I'm so thankful for the active obedience of Christ. No hope without it.
John Gresham MachenRead
Place the lives of children in their formative years, despite the convictions of their parents, under the intimate control of experts appointed by the state, force them to attend schools where the higher aspirations of humanity are crushed out, and where the mind is filled with the materialism of the day, and it is difficult to see how even the remnants of liberty can subsist.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote warns against state-controlled education that undermines children's potential and freedom.
John Gresham Machen's quote critiques the influence of state-appointed experts on children's education, emphasizing the dangers of a system that prioritizes materialism over higher aspirations. He argues that this control stifles individual liberty and undermines the potential for true growth and development in young minds during their formative years, suggesting that such an approach can lead to a society lacking in freedom and creativity.
Themes
EducationLibertyChildrenState ControlMaterialism
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be used in a debate about the role of government in education.
More from John Gresham Machen
All quotes →Faith is indeed intellectual; it involves an apprehension of certain things as facts; and vain is the modern effort to divorce faith from knowledge. But although faith is intellectual, it is not only intellectual. You cannot have faith without having knowledge; but you will not have faith if you have only knowledge.
John Gresham MachenRead
What I need first of all is not exhortation, but a gospel, not directions for saving myself but knowledge of how God has saved me. Have you any good news? That is the question that I ask of you. I know your exhortations will not help me. But if anything has been done to save me, will you not tell me the facts?
John Gresham MachenRead
The more we know of God, the more unreservedly we will trust him; the greater our progress in theology, the simpler and more child-like will be our faith
John Gresham MachenRead
Vastly more important than all questions with regard to methods of preaching is the root question as to what it is that shall be preached.
John Gresham MachenRead
I see with greater and greater clearness that consistent Christianity is the easiest Christianity to defend
John Gresham MachenRead
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