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Page 24
KNOWLEDGE OF THE BIBLE
A knowledge of the essential parts of the _Bible_ is indispensable to
Christian culture. The Bible is the storehouse of spiritual wisdom of
the ages, the matchless textbook of religion. Great men and women of all
generations testify to its power as a source of inspiration and
guidance. To be ignorant of its fundamental spiritual truths is to lack
one of the chiefest instruments of religious growth and development. Not
to know its teachings is to miss the strongest and best foundation that
has ever been laid for fruitful and happy living. To lose a knowledge of
the Bible out of our lives is to deprive ourselves of the ethical and
religious help needed to redeem society and bring the individual to his
rightful destiny. Yet this generation is confronted by a widespread and
universal ignorance of the Bible, even among the adherents of the
churches.
Making the Bible useful to the child. The child cannot be taught all
of the Bible as a child. Indeed, parts of if dealing with the ideals and
practices of peoples and times whose primitive standards were far below
those of our own times are wholly unsuited to the mind of childhood, and
should be left until maturity has given the mental perspective by which
to interpret them. Other parts of the Bible prove dry and uninteresting
to children, and are of no immediate spiritual significance to them.
Still other parts, which later will be full of precious meaning, are
beyond the grasp or need of the child in his early years and should be
left for a later period. But with all these subtractions there still
remains a rich storehouse of biblical material suited for all ages from
earliest childhood to maturity. This material should be assembled and
arranged in a _children's Bible_. This abridged Bible should then be
made a part of the mental and spiritual possession of every child.
The knowledge of the Bible which will be of most worth to the child must
be a _functioning_ knowledge; a knowledge that can and will be put at
work in the child's thought, helping him form his judgments of right and
wrong and arrive at a true sense of moral values; a knowledge that stirs
the soul's response to the appeal God makes to the life; a knowledge
that daily serves as a guide to action amid the perplexities and
temptations that are met; a knowledge that lives and grows as the years
pass by, constantly revealing deeper meanings and more significant
truths.
The test of useful knowledge.--This is all to say that the knowledge
of the Bible given the child must in no sense be a merely formal
knowledge, a knowledge of so many curious or even interesting facts
separated from their vital meaning and application. It must not consist
of truths which for the most part _do not influence thought and action_.
Not how many facts are lodged in the mind, nor how many have passed
through the mind and been forgotten, but _how many truths are daily
being built into character_--this measures the value of the knowledge we
teach the child from the Bible.
KNOWLEDGE ABOUT THE CHURCH
The church represents religion organized. Because of our social impulses
we need to worship together in groups. Many religious activities, such
as education, evangelism, missionary enterprises, and reforms, can be
successfully carried out only by joint action; hence we have the church,
a _means of religious culture_, and the _instrument of religious
service_. Few there are who, outside the church, maintain their own
religious experience or carry the ministry of religious service to
others. A knowledge of the church is therefore an essential part of the
child's religious education.
What the child needs to know about the church.--This does not mean
that the child needs to know the technical and detailed history of the
Christian Church; this may come later. Nor does it mean that the child
needs to know the different theological controversies through which the
church has passed and the creeds that have resulted; this also may come
later. What the child needs first to know is that the church is the
instrument of religion, the home of religious people; that the Christian
Church began with the followers of Jesus, and that it has existed ever
since; that it has done and is doing much good in the world; that the
best and noblest men and women of each generation work with and through
the church; that the church is worthy of our deepest love and
appreciation, and that it should command our fullest loyalty and
support.
Besides this rather general knowledge of the church, the child should
know the organization and workings of the present-day church. He should
come to know as much of its program, plans, and ideals as his age and
understanding will permit.
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