“I lost my faith at Bible college”

[rockytopva]

Not everyone who attends a Bible college does so in order to become a minister.

I became a minister but that’s not why I went to Bible college. Before I enrolled, I made certain that the college administration knew and understood what my intentions were. They understood and cashed the checks. Helped keep the doors open.

And to share something to me incredible. The Apostle Paul had no training at all in ministry. But after three days and having Ananias pray for him...

And straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God. - Acts 9:20

I would say the Word of God was placed in his heart as a flaming sword.

 

[URwrongAgain]

Not everyone who attends a Bible college does so in order to become a minister.

I became a minister but that’s not why I went to Bible college. Before I enrolled, I made certain that the college administration knew and understood what my intentions were. They understood and cashed the checks. Helped keep the doors open.

What is the name of the bible college you attended?

 

[Matthias]

Does it have to be that way, all or nothing?

Bias exists.

Some things taught may not be true, and some simply can’t handle that possibility.

 

[O'Darby]

Bias exists.

Some things taught may not be true, and some simply can’t handle that possibility.

There is room within Christianity for all perspectives on Genesis, from "God-inspired myth that teaches profound spiritual truth" to "literal spiritual, historical, scientific reality." If someone loses their faith upon encountering a different perspective on Genesis, then it was a shallow and brittle faith to start with. Ministries such as those in the original post actually do more of a disservice to Christianity than do those they criticize, by insisting upon the fiction that there is only one way for a "real Christian" to read and understand Genesis and the Bible as a whole. I am always amused by how those who promote the narrowest and most dogmatic "my way or the highway" understanding of Christianity never consider for a moment that THEY may be the false teachers Jesus warned against. They do strike me as uncannily like modern Pharisees.

 

[Spyder]

Not everyone who attends a Bible college does so in order to become a minister.

I became a minister but that’s not why I went to Bible college. Before I enrolled, I made certain that the college administration knew and understood what my intentions were. They understood and cashed the checks. Helped keep the doors open.

I didn't either. I wanted to learn how to study scriptures and how to learn what God has said.
I was getting confusing and conflicting information from preachers and teachers - and everyone of them did not like being questioned. So, I went to school myself.
My ordination into ministry didn't even come up until I received my training, so I accepted it and formed my own company that focused on evangelism. I did that because it is difficult to find folks who will take seriously anyone who doesn't have backup documents.

 

[Spyder]

And to share something to me incredible. The Apostle Paul had no training at all in ministry. But after three days and having Ananias pray for him...

And straightway he preached Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God. - Acts 9:20

I would say the Word of God was placed in his heart as a flaming sword.

Paul said that when Christ called him, he did not go to Jerusalem to receive instruction from the apostles. Rather, he retired into Arabia for a time and not until three years later did he go to Jerusalem. Even then, the only apostle he met was Peter, and the only other leader he met was James, the presiding elder of the Jerusalem church. It has often been remarked that Paul clearly implied that he spent three years being taught by Jesus Himself (1:12), either directly or (perhaps more likely) through the study of the Word. Thus, like the other apostles, Paul studied with Christ for three years before beginning his ministry (compare Acts 1:21).

Thus, Paul established for the Galatians that he received the Gospel by the same means as the other apostles —directly from Jesus. Fourteen years after his conversion, he had occasion to go to Jerusalem and there he met privately with the leaders, including the apostles Peter and John (2:1–10). He reports to the Galatians that they compared notes and found that there was absolutely no difference between what he had been teaching for eleven years in Antioch and what the apostles had been teaching in Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria. There never had been a problem, nor was there one currently, between Paul's message and the teaching of the Jerusalem church.

The point Paul is making to the Galatians is that there has never been any question about the content of the Gospel. The same Christ taught Peter and Paul, and both men were in complete agreement.

The Preparation of Paul | Reformed Bible Studies & Devotionals at Ligonier.org | Reformed Bible Studies & Devotionals at Ligonier.org

How likely is it that the acknowledged leaders of the church today could come to such unanimous theological agreement? It was no less difficult then, yet it was

www.ligonier.org

 

[Mr E]

So why are some losing their faith when they attend Bible college?

It might have something to do with the concentration of Christians there.

Kind of like when a lot of people lose interest in Christianity when they meet someone who professes to be one.

 

[MA2444]

Mixing the biblical worldview (creationism) with an atheist worldview (evolution) was the takeaway for me.

Me too, until the day I realized that we are evolving spiritually. At least, we should be.

We're not humans on a spiritual journey. We are Spiritual Beings on a Human Journey.

...and it's almost over!

 

[Wrangler]

https://x.com/creationnews/status/1761171883943141489?s=46&t=T64e94h2unfHH-VO4i01zA

Your thoughts on the subject of this one minute video clip?

