Theme: CHRISTIANITY AND SECULAR EDUCATION
Text: “Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.” – Colossians 2:8.
Comment: There is wide difference between the wisdom of God and that of the world. Several of the theses written by scholars to obtain their degrees, and books whose authors are top-intellectuals, if put on a spiritual scale, scarcely contains an ounce of the wisdom of God that could convert the soul, shape a man’s character to doing righteousness, and incline his heart to divine worship.
Rene Descartes (1596 – 1650) – a French Philosopher and Mathematician – invented a system of thought described as “the method of systematic doubt”. Applying this method he became convinced that the only existence of which he could be quite certain was his own. That is, nothing else exists except himself. This is a wily design of the devil calculated to poison men’s minds against God and matters of faith which ought to make them believe “all things which are written in the law and in the prophets” (Acts 24:14; Hebrews 11:6; John 3:12). To the Christian mind, such a way of reasoning is an unprofitable and foolish exercise – not minding their intellectualism in secular learning. It does not aim at directing one to God or making one a better man in the true sense of spiritual values. Indeed, for good reason did God say: “For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent…” – 1 Corinthians 1:19,20.