This week was so amazing! Our speaker was a Godly, gracious, and humble man named Ricardo Rodriguez. He is also from Argentina, so once again our lectures were in Spanish. He spoke about worldviews, mainly comparing a humanistic worldview to a Biblical worldview. I learned so much and the wheels in my brain are still spinning. During lectures I’m always thinking about my friends and family and how I want to share what I’m learning with them because it’s just so good! I’ll try my best to summarize….
His main point was that as believers in God, we have a calling to be missionaries. A missionary is not just one who travels around the world, telling people about Jesus. We are all called to be missionaries wherever we are in society. Not only are we called to evangelize to people, so that they may know God, but we should be evangelizing ideas and the way people think about the world. It is ideas that produce change in society. Society is completely influenced by a humanistic worldview, and we need to point it back to a Biblical worldview.
I was so inspired by many stories Ricardo told about Christians in society who have brought change with their ideas. Did you know that it was Christ followers who started the Red Cross, Mental Institutions, Braile, Universities, and Kindergartens? We have an ability to make change in our world and to challenge the ideas established by society.
I was just amazed at how much our world has grown away from God. It’s crazy to think that our nation was founded on Biblical principles, but now we can’t speak about God anywhere. Many things the speaker pointed out solidified my belief in God—that there has to be a God! My favorite quote of the week was this:
Where there is a poem there is a poet,
where there is music there is a composer
where there is a book there is an author,
where there is art there is an artist,
and as for the universe…it just happened by chance?
Other interesting things to think about:
· If there is no God, who defines values? Man does. What’s good and bad is determined by what’s convenient for man. Who said that the white man was superior? The white man. Who said that men are superior to women? Men. What does God say? That all men are created equal. That we are created in His image.
· If there is no God, what’s the purpose of life? Ricardo read us several quotes by atheist philosophers who basically concluded that when they took their thoughts all the way to the end (to death), they realized that life is meaningless. One atheist even said, “you have to live as if God exists, even though He doesn’t, because those who believe in Him live much happier lives.”
Ricardo talked a lot about education, which really interested me. He reminded me how important teaching is and how much of an impact I can have on young people, especially in public schools. He talked about teaching evolution in schools vs. teaching creationism. He made the point that science is not certainty—It’s always changing. Evolution is a theory, so why can’t we teach other theories in schools? People always say, “Education must be neutral,” but by teaching evolution and not suggesting any other theories, there is a worldview behind it, so it’s not neutral. If God isn’t mentioned in schools, they’re saying God doesn’t exist, so we have to accept a humanistic worldview. Also, creationism isn’t about religion, it’s about a creator God, so it doesn’t have anything to do with separation of church and state.
All of this talk made me realize how passive I’ve been in the past about my beliefs. I studied education and for the most part accepted the theories I was taught (like how to teach different subjects—but really, God is in everything and can be integrated into every subject area!). I worked at an elementary school last year and accepted the humanistic perspective (I didn’t even have the right to say “Merry Christmas” at my school). Ricardo really challenged me to have a voice and to make a change in the area of education, rather than just accepting the institution the way it is.
He said that education is not a business, it’s a ministry and it’s not about imparting knowledge but imparting love. Another thing about education is that the students we are teaching today are tomorrow’s politicians. We as Christian educators can have a huge influence on the way young people think, which will shape their worldview and influence their future decisions.
I want to continue to pray about education and if God is leading me in that direction. Ricardo says there is a problem with prayer: God answers!
There is SO much more we talked about and I feel that I wasn’t able to communicate it perfectly, as I am still chewing on it. I would love to hear your comments/ opinions on these issues. God is teaching me so much and there’s so much more to tell about the week! Feel free to e-mail me—I would love to hear how you’re doing!
Celebrating Canadian Thanksgiving (they were singing "Oh Canada.")
Work Duty Crew!
Raking Leaves
No comments:
Post a Comment