Biblical Higher
Education - In Your Own Words …
I herewith add a new occasional (or perhaps
regular) feature of our eNewsletter:
Biblical Higher Education – In
Your Own Words. What are you
and your colleagues writing and saying about biblical higher education’s
distinctive nature and calling?
Send me what you are saying to your students and your stakeholders. Here’s an example from Somerset
Christian College President, David Schroeder:
Seven
years ago on September 11, 2001, we woke up to a culture war that surprised us,
and the world was changed. Retribution has eluded us; the war on
terrorism has not satisfied us. We still feel insecure and vulnerable,
and most Americans do not have a clue about what is really happening. We
have entered a time not unlike the years after Daniel’s prophecy. Perhaps
again, “Many will be purged, purified and refined; but the wicked will act
wickedly, and none of the wicked will understand, but those who have insight
will understand” (Dan. 12:10).
Regardless
of our individual views of eschatology, the teaching of Jesus and the Apostles
clearly points to an apocalyptic future for the world. So, do we don a
sandwich board to proclaim gloom and doom? What is our post 9/11 role?
Have we returned to business as usual, generic evangelicalism in the past seven
years? I believe terrorism and cultural wars give today’s followers of Jesus a
five-fold prophetic role to:
- Know and obey the Word of the Lord
- Understand the times and the seasons, as well as the
cultures of the world
- Confront the church’s complacency, starting with
ourselves
- Lovingly warn all people of the coming intervention of
God and show and tell the good news of salvation
- Be filled with the Holy Spirit and engage spiritual
warfare when evidently needed
What
worldview do we need to face such an uncertain future for our world? I’ve
decided to emerge from “the temple of the Lord” mentality (Jeremiah 7:4), and
embrace these ideas:
- God is bigger than theology; theology is important but
cannot adequately describe God.
- The culture that has my allegiance is called by Jesus
“the Kingdom of God” and its strategies are love, prayer and witness.
- Spiritual experiences and identities do not have to be
labeled and stereotyped.
- A pneumatic worldview is not obsessed with control;
the wind blows where and how it will.
- Only a radical version of discipleship will finish the
work of the Great Commission.
- God will pour out his Spirit on the young and bring
renewal through them.
- Older Christians who are walking in the Spirit will
encourage and protect the young zealots.
“Those
who have insight will understand” that the battle lines are being drawn between
conflicting worldviews. More than ever, the Lord wants to raise up
believers with a biblically-based, Christ-centered education and display them
in all walks of life as His army. I cannot give adequate intensity or
emphasis to the importance of young people gaining a spiritual Christ-centered
worldview if the next generations are to effectively combat the false
ideologies of the world and man-made religions. The new www is
Worshipping Warrior Worldview. And that’s what a Somerset Christian
College education imparts. Our students are aware that a battle for
kingdom supremacy is being waged, and that the radical terror that is inspired
by the chief enemy of God must be challenged and defeated by radical commitment
to Christ and love for our enemies.
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