# Synodical Conference Convention Proceedings_St. Louis Missouri_1894_S58
# AI translation — CHI Digital Archive (demonstration)

58 Proceedings of the fifteenth convention

3. All Fanaticism Is to Be Condemned Without Regard.

a. Without regard to where we find it. We find it almost everywhere. Also in the Church; in all fields; in that of the doctrine of faith, as we have already heard. We have fanaticism also in the field of morals. Among so-called theologians the tone has been struck that the content of ethics, of moral teaching, too, is to be developed out of consciousness or feeling. Admittedly the philosophers have given them a foothold for it. The recognition of an objectively and eternally valid law has become shaky. And the waters of this moral subjectivity have flooded far over the banks of theological debates and are inundating the very receptive soil of the people. People no longer want to hear of morality from the holy Ten Commandments, but only of that from their own consciousness. By now things are being turned completely upside down. One can read presentations according to which it is supposed to be immoral for a woman to hold faithfully to the marriage bond once concluded; on the other hand it is supposed to be quite moral, indeed commanded by true morality, if she breaks the marriage and leaves husband and children because she does not love the husband. For everyone the first thing is always supposed to be his own "I." That he must assert. This tone is struck not only by bad literature but also by literature that wants to be moral.

We have fanaticism also in the field of education. It expresses itself here too in subjectivism, in the setting up of a principle from which the whole doctrine of education is developed, at which all the teaching points aim. Thus, for example, one principle is: the formation of characters. Ambition is spurred on and the fear of punishments increased. To Scripture, as a side remedy, one grants at most a little place as well. Christian education must above all strive to bring up the children through God's grace, for that alone gives a firm heart. The final goal of education can only be advancement in salvation, increase of the Spirit and of its gifts. When youth grows up in baptismal grace, then it has the character that God wishes to see in it. But this is not what is meant by the widely spread educational doctrine of character formation. This doctrine of education puts something else in the place of Scripture and the doctrine of Scripture. The Christian doctrine of education according to Scripture comprises the following propositions: a. the object to be educated is the child of God, the baptized heir of heaven; b. the method: Bring them up in the fear of God, in the discipline and admonition of the Lord; c. the means: Because from a child you have known the holy Scriptures; d. the goal: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. Surely education according to the simple Scriptural doctrine of education will yield good results forever. We have God's promise for that. His Word shall not return to him empty in education either. We