This needs our prayers of support and protection

[daveleau]

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,154759,00.html

Great news! Christians need to pray that this class and classes like it are allowed. This could allow for equal hearing of both Scripture and secular humanism in schools rather than secular humanism having the monopoly.

God bless,
Dave

[Gold Dragon]

As long as the board is consistent and also supports classes for the study of the Koran and other religious texts if there is demand for those classes, I'm all for it.

[daveleau]

If the population desires such, then it should be. We currently have the idea of freedom from religion in the US, and it is sad.

[SumTinWong]

If this opens the door to classes that study the Koran I am against it.

[newbeliever02072005]

If this opens the door to classes that study the Koran I am against it.

Would it matter? I would think that if the two classes were offered in the same school. The kids of the bible class is bound to talk to kids from the Koran class. It would open the door for the bible kids to witness and talk about salvation to the koran class. From the little bit that I know from the bible I know is WAY BETTER then the stuff from the Koran. I think its an opportunity to not only save kids that take the bible class but kids that take the koran class.

I will be praying :prayer: for more bible classes to be opening up accross our nation. Our kids, the youth.... is our future. We need to prepare them properly and that is with the knowledge of God!

God Bless!
newbeliever :)

[daveleau]

Please don't muddle the idea of more Bible classes in a given area with discussion regarding other religious classes. It is highly unlikely that classes on the Koran would be sought after in Texas or almost any other place in the US because we are not a Muslim nation. We shoot ourselves in the foot and Satan gets a foothold when we bring up a ton of "what if's" that are not realistic. Many Christians that want to see Bible classes would have a hard time supporting it if it also created Koran classes, despite the desire for the latter classes being nil. This thread is designed to point out a ray of hope for the US's current stance of voting against anything religious.

[SumTinWong]

Bottom line. If you want your kid to know about the Bible, read it to them, live it out with them. If anyone here thinks that bringing the Bible into the school to be taught by secular humanists is a good idea, more power to you.

If a kid wants to bring a Bible to school, more power to him/her, but when secular adults get involved that will generally screw things up.

JMHO.

[daveleau]

I agree that that is the responsibility of parents. But, many do not do that either because of their priorities or because they do not believe. If it is allowed in the schools, it will open a huge door for the kids with responsible parents to witness to and answers questions for the other students.
I would hope the Christian teachers would sign up to teach the class.

[Gold Dragon]

One other thing is that classes about the bible in a system where church and state are to remain separate is not your typical bible study or sunday school class.

The classes should not be taught in a way that advocates a particular religion or any particular brand of Christianity. So Catholic, Orthodox, Protestant, Non-Christian religious and secular views of the bible and interpretations of the bible should be welcome in these bible classes.

[SumTinWong]

I agree that that is the responsibility of parents. But, many do not do that either because of their priorities or because they do not believe.
That is how sex education got int he schools. If you are happy with the way that is run than perhaps this will folow that same suit?

If it is allowed in the schools, it will open a huge door for the kids with responsible parents to witness to and answers questions for the other students.
Sure it will, but that door will also swing opn the door for the koran and all the other garbage books out there to be studied as well.

I would hope the Christian teachers would sign up to teach the class.
It is hard to even get historians to teach history, or mathematicians to teach math let alone Christians to teach the Bible.

I know I am cynical, but God should be taught at home not in a secular school. JMHO.

[Toga]

Prayers are going up.

[Flynmonkie]

If this opens the door to classes that study the Koran I am against it.
I am not so sure about this.....I think this might be one of our problems, not enough knowledge. Think about it what happens to those whom are sheltered and not given the complete truth? I am more for knowledge; even the Bible tells us that Knowledge brings wisdom. It promotes strength in our own faith... I had been taught evolution in school....as you can obviously see....I do not agree. However, it is knowledge I have in combating the ideas presented...just a thought. :scratch:

[mesue]

Awesome! :clap:
Bring the Bible back to school!!
It used to be a text book in school.

[Sword-In-Hand]

I'm all for having the Bible brought back into school and believe me I would definitely want my kids to learn from this Book rather some false book, but I wonder how can a secular teacher teach anything out of God's word? Is it just going to be a history book? How can one who does not have the Spirit teach things of the Spirit? I hope people aren't entertaining thoughts of bringing back the Bible to our school system just to try and prove it a bunch of hogwash. Like someone said before, I hope Christian teachers pounce all over this opportunity.

