education in the Christian Community 2

An area in which the class piqued my interest was in the busting of myths pertaining to what Education in the Christian Community entails in its content. It is not just about facts and information but about life transformation, that it is about a set of curricular, that it is all about the bible and that it is none of my concern. I would like to emphasize on the part of facts and information as it applies to me most. I always had the idea that teaching was all about transmission of facts and knowledge, the know-that and know-how. But I came to realize that it is more than that! It is ultimately to bring about life-transformation. It is about enabling the recipients to think and derive at questions such as “why I need this life-transformation?” or “why do I need to come to Church?”, instead of just telling them that those are important. It is from thinking and asking these that, leads ultimately down to a personal conviction of why I am doing what I am doing and how can I change what I am doing and what this change will bring about? . . . This form of thinking requires the work of the Holy Spirit in bringing about that conviction.

Another thing which I caught from this is the need of our content to have cultural relevancy. It occurred to me with the movie I watched, ‘The 3 Idiots’ that in India, more young people die of suicide than of sickness because of the ‘shame’ culture they are living in, they rather die than bringing shame to their families by failing their exams. It is for the similar reason that many Indians will not convert to Christianity, lest they bring shame to their family. To this I thought, can I use the context wherein it says: If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple. Luke 14 v. 26 if I were to preach in India.

To which the lesson where continuity and decisional personalities comes to play. Will those who tend to need continuity be afraid to make a commitment and make a decision? But for those decisional ones, will they fall away on this account? Or will their faith be even more sure. This part helps me to consider people with different personalities and thinking patterns when I teach.

Education in the Christian Community

One of the interesting things which I have learnt during the course is the integrated approach emphasises the need of engaging the participants in educating them in their knowing,doing, feeling and being. I think that it is necessary to meet every facet of the individual as people learns things differently, like for people who are are empathetic, they'd tend to learn better if what is being taught excites their feelings given certain scenarios. Integrated learning also enable the individual to be more complete in the sense that he will not just know more, but do, not just do for the sake of doing but feel along what he does, and more than that, to enable the person to become more of that which is being taught. Like for example taking impressionable youths to meet other youths but those in special education. We make them aware that they considered more privileged. To do activities with them like simple games, then as an after action review, "how did you feel while you were playing with them?", ultimately with an intention of using this excision to make the youths become more sensible and not to take their privileges for granted.

Another lesson which I learnt is that education needs not take a formal lesson in a classroom setting but just going out with my youths and hearing them out or using a movie just watched as an object lesson. Same goes for ministry, every time and everything can be ministry to serve the Lord as I taught my Royal Ranger boy. But this is something I need to learn myself as I have the tendency to dichotomise my reality as spiritual and secular.

Lastly, learning as a community is important as it provides a platform of relational and mutual learning. It includes not just my learning in the process but the community's as well. As I have been taught in old testament foundations, no one in the Jewish community claims individual recognition but as a clan or tribe at the minimum.

Epistle to the Romans

Mainly throughout the course of the Romans module, I encountered issues of doctrines which challenged those which I have held to such as that of predestination and ‘eternal security’ and faith.
I have actually stated in the NT Encounter (NTE) my view on eternal security of the believer, that the notion of ‘Once saved always saved’ is rather misleading, yes! There is a place of where this notion is embodied, and this is seen in the Church of today where many of the ‘so-called-Christians’ live in a licentious manner, and professes faith.
But for the elect, as I have qualified in the (NTE) is an existential experience (subjective) unfolding an (objective) salvation, which I see encompasses the maturity of the believer. This is seen where Peter calls the believers to make their calling and election sure. My apologies, if this goes beyond the Epistle of Romans, but as I have also been taught, we ought also to see the Bible from a concentric ripple flowing from the textchapterbook author  testament  the bible as a whole. I certainly believed in the part where Romans 8 v. 28-30 refers to the maturity of the believer. Thus, the election of the believer is seen in the justification which assumes the certainty of glorification, entailing the need of having to be conformed into Christ’s image. Therefore, if a ‘so-called-Christian’ who seems to externally exhibit signs of being an elect, but falls away, it would appear that the notion of eternal security is fallacious, but it need to be questioned as to the certainty of whether he was first justified, this is often insensitive to judge the issue, thus assuming the possibility that ‘the elect’ could fall away. But if one is led by the Spirit, he is a son of God, thus he is characterised by maturity in becoming conformed into Christ’s image. This is the existential process to which we can make certain our election or the negation of it.
In the gospel of John, Jesus says that those whom the Father have given to Him, no one can snatch them out of His hand, because they too are in His Father’s hand, He and the Father are one, and he shall give them eternal life. But this too is qualified by those who hears His voice and follows Him as opposed to those who do not. By plain reading, He told the Jews that were with Him, you do not believe because you are not my sheep (John 10 v. 26). Logically, one would infer that we are His sheep and therefore we believe, not that we believe and therefore we are His sheep just as those who did not believe because they were not His sheep. Then we can safely assume that 1 John 2 v. 24-25, is the culmination of the eternal life Jesus spoke of in John Gospel, these will receive the promise. The aspect of the will is upheld by the fact that as long as he and she perseveres in his/her faith, he/she can be sure that God is at work of preservation. (Jude 24). Therefore one is to work out his salvation with fear and trembling for it is God at work both to will and work for His good pleasure. (Phil 2 v. 12-13)
With regard to faith, I cannot understand why there are distinctions of faith, one to use the gifts (Rom 12), disputable faith (Rom 14) and saving faith. When I read Ephesians 4, it mentioned . . . one faith . . . then it went about to say, “ But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. 8 This is why it says:
“When he ascended on high,
he took many captives
and gave gifts to his people.”
I think that, we ought not to dichotomise our faith as to their function, but with same faith with which we are saved, though it may vary by measure, strong or weak, I believe that by the very same faith are we saved, by which are also we use our gifts.

I also learnt one practical lesson through the course of the group project. Acceptance. Dogmatic as I was, I didn't feel that it was right to make light and frivolous the skid as it seemed to convey 2 groups, carnivores and herbivores. the Carnivores seem to exhibit a rather uncanny form of indifference to their faith pertaining both to food and holy days when in fact, both the strong and weak Christians sought by the measure of faith given them to glorify God. But it would be an irony on my part as I later realised, if I couldn't accept the skit on acceptance.