What I Have Learned in My First 11 Weeks of Seminary

I attend seminary at Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary, through their online program. The online aspect is not ideal, but it is functional for me and my family. So far, I’m learning (I hope). More than anything, I’m being exposed to scholarship and lots of reading the average person wouldn’t read (not even me).

I have learned two very important lessons in the first eleven weeks of this semester. First, I am totally not an academic. (Can’t you tell after I used the word totally?) God has given me a shepherd’s heart, not a professor’s heart. I love to teach doctrine, but I love to herald the good news more. I love to dig into finer points of theology, but I love to motivate and challenge to pursue holiness more. Seminary is pricking and prodding my academic skin, which is thin and frail.

Secondly, in general, it takes a lot of work for me to focus when I read. Don’t let this blog fool you, I am not that smart. It is hard for me to comprehend anything above a college football article on ESPN.com. I often find myself reading the same sentence three or four times. Seminary is pushing me to rely on the Holy Spirit to control my literary ADHD when it comes to the teleological argument and the neo-orthodoxy movement.

I love to read and write, it just takes a different shape in my personal time and here on the blog than in an academic setting. Thankfully, because of the cross, God’s grace is abundant, fresh, and powerful. And its fountain doesn’t run dry over seminarians like me.

Jesus’ Resurrection Has Implications for Your Life

A few decades ago, a lot of scholarly research was dedicated to finding the answer to the question, “Did Jesus really rise from the dead?”  Now, it seems as if everyone in this postmodern, relative society is not asking, “Did he?” but rather, “So what?”

Let’s answer this practically: If a man died from a brutal execution — so much so that his body and face were hardly recognizable as human — and then rose from the dead with a healed and restored body, then this man must be more than just a man.  “So what?” you ask.  Well, if he is more than a man, then he must be loved, honored, and obeyed for who he is, namely God himself.

What do you love, honor, and obey?  Money?  Sex?  Relationships?  Food?  Praise of man?  Hollywood?  Sports?  Status?  Technology?  Cars?  Children?  Body image?  Knowledge?  Religion?  Yourself?

If these things died, would they rise from the dead like Jesus did?

I doubt it.

Truth is Truth is Truth

From the urban philosopher Lecrae:

Man, see some folks say, “All truth is relative, it just depends on what you believe.” You know, “Hey man, ain’t no way to know for sure who God is or what’s really true.” But that means you believe your own statement: that there’s no way to know what’s really true. You’re saying that that statement is true. You’re killing yourself. If what’s true for you is true for you, and what’s true for me is true for me, what if my truth says your’s is a lie? Is it still true? Come on man!

…See, there’s this thing called “Secular Humanism”, it says man is the source of all meaning and all purposing. You know what i’m saying? We’re just the result of a big cosmic explosion. We don’t really have a purpose or meaning, so we just come up with our own purpose. We’re the source of our meaning and our purpose. How can a man, which is the product of chance, a finite being be the source of purpose and meaning? You can’t! You’re created with purpose man!

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