Making Paradise Now

        1) Theologians have too often put the things of God out of reach of the people who need it most by the type of language they use. Most people are not willing to wade through lots of highly complicated language and do mental gymnastics to learn anything unless they are forced to in school(and as soon as they finish the class they forget most of what they studied. This emphasizes its uselessness).  And when pastors began to speak like this to their members, they become unintelligible and useless in helping members come closer to God.

        This kind of education is not only useless, it is harmful as well because as Ellen White says, “The student obtains a slender store of information upon many subjects that are of little value to him...Many a student has so long taxed the mind to learn that which his reason tells him will never be of any use, that his mental powers have become weakened and incapable of vigorous exertion and persevering effort to comprehend those things which are of vital importance.” and “[Christian workers} laborious study of the opinions of men tends to the enfeebling of their ministry rather than to its strengthening.  As I see libraries filled with ponderous volumes of historical and theological lore, I think, Why spend money for that which is not bread?...And to a large degree theology, as studied and taught, is but a record of human speculation, serving only to darken ‘counsel by words without knowledge’.”

        Not only do we make pastors study things that they will never use, we weaken their ability to serve the people of God and we destroy their zeal for making the things of God real to people.  If pastors can’t make Christianity relevant and real to non-Theologians, their education is a waste.  It seems that pastors have keep up their zeal and inspiration not because of but, often in spite of their education.  I mentioned these things to my dad wondering what his opinions of their use had been after 25 years of pastoring and teaching Bible and he wrote back saying, “I can relate to your feelings about all those theological pinheads.  Barth, Bultmann, and the whole lot of those theologians who dissect and try to see how many angels they can fit on the head of a pin while using very technical theological language. Never impressed me either.  Don’t really remember anything significant from their amazing contributions.” They may have said some important things, but the way they said it destroyed it’s usefulness and limited it’s circulation to a few elite scholars. I have a suspicion that this is one of the major reasons for the decline of the church in England and much of Europe. They have so long concentrated on the philosophies and sciences of theology that the pastors have lost their ability to really communicate with their congregation and show them why Christianity is relevant to a modern society.  If Americans weren’t such independent thinkers and willing to go out on our own and try new things, we also would  be in a much worse situation than we are.

        2) The second problem with theological education that I have is illustrated well by another 2  Ellen White quotes(there are so many to choose from on this topic). “It is not well to crowd the mind with studies that require intense application, but that are not brought into use in practical life.  Such education will be a loss to the student, for these studies lessen his desire and inclination for the studies that would fit him for usefulness and enable him to fulfill his responsibilities.  A practical training is worth far more than any amount of mere theorizing.  It is not enough even to have knowledge; we must have ability to use the knowledge aright.”Possibly a few people can benefit from technical language, but, it doesn’t often seem to be the pastor working in the field. He might know how to discuss complex theological issues but, he doesn’t know very much about making his community better or explaining the gospel simply and with power.  In short he is not very practical(unless he departs from his educational background). I argue that being a pastor is one of the most important jobs and has a high potential for radically altering society if it is done correctly.  If our pastors were to be trained to fight injustice and to be connected to resources for improvement of people’s lives, they could make a huge difference.  For our pastors to be trained is good but, there is an even higher ideal that Ellen White points out when she speaks about the schools of the prophets. “Just before Elijah was taken to heaven, he visited the schools of the prophets...[he impressed] upon the minds of the youth the importance of letting simplicity mark every feature of their education.  Only in this way could they receive the mold of heaven, and go forth to work in the ways of the Lord.  If conducted as God designs they should be, our schools in these closing days of the message will do a work similar to that done by the schools of the prophets...No work will be more effectual that that done by those who, having obtained an education in practical life, go forth prepared to instruct as they have been instructed.”  Think about this for a second.  Not just instructing for others to learn, but, instructing well enough that others are able to begin instructing when you are through.  Let me illustrate why this is so much better.  I forgot where I heard this but, someone was comparing the work of a pastor who preaches and converts an average of 50 persons a year to that of one who trains 1 person a year. At first glance it seems that the 50 persons a year pastor is the better.  But, if you take a closer look you’ll see that this is only true for the first 9 years.  After that the one who trains starts to dwarf the other.

