CG 305, 315
(Child Guidance 305, 315)
Notwithstanding this plain instruction, some of God’s people permit their children to attend the public schools, where they mingle with those who are corrupt in morals. In these schools their children can neither study the Bible nor learn its principles. Christian parents, you must make provision for your children to be educated in Bible principles. (CG 305.1) MC VC
Bible Truth Neutralized; the Child Confused—Do our children receive from the teachers in the public schools ideas that are in harmony with the Word of God? Is sin presented as an offense against God? Is obedience to all the commandments of God taught as the beginning of all wisdom? We send our children to the Sabbath school that they may be instructed in regard to the truth, and then as they go to the day school, lessons containing falsehood are given them to learn. These things confuse the mind, and should not be; for if the young receive ideas that pervert the truth, how will the influence of this education be counteracted? (CG 305.2) MC VC
Can we wonder that under such circumstances some of the youth among us do not appreciate religious advantages? Can we wonder that they drift into temptation? Can we wonder that, neglected as they have been, their energies are devoted to amusements which do them no good, that their religious aspirations are weakened, and their spiritual life darkened? The mind will be of the same character as that upon which it feeds, the harvest of the same nature as the seed sown. Do not these facts sufficiently show the necessity of guarding from the earliest years the education of the youth? Would it not be better for the youth to grow up in a degree of ignorance as to what is commonly accepted as education than for them to become careless in regard to the truth of God? (CG 305.3) MC VC
“Let Us Arise and Build.” [Note: this is a portion of an address given July 14, 1902, urging the building of a church school near her own home.]—We should establish the work in right lines here at Crystal Springs [Sanitarium, California]. Here are our children. Shall we allow them to be contaminated by the world—by its iniquity, its disregard of God’s commandments? I ask those who are planning to send their children to the public schools, where they are liable to be contaminated, How can you take such a risk? (CG 315.1) MC VC
We desire to erect a church school building for our children. Because of the many calls for means, it seems a difficult matter to secure sufficient money or to arouse an interest great enough to build a small, convenient schoolhouse. I have told the school committee that I would lease to them some land for as long a time as they care to use it for school purposes. I hope that interest enough will be aroused to enable us to erect a building where our children can be taught the Word of God, which is the lifeblood and the flesh of the Son of God.... Will you not take an interest in the erection of this school building in which the Word of God is to be taught? One man, when asked how much he was willing to give to the school in labor, said that if we would give him three dollars a day and his board and lodging, he would help us. But we do not want offers of this kind. Help will come to us. We expect to have a school building, in which the Bible can be taught, in which prayers can be offered to God, and in which the children can be instructed in Bible principles. We expect that everyone who can take hold with us will want to have a share in erecting this building. We expect to train a little army of workers on this hillside. (CG 315.2) MC VC