I could not find the article.

The vid is evangelism shop talk. This means, a tactical analysis of spreading the Gospel. Going into it, one must humbly accept you will not convert everyone.

Fortunately, conversion is not our job. Our job is seed planting.

 

[Matthias]

Is the purpose of a Bible college to teach students how to think or what to think?

 

[rockytopva]

11 But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man.
12 For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.- Galatians 1

 

[Spyder]

Is the purpose of a Bible college to teach students how to think or what to think?

A bible college devotes a lot of time to convincing the student to accept the doctrines of the college - with the proof-texts to go along with them. That is why there are denominational Bible Colleges.
People think that they are qualified to be preachers and teachers when they complete the two-year curriculum as if they know "all truth." And THAT is the beginning of man's failure to depend on God to teach.

 

[Matthias]

A bible college devotes a lot of time to convincing the student to accept the doctrines of the college - with the proof-texts to go along with them. That is why there are denominational Bible Colleges.
People think that they are qualified to be preachers and teachers when they complete the two-year curriculum as if they know "all truth." And THAT is the beginning of man's failure to depend on God to teach.

The one I graduated from offered a one-year program, a two-year program and a four-year program. (I went through the four-year program and obtained a BTh. However, the college accepted 60 hours of transfer credit from the university where decades earlier I had earned a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering, so I wound up only having to take 60 hours of credit from the Bible college.) It had a a denominational track and a non-denominational track. (I went through the denominational track.) My theology professors were denominational and non-denominational, trinitarian and non-trinitarian.

Students at this college were not required to accept the doctrines of the college. (As it happens, I did. The majority of the students didn’t.)

 

[rockytopva]

Thomas Aquinas taught that a mans chief ethical duty is to love God. If a man loves God he will study the matters of the Christian way just out of the love of it all.

 

[Spyder]

The one I graduated from offered a one-year program, a two-year program and a four-year program. (I went through the four-year program and obtained a BTh. However, the college accepted 60 hours of transfer credit from the university where decades earlier I had earned a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering, so I wound up only having to take 60 hours of credit from the Bible college.) It had a a denominational track and a non-denominational track. (I went through the denominational track.) My theology professors were denominational and non-denominational, trinitarian and non-trinitarian.

Students at this college were not required to accept the doctrines of the college. (As it happens, I did. The majority of the students didn’t.)

That is great that your university permitted independent thinking. It is all-so-easy to become part of group-think (think assimilation of the Borg here). I was in a group like that for a long time. Then, I learned instead to listen to that small voice inside of me which put convictions in my heart instead of just ideas.

 

[Mr E]

Is the purpose of a Bible college to teach students how to think or what to think?

And there’s the rub.

Too many Colleges think it’s their job to ingrain not only what kind of thinking is acceptable and what is not, but in the case of Christian Colleges they insist on what one must believe.

You find the same problem on steroids in seminaries, in churches and right here in this forum.

 

[Matthias]

And there’s the rub.

Yes.

... in the case of Christian Colleges they insist on what one must believe.

I attended a Christian college that didn’t. Some will applaud and some will deplore such a college. I do both.

You find the same problem on steroids in seminaries, in churches and right here in this forum.

Join us again tomorrow for another exciting episode:

Unity and diversity in Christianity.

or

Christianity is a mess. Eat the meat and spit out the bones.

Meanwhile, the parable of the wheat and the tares.

 

[Wick Stick]

So why are some losing their faith when they attend Bible college?

They find out that the pastor of their youth was wrong about a bunch of stuff, and become disillusioned.

 

[Wick Stick]

The Apostle Paul had no training at all in ministry.

Uh... not true. Before he was Paul...

Saul was personally discipled by Gamaliel, who was considered the greatest Rabbi of his day, and one of the greatest ever within Judaism. At the time of his conversion, he was on his way to Damascus with a writ of authority from the High Priest. Paul was highly educated and very involved in ministry prior to being converted.

 

[Mr E]

Yes.



I attended a Christian college that didn’t. Some will applaud and some will deplore such a college. I do both.



Join us again tomorrow for another exciting episode:

Unity and diversity in Christianity.

or

Christianity is a mess. Eat the meat and spit out the bones.

Meanwhile, the parable of the wheat and the tares.

College should be a place where questions are asked and where the people in charge are the ones asking them, not to test a student's ability to answer these questions, but because the teachers have these same questions.

Then solutions and answers should be honestly sought by teacher and student alike-- without prejudice and bias, without forgone conclusions and stipulations regarding how the questions must be approached and investigated.

We need honest institutions. --and honest inquiry.