        A million saved for God from the efforts of one person.  Amazing!  And this is not counting the people who are saved but not trained by the pastor.  Jesus must know something about mathematics because this is exactly what he did.  Sure he preached a lot but, he trained 12 disciples and they trained others and together turned the world upside down. I think it was Dwight Moody who said that “It is better to train ten men to work than to do the work of ten men.” It would be amazing and thrilling if we could train our pastors to be Gandhis, Martin Luther Kings and Abraham Lincolns, Mother Theresas and people like that and exponentially more so if they knew how to train their members who could train others and on and on.  When you begin to think like this you start to get excited but, then are brought back to the painful reality that most of the training received in theological education is impossible or extremely difficult to pass on due to it’s complicated language and the fact that the things learned are not very practical either in spiritual life or in making life easier for people in their day to day struggles.

        Again, there are some good things about our education, especially the sincerity of many of the teachers and how much they want to give a good education, but, it seems like we have fallen into the same educational traps that the world has for reasons of accreditation and trying to impress people with high sounding language and other various reasons. There is an incredible mission for us to accomplish and you can't just sit still with all the good ideas that we have these days. In fact it’s boring if you do so. It is possible and so much more exciting to make a much better education (both in school, churches and daily life) and I have a few concrete ideas that I’d like to share as to how to do that.  I don’t know much about the accreditation aspects.  Dr. Ogden, I think would know much more about that side of things, but, I have just begun to start collecting ideas for use and possibly they could be used without altering the accreditation that we have.  I’m going to be looking for and starting to collect a lot more ideas like these in the coming years.

CREATIVE & EFFECTIVE EDUCATION

        In the class Philosophy of Education, taught by Dr. Steyn at Helderberg we were asked to write a short paper about a class that we thought should be added to the curriculum of Helderberg. The class that I suggested was called “Transformers”.  It’s kind of a pun on the cartoons but, in my opinion it is one of the most vital courses that a university should offer.  At first, I was thinking of it as just one class, but, the more I think about it, the more I think that it should be the model for almost every class that we teach. There are 3 simple objectives for this course/model:

        #1.  Inspiration We need to inspire our students to want to change their society and work to make it as Michael Jackson says, “a better place for you and for me and for the entire human race”.  You ask most students today why they choose their major and a large proportion will tell you if they are honest that it’s because it’s because of the amount of money they can make after they graduate. Of course material things are not bad.  They can often increase the options that you have.  However for that to be the only inspiration in your work is a depressing thought.  Why would you want to spend the largest amount of your life doing something that you have no passion for? This inspiration is necessary both in the transformers course and in every course that students take.

        A sociologist named Marcoosi begins his book “One Dimensional Man” by saying, “Most Americans have been seduced into a comfortable, enjoyable, tastefully covered form of slavery.”  He goes on to say that this slavery is materialism and that it is the most dangerous kind of slavery because the slaves will their own slavery.  We need something in our society to give people the inspiration to will something better than slavery.  Somehow we need to inspire people to dream higher dreams and to reach for higher goals, to “go where the brave dare not go” to “fight the unbeatable foe”. We desperately need people in this world who are willing to go where the greatest needs are as the teacher was in the introduction story who are agents of positive change wherever they are, people who will do their best to “make a little bit of heaven here on earth”.  

        I think that probably the best way to do this is to expose them to people who are examples of this.  We talk so much about philosophy and many of our textbooks are so technical or sophisticated but, these things do not usually inspire people.  To the contrary, they are often the instruments that crush the curiosity and enthusiasm for studying deeply into subjects.  In my life I can unfortunately say that my reading assignments and homework very seldom inspired me. A few of them were interesting but, a majority of them made me sick of studying.  What has made a difference in my life?  My parents set the stage I think by providing me with many missionary books to read as I grew up and encouraging me to read.  I still enjoy reading books about missionaries and books on issues both theological(Inspiration by Alden Thompsen) and social(“You Can Make a Difference” by Tony Campolo) and they have added to my parents efforts and made the effect on my life much stronger.

