Proper Education

Conventional wisdom assumes that if a little of something is good then a lot of it must be even better.  Yet this is plainly not the case.  Even good things can occasionally be overdone and can serve as a segue for sinning.  Eve, the mother of us all, learned about the dangers of idleness the hard way. This article examines the root causes for the fall of man so that we will learn from their example and avoid the snares of Satan.  “Now all these things happened unto them for examples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.  Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.” I Cor. 10:11-12. Of course I am assuming that you, the reader, know the biblical story of creation.  All bold print written by EG White; published April 29, 1875 in the Signs of the Times.    

If Eve had remained by her husband's side she would never have ventured on Satan's playground.

God prepared for Adam and Eve a beautiful garden. He provided for them everything their wants required. He planted for them trees of every variety, bearing fruit. With a liberal hand he surrounded them with his bounties–the trees for usefulness and beauty, and the lovely flowers which sprung up spontaneously, and flourished in rich profusion around them, were to know nothing of decay. Adam and Eve were rich indeed. They possessed beautiful Eden. Adam was monarch in this beautiful domain. None can question the fact that Adam was rich. But God knew that Adam could not be happy unless he had employment. Therefore he gave him something to do. He was to dress the garden. [ST, April 29, 1875 par. 1]

It seems evident that human beings are innately discontent with what they have been given.  Eden was an immense piece of real estate – occupying the land between modern day Iraq and Ethiopia (according to the dimensions given in Genesis 2:10-14.  They were told that they could eat anything they desired from the vast acreage, yet Eve went out of her way to look for one tree that God placed in the midst of the garden to test His creation. This ruinous brand of curiosity remains with us today.  We are constantly seeking to push the moral envelope by coming as close as possible to sin without actually sinning.  Encroaching unnecessarily on enemy territory is never a good idea.  Eve would have done well to simply stay away from the tree, close to Adam where she would have remained occupied with her God-given tasks and never had to withstand the tempter.

The Creator of man never designed that he should be idle. The Lord formed man out of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul. It was the law of nature, therefore the law of God, that brain, nerve, and muscle should be in active motion. Young gentlemen and ladies that refuse to labor because they are not compelled to, and because it is not fashionable, are not guided and controlled by enlightened reason. Those who shun manual labor, cannot have physical stamina. In order for the young to enjoy perfect health and perfect happiness, every organ and function must be in perfect operation as God designed they should be. If all the organs act their natural part, life, health, and happiness, will be the result. Too little exercise and staying in-doors too much, will bring on feebleness and disease of some one or more of the organs. It is sinful to impair or weaken one of the powers God has given us. The Creator designed that we should have perfect bodies, that we might preserve them in health, and render to him the offering of a living sacrifice, holy, and acceptable to God. [ST, April 29, 1875 par. 2]

Exercise in useful labor will be carrying out the original plan of God, when he bade Adam and Eve to dress the garden. Life is precious, and should be preserved intelligently by regarding the laws of our being. [ST, April 29, 1875 par. 3]

Fashionable idlers, who have plenty of leisure, fail to attain happiness. They have been educated to regard honest labor as only fit for the poor, while it would degrade the wealthy. They rob the brain and nervous system, by fashionable indolence, of a supply of animal energy that keeps the machinery of the body in healthful activity. [ST, April 29, 1875 par. 4]

Many of the maladies that beset us can be eliminated if we take the time to allow our bodies to function as they should.  Now, more than at any time in history, we live a sedentary life.  More of us work and live in our cubicles than ever before.  As a result we must make an effort to exercise just to put our otherwise dormant muscles to good use.  Idle hands and minds are the devil’s workshop, and the unhealthy Christian is the worst advertisement for the cause of truth.

In order for the brain to have clearness and strength of thought, retentive memory and mental power, the muscles of the body should have exercise a portion of each day. [ST, April 29, 1875 par. 5]

Adam was in glorious Eden. He was perfectly developed, and then set to work by his Maker that by exercise all his muscles should preserve their elasticity. Many young men and ladies are too proud, or too lazy, to engage in useful labor in the house or in the garden. [ST, April 29, 1875 par. 6]

It is important to note that God’s original purpose was for man to be balanced both mentally and physically.  In today’s world, humanity has widely been divided into two camps – the athletic and the cerebral; jocks and geeks.  It is harder to find a person be found who has a foot in both worlds.  Yet God created men with the desire that they be both mentally and physically fit.

The world is full of women with but little vitality and less common sense. Society is in great need of healthful, sensible young women who are not afraid to work and soil their hands. God gave them hands to employ in useful labor. God did not give us the wonderful human machinery of the body to become paralyzed by inaction. The living machinery God designed should be in daily activity, and in this activity or motion of the machinery is its preserving power. Manual labor quickens the circulation of the blood. The more active the circulation the more free will be the blood from obstructions and impurities. The blood nourishes the body. The health of the body depends upon the healthful circulation of the blood. If work is performed without the heart being in it, it is simply drudgery, and the benefit which should result from the exercise is not gained. [ST, April 29, 1875 par. 7]

            Toiling mothers who have given their children the advantages of education, and have brought them up without disciplining them to self-denial and physical labor, and have given them liberty to follow their own pleasure, will not receive much happiness and comfort from these children. In my travels I have seen that those women who entered upon married life wholly unprepared for domestic duties were not happy. They did not receive the training and the education in their youth that fitted them for the responsible position they had by most solemn covenant agreed to fill. The parents had made a great mistake. When children, they were excused from exertion in order “to enrich the mind.” They could play an instrument of music, but were not educated to take responsibility. They enjoyed burying their minds in novels, but had no love to keep their houses in order. They were as incompetent for the responsible position of mothers as a girl of fifteen years. Economy of means they knew nothing of, and yet these are the mothers that are bringing up children to take their place upon the stage of action, to act their part in the drama of life. The characters of youth should not be spoiled by over-fond mothers. Parents should consider that as they neglect to thoroughly educate their daughters in domestic labors and economy, they are giving characters to them which will make their future married lives miserable. There will be disappointed husbands and neglected children, because of inefficient wives and mothers. [ST, April 29, 1875 par. 8]