the words of the wise,
And apply thine heart unto My knowledge....
That thy trust may be in the Lord,
I have made known to thee this day, even to thee.
“Have I not written to thee excellent things