        Experiments have shown and it is common sense that what we are exposed to in the media has a significant impact on our views and even actions in some cases.  The media often has a greater influence even than our teachers. I think this is because the media has realized that the secret of changing the minds of the masses is not found in philosophizing and using complex language.  They have made it simple enough for anyone to understand, even though the issues they portray are stimulating and often very complex.  They have surrounded their viewers/listeners with realistic life stories and situations some good and a lot bad and these have a dramatic effect.  Another illustration of this principle is in the life of the famous architect Frank Wright. I’ve heard that his mother wanted him to be an architect.  She didn’t force him to do it or make him study it.  She created a thirst in him for it by surrounding with creative buildings and drawings and anything that she could find that related to architecture.  Is it any wonder that he became an architect.

        We are so often surrounded by unhealthy images and many times by downright deception and too many people are lead to pursue things that don’t really help them enjoy life or live it to its fullest like it can be.  I think it’s about time that we create a thirst and inspiration in our students to want to be involved in radical social change.  How do you do this? There are a couple ways that I have though of:

        a) The media(and by the way, this was Jesus’ technique as well) has illustrated that to change people’s minds you need to let them experience the situation.  Whether through a book or through a video or slides we can present(or as some people would say manipulate) the heroes that people have.  When you hear the stories of Dr. Martin Luther King, Mother Theresa, Harry Miller(SDA pioneer doctor in China) or watch movies such as Mississippi Burning, Medicine Man, Schindler’s List, City of Joy and others similar ones, it makes you want to work to also bring help or justice to the world.

        b) Books and videos are effective but, one other thing that can also be very useful I think is simulations. One of the last classes(and best) that I took was Social Psychology.  One thing it talked about was changing people’s attitudes.  It said that one of the most effective ways to change people’s attitudes was to help them experience a situation in which they are brought into a state of cognitive dissonance.  This causes them to think and adjust their thinking(hopefully in the right direction).  Simulations are very effective at helping people get personally involved in a situation(and possibly into this state of cognitive dissonance).  It is amazing sometimes how a game/simulation can bring out people’s emotions(just yesterday I met a teacher who worked for global education which uses a lot of simulations and I’ve asked him to e-mail them so that I can get some of them).

        One excellent simulation I’ve heard of was on CNN. It was called the World Game.  It puts different players in charge of different countries which have different problems.  The goal of the game is to make your country self-sufficient and if possible powerful and successful. Unlike other games, in this one, everyone does not start out equal.  Some are rich, some are poor.  Some have many resources, others have few.  Some have many educated people, other have almost none.  In short it is not a “fair” game, but, it is very realistic and it makes the troubles and difficulties of different countries very real to the players of the game. This game would expose students to what different countries needs are and since they have experienced to a small degree the problems that they face, it would cause them to be more sympathetic and hopefully inspired to help out.  These are a couple of the ways that I would inspire students.

        But, this class shouldn’t just inspire people, it should also be a class that will teach concrete ways that people can help.  People often talk about how nobody is doing anything to help out.  In some cases the problem is that people are lazy and don’t want to help, but, in most cases, I think that the much bigger problem is that they don’t know how to help or what to do to make the situation better.  So, the 2nd objective for this course/model is:

        #2.  Illustration  After students have the inspiration to make a difference, you can’t just stop there. The next step is to expose students to some practical methods and some real solutions. Whether the area that you are studying is poverty, social injustice, prejudice, administration or even tax reform, there need to be some real and concrete solutions.  Again, as Elijah insisted to the schools of the prophets, we need to emphasize simplicity.         

        An example of this principle of simplicity and why it works so well is a story that I heard about marriage.  I have taken classes on marriage and family and heard a lot of different things about what makes a good marriage but, I think that the best advice that I have ever heard is illustrated in a simple story. The story was about a couple that was celebrating 50 years of happy marriage.  A reporter asked the husband what was the secret of his long marriage.  He answered that the secret was his watch. The shocked reporter wondered how a watch could help a marriage succeed.  The husband explained that when he had gotten married, his father-in-law had given him the watch with an inscription.  The inscription read, “Say something nice to Sarah everyday.”  The man had followed this advice and it was the secret of his long and happy marriage.  I think it is possible to make a much better education and to mark our education with the simplicity that Elijah advised. In the last year I have started writing simple ideas down so that I’ll be able to use them because as one joke goes, “All of us have photographic memories...some are just missing the film.” They don’t take a lot of intelligence to use, just some effort. Here are a few of the things that I’m thinking about.

