Information Related to "Avoiding the Whatever Syndrome"
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Obtaining
a formal education has both benefits and challenges. The financial rewards
for obtaining a college degree are easily documented. According to U.S.
Census Bureau statistics, a person with a bachelor's degree earns, on
average, nearly twice as much as someone with only a high school diploma
($51,206 a year, compared to $27,915). Workers with an advanced degree
make an average of $74,602.
But the money is secondary. More valuable is obtaining an education and continuing to learn throughout one's life, being stimulated to think critically. Of course, while our thinking is often stimulated through higher education, we have to be careful that our thinking is also grounded in God's truth as found in the Bible.
Learning to think critically on this level—that is, to carefully analyze what is being said in light of God's Word—is one of the reasons Vertical Thought exists. We often refer to this kind of approach as vertical thinking, after the name of our magazine.
Those of us on the staff of this magazine pray that each of you will learn to filter what you hear and read through God's Word regardless of the type of education you receive—whether formal, a trade school or self-directed. This skill is necessary for avoiding the whatever syndrome that characterizes people who can't discern right from wrong. You're familiar with this syndrome. It's whatever you want to believe. It's whatever someone else wants to believe. It's simply whatever.
But whatever does not work with God. He alone makes the rules and determines truth. We only get to decide whether we will accept His authority and live by His instructions or not. We don't get to reshape His rules for life and then judge ourselves as to whether we've been good or not. That is playing God. Regrettably, many today do play God. But that isn't going to get us very far when we each have to look the real God in the eye and give an account for our conduct.
Related Information on UCG Sites:
Table of Contents that includes "Avoiding the Whatever Syndrome"
Other Articles by David Treybig
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