Faith and Learning

Brett McInnis
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and discipline. Proverbs 1:7

The secular education system in America has done away with teaching biblical courses and has prohibited teachers from using religiously indoctrinated material. From the studies of Cardinal Newman, The Idea of a University, he proves that all education is religiously indoctrinated. While secular education wants you to believe that what they teach is neutral, Newman argues that it is impossible for education to be neutral. For instance, by not teaching students about God and assuming he doesn’t exist, it imposes another form of theology known as atheism. The education system’s claim to make education neutral is a contradictory assertion by nature. They themselves cannot live up to it because secular education teaches from a religious perspective. Therefore faith and learning cannot be separated. This integration is why it is extremely important to teach from a biblical perspective.
True education brings us into the knowledge and fear of the Lord and because there is no separation between education and faith, many are taught by a false standard. When we teach from the principle, that there is no God, education loses its purpose. Dictionary.com defines education as, “the act or process of imparting or acquiring general knowledge, developing the powers of reasoning and judgment, and generally of preparing oneself or others intellectually for mature life.” We want to be made ready for mature life. Christ claims, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.” If we want to see students utilized to their fullest, it is vital that we teach from the Christian perspective, which is that God is the giver of all life and that knowledge begins and ends with Him. This prepares us to be made more human and in the likeness of God. While secular education only offers external motivation for acquiring knowledge, Christian education transforms us from the inside out because of its purpose driven by truth, life, and God. We are created to be more, for it is Christ in us the hope of glory who transforms and changes our lives and the lives around us. Secular education compromises with weakness and settles for a life of mediocrity and self-service. When our only concern is about vocation or gaining knowledge for self interests, it defeats the very purpose of knowledge. Knowledge is about knowing God and having the ability to share Him with others. John 17:3 says that eternal life is to know the Father and the Son whom he sent. If this aspect of education has been stripped from us then we are living a life with no meaning and the knowledge we have attained is useless. We are living immature lives. I encourage you to dig deep in your course materials for the glory of God because all knowledge stems back to the creator. Let us become the educated beings we were created to be and break the molds of modern education that teach atheism.

It is here!

The presence of God is being poured out like never before. We are experiencing mighty moves of God on the Emmanuel College campus because a group of four students began to pour out their hearts to God and invited Him to change their lives. On Tuesday and Thursday nights we have our prayer meeting at Nash chapel at seven o’clock if you would like to join this move of God. Last Thursday is was prophesied that it was time to hold services. Originally we just had prayer meetings but because God's presence has been so strong and ministry is taking place at a deeper level, we have it now set as a service. So instead of praying and interceding the whole time there is musical worship and a sermon prepared. Ben Cerullo attended Tuesday night’s event and the glory of God erupted in the place and people were healed and we fanned the flame to something that God wants to do in this generation. Revival is here. Come burn in the glory of God Tuesday and Thursday nights at 7 in Nash Chapel.

Timing

Nothing is more beautiful than perfect timing and there is nothing worse than bad timing. Think about it... A baseball batter without good timing would be a bad player, a musician without good timing would be a bad musician, a comedian with bad comic timing would be a bad comedian and this applies to everything in life! Just the opposite happens when we are in good timing. You get the home run, you play an awesome solo, and you make people laugh! So if life is composed of rhythm, meter, and timing then why do we struggle so much when it comes to relationships with people but most importantly GOD? The Lord wants to do a NOW thing in your life because He loves you. Talk about an easy home run right? Surrendering to God and allowing him to work in your life? Maybe not easy, but why haven’t we started? The time is NOW but we so often put the things that matter most, like our relationship with God and others, off till later when the timing is wrong. Make things right now. Live life fully, now. He stands at the door and knocks.