        a) As I studied in South Africa, there were times I didn’t feel much like studying just like every other student and so I would crash in front of the TV for a little while.  One show that became one of my favorite was called Beyond2000.  It is a scientific-educational show that presents ways that technology can solve the problems of modern society or just simply enhance the quality of life.  There are many things on that show that I would like to start using. Beyond2000 is on the internet so that’s pretty easy to contact them, but, it does take some time and effort to contact the subjects of their programs who actually invent the ideas. One of them I tracked down was near Capetown.  In South Africa, they have a lot of tin roof shanty in townships that aren’t very stable or comfortable.  One engineer at a university, Ettiene Basson, saw this problem and came up with a brilliant and cheap solution.  He used polystyrene(a very solid and tough form of Styrofoam) to build small houses for around $2000(~$68/m2).  They are so simple to build that almost anyone who can read can do it themselves.  The basic method of construction is this.  Mr. Basson provides the polystyrene in “planks” that are connected in parallel with other polystyrene “planks”.  The home builder stacks these “planks” in the position that he wants his walls.  Then he pours the cement between the parallel planks and sprays a tough covering on the outside of the walls.  This home is extremely stable.  When I spoke to Ettiene about this he said that his purpose was to provide a house that would be usable for at least the people who build the house, their children, and  grandchildren. This is not flimsy stuff.  I didn’t see how they did the floor and roof, but I was told that it was fairly simple as well.  Last year I had an appointment to see a demonstration of this, but my transport(the director of the ACS) was not very dependable.  He was nice but, he canceled the appointments we had twice and then I had to go home.  This year I got a more reliable friend but, when I tried to contact Mr. Basson again, either he was on vacation or his line was disconnected(this is one reason this paper has been delayed until now.  I wanted to use this demonstration and maybe even pictures of it for this paper).  But, hopefully I’ll be able to contact him soon.  Where I am right now in Korea, I don’t think they need it that much, but, if I go to Thailand, like I’m planning in about a year, it will be very useful with the refugees there.

        b) Another thing I saw on Beyond2000 was called a hybractor.  It’s a big tank that takes toxic waste and through the use of bacteria converts it to methane gas(which can be used to provide electricity and power) and 80-90% pure water which after aeration is drinkable. This would solve a lot of the pollution problem of certain companies.

        c) Another interesting area to discuss and teach real ways of doing would be in civil disobedience. This was needed so much in South Africa.  Until about 10 years ago the SDA schools in South Africa were segregated.  And even today in 1997, there are still black, white and colored conferences.  This is inconceivable that we have allowed this to exist in the first place and that we are allowing it to continue even now.  The press ran an article about it as an illustration of the racism that still exists in South Africa.  What a way to make an impression.  NOT!  I couldn’t do very much about that situation but, I did do one thing. On campus there was essentially a black church and a white church.  I chose to become a part of the black church both for this reason and because it was smaller(I thought I could be more active there) and because I like the black way of worshipping better(although this particular church is more western than black unfortunately). But, it would have been awesome if our church could have been in the forefront of fighting apartheid and its evils.  The Anglican church with Desmond Tutu and others like it did exactly what we should have been doing.  But, we had no one who knew what to do and of course none of our pastors had any idea of civil disobedience or community activism or ways to pressure the government to change.  Of course the situation is more complex than this and I’ve heard several explanations a couple of which are a little understandable, but I still think it was a sinful for our church(both in South Africa and in America before this) to be complacent and aiding the government in its oppression by its lack of speaking out and by its action of segregation in schools and conferences.  There is something to be said for allowing different styles of worship and I am highly in favor of the enculturation of the gospel. Missionaries have too often imposed western culture along with Christianity and destroyed the native cultures(I like what I heard about an SDA church in Thailand that used a Bhuddist temple and incense and traditional Thai instruments as part of their worship).  But, to enforce separation is a totally different matter and it is wrong and we need to train our pastors and leaders so that they will be able to fight against this wherever they see it.

