Tuesday, January 23, 2007

Searching isn't bad

Why is it that when someone questions a commonly held belief, most people have a heart attack, and practically call that person a heretic? I have come to this realization lately as I have been really evaluating the things I believe. I was blessed with a great church that has done a great job not only teaching me what to believe, but why to believe it, but even with that I want to strike out and my own and study and know the truth for myself. I refuse to be what many people in my generation have become content with. I refuse to answer any question with, “Well, I believe it because my church believes it.” Or “I believe it because that is what I am supposed to believe.” We sing that song Faith of our Fathers, but I want it to be mine. I love my church, and I am sure that anything I study out will be aligned with their doctrine, but I am determined to be a Berean and discover the truths of the Bible all over again. I want the truths not to just be something that someone told me once upon a time, but I want them to be real and living to me. God knows my heart, and I believe anyone searching for the truth will find it. It really concerns me how many guys I see everyday that are studying to go into the ministry and lead a church that are just going to teach the “things I learned that I am supposed to believe.” How can you tell someone about something when you are unsure of the veracity of it? How can you teach someone when you can’t explain to yourself why it is the truth.

Imagine walking into an ice cream shop and asking someone what you should try, and they adamantly tell you that a certain flavor is the best in the store. When you ask when they tried it, they tell you that they have never actually tried it, but they heard it was good. Wouldn’t you want to try if for yourself before you agree with them? It is just like salvation. How can you tell someone convincingly that God loves them if you have never experienced that soul altering love for yourself? God didn’t mean for us to be blind robot Christians. He didn’t mean for us to get our programming, and then go and do the good Christian things and live a life that is a mile and a half wide but only a half inch deep. I want to dig in, and find out what is really out there. I don’t just make it the faith of my fathers…I want to make it real to myself.

Don’t ever get down on someone who is genuinely searching for the truth. Help them, or maybe you should even join them.

Friday, January 12, 2007

It's not what you know

So i think it is about time that the last of us holding on to the integrity of the educational system of the US give it up, or should i say the integrity of the Christian educational system. I'm not specifying the Christian educational system because i have some affinity for the public school system or because i have some unexplained dislike for Christian schools. I guess we just expect public school kids to know nothing. I personally went to public school and received a very good education, but most people see the poster children of public schools to be kids that don't care, raised by parents who don't care, and taught by teachers who don't care. The Christian school is different, or at least it should be. The Christian school should be a school that teaches and challenges children, so that Christians can excel and glorify Christ in any field they feel God is leading. I used to have this ideal view of a Christian utopia when i thought of a Christian school.

I guess i should explain what has finally moved me from indifference to action (or at least blogging) on this subject. This morning i attended my first Teaching Math class. The book is a 5th grade math level, but people in the class are freaking out because they don't think they can do it. I am a junior in college, and i personally think we should be able to handle 5th grade math. That still isn't even the reason for this blog. The reason is, i am an elementary education major, and im taking classes with other education majors, and if our future teachers haven't been taught how to do these things without looking in a reference book for the rest of their lives how do we expect our childen to know the subject? And it's not just math, but every methods class we have. In my Teaching history and Geography class last semester, most of my classmates couldn't label a map of the US.

I still don't think that would be so bad if it wasn't for the fact that i have been at a Bible college for almost three years, and i don't feel like i have learned anything in class that someone who grew up in church their whole life doesn't already know. I have memorized more outlines from commentaries than i have memorized Bible verses. I know more about the authors of various books than i do about the authors of the old and new testaments. I can't really think that a school that was Such and Such college of engineering would really learn as little about engineering as i have learned about the Bible at "such and such" college of the Bible. I am not saying this is entirely the fault of my teachers. They walk into a classroom of students who genuinely don't want to learn. I am just as guilty, when i hear that a teacher is actually challenging, my first thought isn't "yes, i am going to learn something, and actually make good use of the money i am spending." It is more like "Man, why does he have to be like that, doesn't he realize that we have other classes and jobs and social lives?? Can't he just lighten up?" O well, that is why we need to dig in and learn on our own. We have so much at our finger tips...all of man's knowledge is a click away, and yet we are the most intellectually lazy people in all of history.

**This doesn't reflect on my school specifically I know that the faculty and administration are working very hard to ensure that we know as much as possible about the Bible, but they really have to start at the basics for some ppl. I'm not "bashing" Crown, but this is a blog and as such i have the right to express my opinions as i see fit...so get over it.

Thursday, January 04, 2007

Moving on

Well, i'm back at school and i am sitting in a coffee shop. I can't believe im already back here; it feels like just yesterday we left. Of course, there are new ppl, and there are the ppl that everyone thought was coming back who came back, got their stuff and left. I am glad to be here, but i just can't help wanting to count down the days until the end of the semester. I guess i can just post it on here now since i've already told most of the ppl that i wanted to. This is my last semester here. I have really prayed about it and talked to my pastor about it and most likely, next year i will be a transfer student at Maranatha. I really can't believe this and i am keep wanting to kick myself, and ask myself, what are you thinking?!?!?! Im going to be a senior when i transfer, which means i will prolly have to stay there an extra year. I don't even know what credits are going to transfer yet, but i know God has something for me there, and i don't want to allow something as trivial as a year to prevent me from getting what He has for me. It is going to be hard. To be completely honest, i scared. I only know three people there that are going to be there next year. I am going to a new place with new rules and new people. I am going to have to develop a new routine. I am going to have to find a new job. Frankly, all of that makes me anxious. Yes, i mean anxious as in nervously excited. I know that one thing that is an answer to prayer is that if i want to there is a chance i can teach in a public school. I have always had a burden for public schools. Maybe cause i went to one for most of my life.

I am thankful for Crown and for all i have learned here, and i know that God has something to teach me here this semester. I know that God had a purpose for me to come here, and it was His will for me to come here, but now i believe He is telling me to move on.

On another note...my computer is being graphically challenged and i can't figure out why. I can't see half of the pictures on the pages i am looking at and it is driving me crazy!!!