Back To School

 

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It is that time of the year. Everyone mentions school - and earlier than when I was attending. The Tuesday after Labor Day was usually our back to school day. The earliest this year for our family was a new college student headed for training on an athletic scholarship. Those young people do get an early start on school.

By this time, our athlete knows what to expect because there have been years of training, and achievements, to earn an education on an athlete's ability. Their scholastic achievements must be well above average, too, even when their most outstanding talent is athletics.

While almost all of the young people in the United States are going back to school - or just starting it as another family member - adults take advantage of educational opportunities, too. One such group is involved at our church. Our members signed up for Faith Bible Institute. The three honored last Sunday night started four years ago in a program that has been around for a long while.

When our church started the classes, we didn't really think about the facts of life - people move around, lives are changeable, relationships change. Usually it's young people who go through classes one right after another. By the second semester of the four year course, some people had to drop out and new people joined in. I overheard one person say, "I'm glad this starts the third semester, I already have two done and I can pick up now and complete."

This is not confined to our church members. I know of at least three different churches whose members attend the three hour course each week, studying out of a three" +/- thick tome well suited for college.

"All you need is a TV, DVD player and 10 students. We provide everything else to start you on this 3 year journey through the Word of God. There is no cost to your church and each student’s cost is just $157* for the first semester and $115* for all other semesters. Click here for a tour on how you can have a Bible college in your church."

For a small country church, where our attending membership fluctuated about 125-150 on Sunday mornings, I wondered about getting ten people interested the first time around. But that was a personal consideration. I would have enjoyed the class, I know, but making a four year commitment not long after my husband experienced two Myasthenia Gravis crises along with one sepsis incident, I became a care giver.

Later, as his ongoing treatment relegated crises to memories and ICUs weren't in our forseeable future, I did take one of the audit classes offered by the same organization that was only one semester. It was very educational. I believe the full four years of Bible study is one reason, especially during Covid, our church membership numbers remained the same, while attendance usually streamed about the same. Soon after Covid, though, the membership grew and the FBI classes grew, too. It was a good time to learn:

So - what are they studying? The Bible. From Genesis to Revelation. There is a study book, a class book and three hours of DVD college lectures each Tuesday night of the semester. There are tests, and there are diplomas at the completion of the four year course.

Why? For a couple of very good reasons. First is application in our own lives. How can you discuss Christian doctrine without being familiar with Christian doctrine? Second is the opportunity to share what you've learned with others.

Becoming familiar with biblical Christian doctrine is extremely important in understanding why there are different denominations. If you say "I am a Baptist," how is that different from saying "I am a Catholic"? Do not both religions believe God created the heavens and the earth, that Abraham was made a promise by God? Absolutely - but Muslims and Jews believe that very same thing. What sets Jews, Christians, and Muslims apart? Why do all three hold Abraham as the beginning of a relationship with God, but stand so far apart now?

For many years now I've written this blog that encourages Bible reading. Four years with this FBI course, you'll learn much more than ten years of reading my blog, or any other. The coverage is theology more than personal application, but that makes even deeper personal applications available. However, my primary purpose remains to encourage people pick up their Bibles - they remain available in every book store, downloadable for every smart phone - most free, some with a small cost. I recommend YouVersion for the freebie and e-Sword for a small cost. Both are study Bibles with additional aids available.

I also recommend the King James Version. I know, people will "swear" by the 1611 version - don't download that one unless you are extremely determined to work through it. However, there is an English flow in the KJV that puts me in a worshipful mood because I'm spending time with a familiar book. I also know the translations source - which is a big deal for me. Both Bible apps I mentioned come with the KJV without additional cost. Most of the newer versions have a cost. I'm a firm believer you should be able to get a free Bible. We have missionaries handing them out freely on street corners. If you are on Facebook, follow Sam Ward, a missionary in Croatia, well known for street corner Bible handouts. Today he's mailing them by the hundreds to people in Croatia.

Paul wrote in Romans the process involved in learning about Jesus, God's Son, who provides us salvation:

For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things! But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report? So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. (Romans 10:13-17 KJV)

That is such a small portion of what is available in the Bible - and Paul quoted an earlier writer, too:

How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth! (Isaiah 52:7 KJV)