Flawless from a theological standpoint. Too bad in practical terms it sounds like a platitude.
What a Modern Christian Needs to Understand to Tackle Today's Challenges
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You raised an excellent question—what makes someone truly educated?
Before the 20th century, an ordinary peasant knew how to build a house, a barn, a cellar; how to make clothes and tools; he understood animal husbandry, gardening, beekeeping… could hunt and fish. In fact, a single peasant family was nearly self-sufficient.
In 1937–1938, during Stalin’s Great Terror, the NKVD deported an entire village—""Cheshezhepilitza"" (or ""Cheshezhepilitza"", in Karelia near the Finnish border). It was a small community of about 200–300 people—Finnic Karelians, peasants, and “kulaks” labeled “enemies of the people.” They were accused of “espionage” and “counter-revolution” (standard pretexts for repression).
The Bolsheviks (NKVD) forcibly loaded the villagers into cattle cars and dumped them in the remote Siberian taiga (near the Yenisei River or around Krasnoyarsk—exact location varies in accounts). They were given minimal food and tools and told: “You’ll starve here, and no one will ever find you.” The goal was physical extermination, like with many “special settlers.”
But the villagers didn’t give up. They built temporary shelters from logs, hunted game, gathered berries, fished in rivers, and even tamed wild animals. Karelian traditions—deep knowledge of the forest and survival skills—saved them. Within 2–3 years (by the 1940s), the survivors had founded a new village that lasted for decades. Some families still live there today.
This isn’t fiction—it’s a documented case from Gulag memoirs and research. The main source is Vyacheslav Mayer’s book
“Cheshezhepilitza” (published in the 1990s in Siberia and abroad). Mayer, a sociologist and former dissident, collected survivor testimonies. The village became a symbol of resistance to repression.
Back to the topic: It’s quite possible that today’s residents of Cheshezhepilitza couldn’t pass a high school graduation exam. But can we call the people of Cheshezhepilitza "uneducated"?
By contrast, an average schoolchild—even an A-student—can ace exams. But in the real world, they can’t "do" anything. A modern 18-year-old graduate knows a massive amount of information… but has almost no practical skills.
Meanwhile, 18-year-olds in Cheshezhepilitza were already proficient in animal husbandry, gardening, beekeeping, hunting, foraging (berries, herbs), and knew how to build a house.
That’s why the people of Cheshezhepilitza survived in Siberia. But if you dropped 200–300 average modern college graduates in the Siberian wilderness with nothing—could they survive?
So who is more educated: the people of Cheshezhepilitza or today’s school graduates?
Where are the criteria for who counts as “educated” and who doesn’t? Who came up with them? And who decided they’re valid?
Yes an expert who talks only about his area of expertise will always defeat a Christian, but in talking with a scientist in cosmology is not an expert in Christianity or in religion so the moment that expert starts to talk about suffering, evil, God etc he is no longer an expert merely another person with a viewpoint.
The playingfield has been levaled and the Christian is more of an expert than the scientist.
Evangelism is about knowing ones subject and knowing how to evangelise.
Questions like :- What do you believe about..... followed by what evidence do you have for that belief.
Brings a confrontation down to a discussion about faith.
Sites like coldcasechristianity, wintery knight and answersingenesis are great because of themany articles there that demonstrate the accuracy, reliability of the bible and the rationality of a belief in God, while also showing the irrationality of not believing in God.
At the end of the day all we have to do is show that Christianity is more reasonable than any other belief and leave conversion to God.
What do you think—is this fair?
I’m especially curious how it’ll work with the humanities.
Does that mean only someone with a theology degree can speak about God and the Bible?
I’m especially curious how it’ll work with the humanities.
Does that mean only someone with a theology degree can speak about God and the Bible?
Grailhunter
Well-Known Member
Did the people in the 1st century have a theology degree?
Christianity is a simple religion.
Salvation is simple….Faith….Acts2:38….The Bread and Wine ritual….Be good and do good.
The be good and do good is not what saves you it is just what real Christians do.
Walk with Christ everyday.
The Barbarian
Active Member
It's a big job, learning all of that. My background is in sciences, and I've been able to take a lot of work in history, but I'm far from expert in everything. Fortunately, aggressive atheists are not very creative in their attempted debunkings. For those who want a general Christian perspective on science, this is a good source:
BioLogos - God's Word. God's World. - BioLogos
Are science and religion at war? Many people today believe they are in conflict. BioLogos exists to show that you don’t have to choose between modern science and biblical faith.
biologos.org
For YE creationists, there are some sites that help reconcile YEC with science. Here are some of them:
The Truth About Evolution (Young Earth site)
The truth about evolution
A blog about the creation/evolution debate from the president of Core Academy of Science.
toddcwood.blogspot.com
Toward a Creationist Understanding of Transitional Forms (Young Earth site)
An interesting YE site that has a unique way of reconciling the evidence with a Young Earth is Gerald Aardsma's Biblical Geochronology site:
The Biblical Chronologist
Bible chronology, history, and archaeology answers backed by informed, scholarly, conservative research.
www.biblicalchronologist.org
The Barbarian
Active Member
I'm sure that He'd be labeled a "bleeding heart libtard" and a friend of immigrants and publicans.
The Barbarian
Active Member
Yes. People miss this so often. It's not about being in the right club or being holier than thou:
Matthew 22:37 Jesus said to him: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind. 38 This is the greatest and the first commandment. 39 And the second is like to this: Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. 40 On these two commandments dependeth the whole law and the prophets.
Matthew 25:31 And when the Son of man shall come in his majesty, and all the angels with him, then shall he sit upon the seat of his majesty. 32 And all nations shall be gathered together before him, and he shall separate them one from another, as the shepherd separateth the sheep from the goats: 33 And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on his left. 34 Then shall the king say to them that shall be on his right hand: Come, ye blessed of my Father, possess you the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35 For I was hungry, and you gave me to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave me to drink; I was a stranger, and you took me in:
36 Naked, and you covered me: sick, and you visited me: I was in prison, and you came to me. 37 Then shall the just answer him, saying: Lord, when did we see thee hungry, and fed thee; thirsty, and gave thee drink? 38 And when did we see thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and covered thee? 39 Or when did we see thee sick or in prison, and came to thee? 40 And the king answering, shall say to them: Amen I say to you, as long as you did it to one of these my least brethren, you did it to me.
So simple, and yet so hard to do. Without God's grace, impossible.
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