        d) For pastors, one of the best things that they could know is the resource center at Willow Creek.  I could say a lot more about Willow Creek in many areas, but, I’m just going to make this short and say that they have excellent drama, musical and service oriented resource center that makes worship a whole lot more meaningful and enjoyable. The address for this is: http://www.willowcreek.org/index.html

        e) In India, I’ve heard that the women often spend over 10 hours a day just gathering wood to cook food.  This is not only a waste of their time, but, it is highly damaging to the environment.  When I was in Thailand, I met a guy who worked with alternative technology and he told me that a solar powered, portable gas stove has been invented.  This is the perfect solution. Just this minute I checked out the internet on this and found out that there is a solar cooker being used in Kenya. It costs $10 for the cooker, a black pot, a trial supply of food and instructions! A UN report said, “More than any other project I have seen or read about, SCI has reached the heart of the problem of motivating refugees to change their fuelwood consumption behavior." (check this out at: http://www.accessone.com/~sbcn/kakuma-m.htm)

The technology that we have these days is simply amazing! We just need to find ways of connecting the people who are in charge with the solutions.  And talk and philosophizing is not the answer.  You can talk all you want about health and nutrition, but, until you give people simple recipes that incorporate this knowledge demonstrate, you’re just blowing out a lot of hot air.

        There are many other ideas like this.  I just found a site (http://suburbia.net/~ata/links.htm) on internet with all kinds of links to sites about alternative technology with everything from environmentally friendly manufacturing to making cable cars that run on water power(just put water in the top car and gravity takes it down.  The power generated by its movement down pulls the other car up and pumps water to the top for reuse). Of course pastors don’t have the ability to do all of these things by themselves.  I think that what pastors need is the resources and contact points of places that they can point their members to.  Give the pastors the resource points and they can then direct the members as to where to get the necessary information as to how to put it to work(this is one thing I like about Willow Creek. To become a member you must not only accept Jesus, you must find an area where you can be of service). This will make it possible for our pastors to facilitate change in the world around them.

        #3.  Application This is the last part and maybe most important.  We spend entirely too much time in the classroom as students.  I think that most classes could be condensed to less than half the time that they are given in and still accomplish the same or greater good.  Why?  Very simply because who remembers everything that you hear in a class? There is no end to the writing of books as Solomon said, but, the things that are really important can be said concisely and simply.  Once you’ve done that you can use the rest of the class time to go outside and do some of the stuff you have learned.  Pastors and students can go out and work together in seminars, Bible studies, health presentation, community activism, etc.  Business students can go out and work together with their professors in a real business.  In this way you will find out that the principles you are learning really do work and that the professors actually know what they are talking about. You won’t have to wait 4 years to apply your knowledge(I wonder how much you remember even of the really important stuff after waiting so long), you’ll be doing it at the same time you learn it which means you will not only remember it but, you will understand it as well. Not only will you understand it much better but, usually this doing will enable you to become a trainer yourself(this technique was extremely effective with the Kenyan solar cooking project and the results were “thrilling” to the organizers). In these ways we will begin to fulfill the incredible mission of making his love real to people everywhere.

        I’ve been in Asia for 5 years and will be here a lot longer.  One thing that is interesting is the proverbs and one of them is especially appropriate at this point.  I’m going to end the paper with this sage advice and hope that our education can soon realize the wisdom of these words.

I hear and I forget.

I see and I remember.

I do and I understand.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY

(my EGW books don’t have a date or publisher. They are a 3 volume set published by Hartland and somehow this was left out.  I’m in Korea now and have no other books with these things.  I’m sorry.)

Baron, R. & Byrne, Donn Erwin. (1991). Social Psychology: Understanding Human Interaction. Needham Heights, MA: Allyn and Bacon.

Campolo, Tony.  A recording of his talk about dedicating your life to Christ at Pacific Union College(again no date on the tape. Sorry.)

Internet, the.

White, E. G. Fundamentals of Christian Education.

White, E. G. Counsels to Parents, Teachers and Students.

Neurons and dendrites and synapses in a somewhat spherical place about 5 foot 5 inches above the ground in one Bryan Bissell who         having read ideas from many authors, analyzed and judged them, has started to compile a list of ones that are most worthy of future investigation. These ruminations in part have been        transported to scrolls and are now ready to be graded as to their wisdom.

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