4 Dec 2020

Sabbath School for Adults: Education: Lesson 10: Education in Arts and Sciences


Friday
December 4

Further Thought: Two reasons exist why science, which gets so many things right, gets origins so wrong: first, science, which studies the natural world, must look only to the natural world for answers; second, science assumes that the laws of nature must remain constant. Yet, both these are wrong when it comes to origins.
Take the first one, which requires natural causes for natural events. That’s fine for hurricane tracking, but it is worse than worthless for origins that start out with “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (Gen. 1:1, NKJV). What can science, which denies the supernatural in origins, teach us about origins that were totally supernatural?
And the constancy of nature? This seems to make sense, except that Romans 5:12—“Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned” (NKJV)—presupposes a natural environment discontinuous, and qualitatively different, from anything that science now confronts. A world in which death did not exist is radically different from anything we can study today, and to assume they were very similar when they weren’t, also will lead to error.
Hence, science gets origins wrong because it denies two crucial aspects of the Creation: the supernatural force behind it, and the radical physical discontinuity between the original creation and what’s before us now.

Discussion Questions:

• In class, talk about the question of beauty. What is beauty? How do we define it? How might a Christian define and understand beauty differently from a non-Christian?

• Christ could have come to earth as a brilliant scientist, to be richly compensated for His groundbreaking research. He could have garnered all fame as a musical performer. Instead, He came and trained as a humble craftsman. He was present at Creation, but He trained as a layperson and fulfilled His duties obediently. What encouragement does this offer us, wherever we may be in our educational or professional journey?

• Although not every Christian is called to teach in schools, Christians can be ever teaching others in word and in deed, with intention or completely without awareness. For this reason, what habits should the Christian cultivate, both as a student of Christ and as a teacher of the world?

Inside Story

Keeping Two Boys Quiet

By Marci Evans


Keeping children quiet in church became a real challenge when my niece, who was struggling with drugs, gave her two sons to my husband and me.
Five-year-old Omarion and his six-year-old brother, Diamonte, had no experience in church. They were full of energy, and they were not used to kneeling for prayer. Moreover, the formal prayer seemed to go on and on up front.
How do I keep them still and quiet? I wondered, as the boys shifted restlessly during prayer one Sabbath. What do I want to teach them about prayer?
As I cried to God for help, an idea popped into my mind. Why not pray quietly with the boys? Immediately, I began to pray.
“Oh Lord, thanks so much for Diamonte and Omarion’s school, their teachers, their shoes, their toys, and for all Your blessings,” I whispered.
The boys stopped fidgeting.“Please, Lord, be with their mama,” I said. “She loves them so much. Please heal her from drugs and be near her today. You know just what she needs.”The boys listened spellbound. They were thinking about their mother, who they missed and loved so much. The prayer continued at the front of the church. “Lord, please be with Diamonte’s dad, who is living in prison,” I said.
“Please give him a good cellmate. Oh Lord, please be close to Omarion’s dad. You know just what he needs! Let him know you are right beside him now.”
I prayed until the prayer ended up front. The boys remained quiet and reverent the entire time. Never once did I have to say “Hold still!” or “Be quiet!”
The next Sabbath, I again whispered a special prayer for my nephews during the time of the formal prayer up front. The boys listened attentively. My prayer was about their lives and their loved ones. It mattered to them. I prayed with the boys every Sabbath until they learned to be quiet and reverent during the formal prayer time at the church. Of course, we kept praying at home.
Who would have thought that such a simple solution would calm twitchy boys? With that solution, the Lord allowed me to be a missionary in the most important mission field—the home. Ellen White tells us, “Let not parents forget the great mission field that lies before them in the home. In the children committed to her every mother has a sacred charge from God. ‘Take this son, this daughter,’ God says, ‘and train it for Me. Give it a character polished after the similitude of a palace, that it may shine in the courts of the Lord forever’ ” (Testimonies for the Church, vol. 9, p. 37).
God is so good. He gives us mission-minded ideas when we need them most. Marci Evans is a member of the Milton Seventh-day Adventist Church in Milton-Freewater in the U.S. state of Oregon.

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