The purpose of education, as intended by the Adventists, is a means of returning human beings to their original relationship with God. In the beginning, God created in His image a perfect humanity, a perfection later marred by sin. As such, the Adventists believe that the true education is to restore human beings into the image of God as revealed by the life of Jesus Christ, through the guidance of the Holy Spirit. This process of restoration responds to a balanced development of spiritual, physical, intellectual, and social-emotional faculties of the whole person, and triggers a process that spans a lifetime.