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Post by Alejandro on Mar 19, 2005 0:43:20 GMT -5
Recently in a discussion with someone whom I love dearly. We got into the discussion of what I am going to do after high-school I told him this: "I plan on going to a near by private univeristy to get a degree in Computer Science. Afterwards I want to go to a Bible College to get ordained." Though, I do not agree that the government should be involved in the ordaination process, it is useful to be ordained in our society. He told me that sometimes, rather than being lead by the Spirit in the colleges, they use 'their knowledge' (I say 'their knowledge' because it is not really their's.  ) to prove something. "They are just playing Bible trivia with the knowledge they got from Bible college." He both challenged me and encouraged me. This got me thinking: is it of God, or man? I think it is a mix of both, but a bit more of man than God. He attended the college I mentioned and told me to go in there with God. What do you all think? Love, Alejandro |
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Post by Soulfyre on Mar 20, 2005 1:06:19 GMT -5
Well, of course since you have not given me the name of the Bible College to which you refer, I can hardly speak with any knowledge. If your question is, "Are all Bible colleges more a product of man than God?", I would answer that one must judge on an individual basis. Specialized training for leaders of the people of God has existed since Old Testament times. That we should develop Bible colleges where people can receive education across a broader spectrum than just courses in Bible was probably inevitable considering the structure of our educational system in the United States. And certainly, I believe that those who wish to become Christian leaders should receive specialized training in the languages of the Bible, church history, Biblical knowledge, specialized pastoral applications (such as counseling or youth ministry), preaching, Christian education, business, and other pertinent studies. Any vocational ministry is a great responsiblity, and it is sometimes arrogant to assume a sort of "me and God", "Lone Ranger" mentality which presumes that such an education is of little worth. Nevertheless, Bible colleges, like seminaries, are set up to provide access to education and the opportunity to develop useful skills. They are not set up to produce men and women of God, nor should that be among their responsibilities. While they can provide a spiritually "nurturing" environment, the student must not go to a Bible college or seminary to work out life problems. The vocational "calling" is crucial, as is spiritual preparation prior to seeking specialized training. Often, the pressures of Bible college or seminary can be very destructive to unprepared individuals or families. Also, in general, most Bible colleges and seminaries, at least from the Protestant or evangelical traditions, do not ordain. This is generally left to the "calling" congregation. Thus the "government" is not involved in the ordination process. And soon, it will probably be hard to get federal scholarships or student loans for specifically religious education. So the possibility of "government" involvement will be even less. Were I you, I would recommend getting an udergraduate degree, and then, if you are called by God to some involvement with ministry, go to a seminary for a graduate degree. I hope this is helpful to you. God bless and keep you, Matthew (soulfyre)  |
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Post by rgrove on May 12, 2005 13:42:32 GMT -5
Interesting discussion. Hadn't seen this thread before, but it's been something I've considered quite a bit in the past from a little different angle. Training Christians in the faith is a necessary thing to do. God has commanded us to disciple believers in the faith. But how should we do this? Here God has not really given us a boilerplate pattern in scripture we can point to and say "here's the outline we should follow". Several years ago when my wife and I were giving serious consideration to my going to seminary somewhere I started looking at how Christian educational institutes were set up. I didn't really have any idea of what was "right" or what was "wrong", but I began to notice things that I have not still fully resolved. These are questions that came to me quickly as I looked at where to go. I will just throw them out to encourage further duscussion in this thread for now. 1) Is it proper for a Christian educational institute to be independant from a denomination? There are serious positives and serious negatives associated with each method. For example, independance can help if a denomination is going downhill. Westminster was set up independant because the original great Presbyterian seminary, Princeton, was dying of the liberalism of the PCUSA. But other institutes that were once Biblically faithful have gone extremem liberal by slow compromise over time until the liberals, who are nothing more than deists really, have taken over the institution. We have a local one that happened to here. They still call themselves a "Christian" college, but it's a hollow statement because anyone who's been associated with it knows better. 2) Closely associated with question 1 is whether we shouldn't be taking FAR more responsibility in local churches for training youth for ministry. In my last SBC church if you want to do serious study there was no way to do it with the pastor, you were just directed to the SBC seminary in Vancouver, WA. It was a complete abdication of the churches responsibility to train people for ministry IMO. In my current church ( www.glencullen.net ) the church is committed to this training in the local church. The first Tuesday of every month there's a meeting for the men where the pastors do serious in depth instruction specifically for developing leaders in the church. They've been going over the distinctives of Christian leadership this year. They only recommend doing work that's under the direct oversight of elders of another Reformed Baptist church for ministerial training. Anyone that goes through that training, however, is specifically recommended for it by the elders of the local church. Food for thought, but associating this back to the original question - What method of instructing has the greatest possibility of guaranteeing that the training given is from God and not from man? Yours In Christ, Ron |
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Post by fairbank on May 29, 2005 22:32:24 GMT -5
I believe many seminaries have adopted a method which may be the best model available, though not perfect. It is not easy for the pastors of many churches (particularly small churches where the pastor is a tent-maker / part-timer) to meet the needs of those who require serious study and instruction for ministry preparation. Most seminaries are taking on the role of instructing the candidate, while the local church / pastor is providing a venue in which to apply that learning in a "supervised ministry" situation. As for Bible colleges, they are an excellent primer for seminary, but not suited for ministry preparation in isolation.
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) to prove something. "They are just playing Bible trivia with the knowledge they got from Bible college." 
