Recently I read another collage of ex-Adventist testimonies on a well-known theologically liberal website in the church. As in so many other cases, the litany is monotonously predictable—past rigidity on the part of authority figures, youthful independence manifested in various forms, bad choices on the part of nearly all in the narrative, and much more.
But what is often missed by many who ponder the reasons for departure from the faith community on the part of the restive young is the difference between being told and being taught. The distinction is as wide as eternity when it comes to the church’s retention of believers and the imperative of making one’s faith one’s own.
Taking Authority for Granted
In the days before the decades of upheaval in Western culture, those in authority tended to take their roles for granted, and expected those who came after them to do the same. This mindset is notable in a high school civics textbook from the days of U.S. President Lyndon Johnson’s youth, where it was stated:
The child who has not learned obedience is handicapped for life. If he does not obey at home, he is not more likely to observe the laws of the state, even though he helps elect the men who make them. Boys and girls who study our Government will quickly discover that obedience to authority is as necessary in a government by the people as in a monarchy [##1|Theodore H. White, The Making of the President—1968 (New York: Atheneum Publishers, 1969), p. 112.##].
Few will deny that obedience to authority is important, for the not-so-young as well as for the young. Another historian has written:
Disgrace of a ruler is no great matter in world history, but disgrace of government is traumatic, for government cannot function without respect [##2|Barbara W. Tuchman, The March of Folly from Troy to Vietnam (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1984), p. 370.##].
But the problem is, unless time and effort are expended in helping people understand the rationale behind authority, why it deserves respect, and what recourses are available for the redress of legitimate grievances, no system of authority will likely survive once its role and power cease to be taken for granted. This principle is operative in all governing situations—the home, the church, and society as a whole.
“I don’t have to give you a reason!”
When authority is taken for granted, it is often assumed that all an authority figure needs to do in order to achieve obedience from subordinates is to tell the latter what to do, without telling them why. When the decades of upheaval arrived in places like the United States and Europe, the weaknesses of this attitude were painfully exposed, beginning with families and extending to society in general. In the first decade of the present century, a television show on the NBC News network called “American Dreams” traced the journey of two American families—one white, the other black—during the 1960s. At one point, when the son in one of these families chose to attend a rally his father had forbidden him to attend, the son protested his father’s rigidity, to which the father replied in anger, “I don’t have to give you a reason!”
Many such parents, then and perhaps now also, tended to forget the timeless truth noted by the historian cited at the beginning, who observed regarding the turmoil of the ’60s and ‘70s that “most fathers and mothers have revolted at some point against their own parents” [##3|White, Breach of Faith: The Fall of Richard Nixon (New York: Atheneum Publishers, 1975), p. 332.##]. When parents and other authority figures forget that reasoning together helps those being led to better understand the decisions of their leaders, they invite disrespect and undermine their own authority.
Conclusion: Told or Taught?
The Bible says, “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it” (Prov. 22:6). Training represents the right kind of teaching—the kind that not only tells a young mind God’s truth as revealed in His Word, but enables the mind to grasp the eternal beauty and awakened love made possible by that truth.
And notice that the verse says, “When he is old, he will not depart from it.” It doesn’t say he won’t depart from it while still young. The undeveloped mind is often drawn by the world’s allurements, much like Judah’s king Manasseh and the prodigal son in Jesus’ parable. But whether in a Babylonian dungeon, a pigpen, or some other venue where one is forced to acknowledge the emptiness of self-seeking and self-indulgence, the anchor planted by godly training in one’s early years is at last recognized for its wisdom and stability. “How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger?” (Luke 15:17). The prodigal “came to himself” because he had something to come back to.
I fear there are many who are no longer active in the Seventh-day Adventist Church because in their formative years they were merely told the truth, rather than taught it. Very likely this is because those who told them were raised in a culture where that was considered enough, where the giving of reasons—as with the father on the TV show noted earlier—was not seen as necessary. That may work so long as one’s beliefs and values don’t experience challenge. But when they do, it becomes apparent that the faith of the one thus told rarely becomes one’s own, and like the stony-ground hearers in Jesus’ parable of the sower (Matt. 13:5-6,20-21), his faith withers away in the heat of circumstance and societal change.
The following Ellen White statements explain why the teaching of God’s principles in a loving spirit is essential to God’s victory in the controversy between good and evil:
The exercise of force is contrary to the principles of God’s government; He desires only the service of love, and love cannot be commanded; it cannot be won by force or authority. Only by love is love awakened [##4|Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, p. 22.##].
Rebellion was not to be overcome by force. Compelling power is found only under Satan’s government. The Lord’s principles are not of this order. His authority rests upon goodness, mercy, and love; and the presentation of these principles is the means to be used [##5|——The Desire of Ages, p. 759.##].
When the Word of God—its truths and principles, its moral standards, its worldview—are taught and not merely told, it is more likely they will take root in the heart and be recognized for their transcendent, enduring quality. With Christian values under attack from all quarters in our present world, those who embrace these values and recognize their worth by choice are much more likely to adhere to them in the thoroughfares and crises of life.
REFERENCES
1. Theodore H. White, The Making of the President—1968 (New York: Atheneum Publishers, 1969), p. 112.
2. Barbara W. Tuchman, The March of Folly from Troy to Vietnam (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1984), p. 370.
3. White, Breach of Faith: The Fall of Richard Nixon (New York: Atheneum Publishers, 1975), p. 332.
4. Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, p. 22.
5. Ibid, p. 759.
Pastor Kevin Paulson holds a Bachelor’s degree in theology from Pacific Union College, a Master of Arts in systematic theology from Loma Linda University, and a Master of Divinity from the SDA Theological Seminary at Andrews University. He served the Greater New York Conference of Seventh-day Adventists for ten years as a Bible instructor, evangelist, and local pastor. He writes regularly for Liberty magazine and does script writing for various evangelistic ministries within the denomination. He continues to hold evangelistic and revival meetings throughout the North American Division and beyond, and is a sought-after seminar speaker relative to current issues in the Seventh-day Adventist Church. He presently resides in Berrien Springs, Michigan