Back To School Time
Roy E. Cogdill
Education is a modern essential. Emphasis is placed upon secular education today like it has never been before. Billions of dollars are being spent to provide facilities and teachers for secular learning and training. Not only does the government assume a tremendous obligation in this direction on the Federal, State, County and City levels but a great many religious bodies are expending a tremendous amount of their effort and resources in the field of secular education. Tremendous school organizations and lavish facilities are built and secular school work becomes a huge part of their programs of activity. Within shouting distance of the office where this is being written there are three schools; one a public junior high school, another a large Catholic school and another a pretty good sized Episcopal school.
In the field of public education, more and more infidelity and atheism is being poured into the minds of our children, and lower and lower the moral standard sinks. On the college and university level in the field of biology, genetics, psychology and other related courses the lectures by some of these depraved "educators" are actually as vulgar and revolting that a decent minded boy or girl can hardly sit through them. All of the advantage is delivered into the hands of atheism and their opportunities to destroy the faith of the American people in God and the Bible are constantly being increased. This is perhaps the most potent factor in furthering the dangers of atheistic communism and delivering this country into their hands. Anything in the realm of faith destroying atheism goes in the public schools under the guise of freedom but if anyone dares teach about God of the Bible it is un-constitutional. We are precariously nearing the precipice of a Godless nation.
But this is not all of the danger. Outright atheism is easily detected by anyone alert and mature. Modernism is something else. Many people think that modernism exists only in an outright denial of the virgin birth and deity of Jesus. This is not so. Modernism is an attitude that manifests itself in disregard for anything that is divine wisdom and will and promote human wisdom and will instead. It manifests itself not only by discrediting Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God, though it would exalt him as a great, good man and the world's greatest teacher, but it would set the Bible forth as 'great literature" while denying its verbal inspiration and it would revamp and remodel the church into a humanitarian social institution built after a human pattern in its organization and perverted to serve "social" gospel which is no gospel at all.
Brethren have thought to solve the problem by putting the church into school business and aping the denominations. They are not content to allow Christian individuals to build and maintain schools where the right kind of teaching can be done but they want churches to build and maintain them and operate them. This puts the church into the secular school business. Ninety percent of the teaching done in a religious school is secular. It is a business enterprise whether operated at a profit or a loss for tuition, board and room is charged. This is outright digression and modernism within itself. But brethren everywhere among the liberals are advocating it, from the "Great Preachers of Today, Norvel Young and Batsell Baxter down.
They would have the churches not only engaged in the business of secular education but would have the churches supporting modernism if not outright infidelity in the Bible Department and "School of religion operated by the "Christian Colleges brethren have built.
George Pepperdine College in our own area has been full of modernism from the beginning. Its modernism was dividing churches fifteen years ago and more and is still a factor in much trouble among the churches of Christ in this state. Norvel Young was made president a few years ago and under the guise of renovating things accepted resignation of some modernists who had been prominent in the school and some of them have since gone into the Christian Churches. He didn't purge the school of all of its modernists however. Wade Ruby and others of the same ilk remained.
The school has so failed to raise its moral code and the tenor of its attitude toward things divine and holy that many who support it by their mouths, pocket books, and allow it to be promoted among its various women's and men's organizations through the church to the creation of much division and dissension in the churches will not patronize it by sending their children there.
In the Van Nuys church alone there are perhaps as many as 10 or 12 young people including the daughter to Abilene and enrolled in Abilene "Christian" College. The same thing is true in other churches. Why and what is the difference? There is no higher moral standard in A.C.C. that George Pepperdine. Just as much dormitory drinking, dancing and other ungodliness in one as the others.
Moreover there is as much modernism in Abilene as in George Pepperdine. There are no bigger modernists among the professed brethren than J.D. Thomas as every honest person who is not blinded knows who has read his book, "We Be Brethren. To choose between them is like deciding between the "devil and the booger-man!
We are fully aware that what we are writing will not be popular and will probably have some ugly and abusive letters from some of the "pious and avid supporters of these "church schools accusing us of being "ugly and abusive. But the truth is sometimes hard and seemingly cruel. Yet it has to be told.
The solution to our situation in this modern age is not the perversion of the church in its mission or message but a determination to get back to the Bible in the teaching, work and worship of the church and in our homes and in the training of our children!
8156 McNulty Canoga Park, California