At my college, there was an Old Testament class taught by an athiest. Didn't really see the point in that.

[SumTinWong]

Amen SIH, my point exactly.

[daveleau]

The Bible as History was a class taught at my public college. Our school had a chapel (a significantly church building with a clergical staff) that had a mandatory 7 week introduction for incoming freshmen that had them sit through a Catholic mass, 2 Protestant services, a Jewish service and a few others I cannot remember. Our school's purpose was centered around the Whole Man concept (now Whole Person since it has gone coed since I left). The Whole Person consists of Spiritual, Discipline, Academics and Athletics. Anyway, I digress.

The teacher was not a pastor or one of the clergy members. He was a faculty member who was a Christian (ironically, he was the biology departments evolution professor as well, despite his Christian base). The class looked at the historical, literary and archaeological aspects of Scripture. It was a great class for getting basics on where the Bible came from and the culture of biblical times.

Any class is counter-productive if a person unknown to the material teaches it. A person trained in history most likely can not teach physics. A Chemistry professor cannot likely teach art. A football coach likely cannot teach tennis. A secular humanist cannot likely teach the Bible. As stated before, it is naive to think that someone hostile to the material would volunteer and be allowed to teach the Bible as History in an area where this class is desired to excel. If so, the class would fail because parents would not let their kids go and because the Christians in the school would voice dissent. This is a class desired by the people of the town. 6000 signed a petition for it to be taught. Don't get caught up in the worst-case scenario or unlikely what'ifs. This will only result in Christians being used for Satan's purpose of keeping the Bible out of school. Don't be a nay-sayer and focus on the improbable issues that have not come up.

An equivalent example of what I have seen in this post is this:
Why let new people into our church because they might bring in troubling ideas or rob and steal from us? This is the equivalent of the what-ifs proposed in this thread. I am puzzled and perplexed by those doubting the exquisitely positive nature of this turn of events in Texas.

[JPPT1974]

I'm all for having the Bible brought back into school and believe me I would definitely want my kids to learn from this Book rather some false book, but I wonder how can a secular teacher teach anything out of God's word? Is it just going to be a history book? How can one who does not have the Spirit teach things of the Spirit? I hope people aren't entertaining thoughts of bringing back the Bible to our school system just to try and prove it a bunch of hogwash. Like someone said before, I hope Christian teachers pounce all over this opportunity.

At my college, there was an Old Testament class taught by an athiest. Didn't really see the point in that.

The Bible teaches more than any school can and will to the kids about lessons in life as well as how to treat one another as the schools are there just to teach for money and make a buck while the Bible doesn't do that at all and teaches from the bottom of the heart.

[Gold Dragon]

An equivalent example of what I have seen in this post is this:
Why let new people into our church because they might bring in troubling ideas or rob and steal from us? This is the equivalent of the what-ifs proposed in this thread. I am puzzled and perplexed by those doubting the exquisitely positive nature of this turn of events in Texas.

Just an fyi that I don't think the situations I presented are worst case scenarios. I have no problems with teaching about other religious texts like the Koran and teaching about the bible from other perspectives in addition to the evangelical Christian perspective. I think those things are a must if we are to teach about the bible in a public system that subscribes to the separation of church and state and there is nothing wrong with that. In fact I think those are good scenarios, although I know many evangelical Christians would probably disagree.

[daveleau]

I believe knowing about other religions and other philosophies is a must for a good Christian. If you don't know their beliefs, you won't know how to reach them. While we are not talking about enemies, the tennent "know your enemy" applies here. If you want to succeed in bringing people to Christ, you have to know what others believe and how to counter it in order to get through to people. John displayed this in the 4th book of the Gospel when he directly addresses the Gnostic issue. He understood their beliefs and wrote specifically to dispell their incorrect ideas.

I would cqualify the above by saying that these are steps to be taken by a mature Christian. If you don't already have strong footing in the Faith, then it is easy to get confused on what is right. So, I while I think it is important to see these other's beliefs, I do not think it is right to expose young Christians to it. If Muslims wanted such a class, I would support it because of the freedom we have built into our Consitution.