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Essential Knowledge
15
They gained the knowledge which God had refused them—to know
the consequences of transgression.
The tree of knowledge, so-called, has become an instrument of
death. Satan has artfully woven his dogmas, his false theories, into
the instruction given. From the tree of knowledge he speaks the
most pleasing flattery in regard to the higher education. Thousands
partake of the fruit of this tree, but it means death to them. Christ
says, “Ye spend money for that which is not bread.”
Isaiah 55:2
. You
are using your heaven-entrusted talents to secure an education which
God pronounces foolishness.
Upon the mind of every student should be impressed the thought
that education is a failure unless the understanding has learned to
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grasp the truths of divine revelation, and unless the heart accepts the
teachings of the gospel of Christ. The student who, in the place of
the broad principles of the word of God, will accept common ideas,
and will allow the time and attention to be absorbed in commonplace,
trivial matters, will find his mind becoming dwarfed and enfeebled.
He will lose the power of growth. The mind must be trained to
comprehend the important truths that concern eternal life.
I am instructed that we are to carry the minds of our students
higher than is now thought to be possible. Heart and mind are to
be trained to preserve their purity by receiving daily supplies from
the fountain of eternal truth. The education gained from a study of
God’s word will enlarge the narrow confines of human scholarship,
and present before the mind a far deeper knowledge to be obtained
through a vital connection with God. It will bring every student who
is a doer of the word into a broader field of thought, and secure to him
a wealth of learning that is imperishable. Without this knowledge
it is certain that man will lose eternal life; possessing it, he will be
fitted to become a companion of the saints in light.
The divine mind and hand have preserved through the ages the
record of creation in its purity. It is the word of God alone that gives
to us an authentic account of the creation of our world. This word
is to be the chief study in our schools. In it we may learn what our
redemption has cost Him who from the beginning was equal with
the Father, and who sacrificed His life that a people might stand
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before Him redeemed from everything earthly, renewed in the image
of God.