Hey everyone. I'm a fairly new Christian (slowly turned to Christ within the past year, had a lot to do to get my life back on track, was baptized at the beginning of July).
Getting right to the point of this post, I'm attending a Catholic school (although I'm not Catholic), and religion classes are mandatory. Last year I loved my religion class, it was world religions and I found it fascinating. I was also very blessed to have a teacher who was a strong believer, very compassionate and helped to guide and encourage me.
This year is different. We're studying Christianity...sort of...it's a bit hard to tell exactly WHAT we're doing really. Part of what we've been studying is really easy, like paradigm and paradox, read-this-article-about-why-the-bible-is-still-read-even-though-it's-really-old-and-answer-the-following-questions-to-show-me-you-actually-read-the-article, stuff that could be handed out in even an english class. But I'm having a bit of a problem with some of the things we've been studying, and more than that, the APPROACH that the teacher has been taking. Although she briefly mentioned something about having her own faith one day, a lot of what she's teaching seems to lead AWAY from faith in Christ. We're reminded not to take the bible very literally, told how it's been edited and changed so many times, she refers to things in it as "stories" and it's approached as if they're all fictional, Genesis has been called "imaginative". Then she'll bring up points about something and teach it as fact, and when I question she doesn't seem to have a very good answer as to WHY we should believe what she's saying (while interestingly enough, she's telling us not to believe everything we read/are told). I'm not being very challenging because I don't want to cause problems. A couple of times I've asked about the things we're taught, and she kind of breezes over it, she doesn't explain it well. So I just let it go.
Today we learned about how the first five books of the bible were written by all different authors from all different time periods. She said that traditionally Moses is believed to have written it, but research has proven that that's probably not true. When I asked why some people believe Moses wrote them, and why others believe it was all different authors (so as to gather more information from both perspectives and form my own opinion), I didn't get a very good answer, I didn't get very much of an answer at all.
So, I went home, turned on the computer, and started researching for myself.
I don't know enough at the moment to form my own opinion. What I do know is that from what I've read, it seems to be a controversial issue...something disagreed upon...but she's teaching it as though it's fact that the first five books had different authors. Ironically, God's actual word from other parts of the bible seems to suggest that it was mainly, if not all, from Moses. So I'm not sure at all about this.
I think my teacher is trying to show us that the bible is untrustworthy, because she keeps saying you can't take it very seriously or literally or whatever, that there's truth behind the stories but she doesn't seem to believe that the stories themselves are true. It gets really confusing.
I'm a new Christian. I have faith. I do. But I have some doubt as well. My faith is shakeable. Maybe not breakable (after all, faith is a gift from God, and my faith is in His hands)....but yes, it is most certainly shakeable. This class and the approach the teacher is using seems to be no good for me. I go home with more anxieties, worries, doubts, confusion and sadness than when I walk into her class. I know only the very basics of Christianity. I'm eager to learn, but I don't think I'm ready for this type of approach. I don't think I like this one bit. The truth is, God saved my life. If I had no faith in God I would be dead right now. If I stopped having faith in God, I would go and kill myself very soon. But truthfully, because of God my life has changed like you wouldn't believe. I have joy, I have hope. I lived without any of that for six years. But I still need the basics while I'm learning. I need a teacher who is willing to answer questions. Who tells us different views and opinions and lets us decide for ourselves, not who teaches things as fact without at least telling us there's another side to the story. I'm not sure I'm ready for this yet.
I'm going to ask if I can drop the class tomorrow. But incase I can't, I'd really like some advice. Please. I need to know how to survive this class. I need to know how to keep my faith alive and not come home worried. I can't hear something and accept it as truth without questioning. And my own questioning is hurting my brain. Am I wrong to want to get out of this class altogether? Hmmm....somebody give me some advice, please!!
(And thanks to anyone who does).
Getting right to the point of this post, I'm attending a Catholic school (although I'm not Catholic), and religion classes are mandatory. Last year I loved my religion class, it was world religions and I found it fascinating. I was also very blessed to have a teacher who was a strong believer, very compassionate and helped to guide and encourage me.
This year is different. We're studying Christianity...sort of...it's a bit hard to tell exactly WHAT we're doing really. Part of what we've been studying is really easy, like paradigm and paradox, read-this-article-about-why-the-bible-is-still-read-even-though-it's-really-old-and-answer-the-following-questions-to-show-me-you-actually-read-the-article, stuff that could be handed out in even an english class. But I'm having a bit of a problem with some of the things we've been studying, and more than that, the APPROACH that the teacher has been taking. Although she briefly mentioned something about having her own faith one day, a lot of what she's teaching seems to lead AWAY from faith in Christ. We're reminded not to take the bible very literally, told how it's been edited and changed so many times, she refers to things in it as "stories" and it's approached as if they're all fictional, Genesis has been called "imaginative". Then she'll bring up points about something and teach it as fact, and when I question she doesn't seem to have a very good answer as to WHY we should believe what she's saying (while interestingly enough, she's telling us not to believe everything we read/are told). I'm not being very challenging because I don't want to cause problems. A couple of times I've asked about the things we're taught, and she kind of breezes over it, she doesn't explain it well. So I just let it go.
Today we learned about how the first five books of the bible were written by all different authors from all different time periods. She said that traditionally Moses is believed to have written it, but research has proven that that's probably not true. When I asked why some people believe Moses wrote them, and why others believe it was all different authors (so as to gather more information from both perspectives and form my own opinion), I didn't get a very good answer, I didn't get very much of an answer at all.
So, I went home, turned on the computer, and started researching for myself.
I don't know enough at the moment to form my own opinion. What I do know is that from what I've read, it seems to be a controversial issue...something disagreed upon...but she's teaching it as though it's fact that the first five books had different authors. Ironically, God's actual word from other parts of the bible seems to suggest that it was mainly, if not all, from Moses. So I'm not sure at all about this.
I think my teacher is trying to show us that the bible is untrustworthy, because she keeps saying you can't take it very seriously or literally or whatever, that there's truth behind the stories but she doesn't seem to believe that the stories themselves are true. It gets really confusing.
I'm a new Christian. I have faith. I do. But I have some doubt as well. My faith is shakeable. Maybe not breakable (after all, faith is a gift from God, and my faith is in His hands)....but yes, it is most certainly shakeable. This class and the approach the teacher is using seems to be no good for me. I go home with more anxieties, worries, doubts, confusion and sadness than when I walk into her class. I know only the very basics of Christianity. I'm eager to learn, but I don't think I'm ready for this type of approach. I don't think I like this one bit. The truth is, God saved my life. If I had no faith in God I would be dead right now. If I stopped having faith in God, I would go and kill myself very soon. But truthfully, because of God my life has changed like you wouldn't believe. I have joy, I have hope. I lived without any of that for six years. But I still need the basics while I'm learning. I need a teacher who is willing to answer questions. Who tells us different views and opinions and lets us decide for ourselves, not who teaches things as fact without at least telling us there's another side to the story. I'm not sure I'm ready for this yet.
I'm going to ask if I can drop the class tomorrow. But incase I can't, I'd really like some advice. Please. I need to know how to survive this class. I need to know how to keep my faith alive and not come home worried. I can't hear something and accept it as truth without questioning. And my own questioning is hurting my brain. Am I wrong to want to get out of this class altogether? Hmmm....somebody give me some advice, please!!
(And thanks to anyone who does).
good luck!
