11/25/19 Nick (See HERE)
A young man at the coffeeshop agreed to allow me to record
a conversation regarding his beliefs or doubts about what happens after we die,
but I hesitated when I found out he is only a senior in high school. Typically,
teenagers often look “like a deer in headlights” when I try to have an extended
conversation about such things, and I look for older people to talk with who
have more well-formed beliefs.
Nick, however, was no typical teenager, and he comes from no
typical high school – Chicago’s Whitney Young Magnet High School, 4th best high
school in Illinois and 71st in national rankings. Nick proved to be very
articulate with a thoughtful belief system.
He said he had been raised by secular parents who encouraged him to explore
religion for himself and to value people of diverse religious beliefs, and he
said his teachers at high school do the same.
But as we talked, I realized that despite his supposedly well-rounded
secular education, Nick was basically biblically illiterate and unaware of the
core tenants of the Christian faith, which is foundational to an understanding
of western civilization and world history.
This is normal in most public high schools, but I wonder if the
staff at Whitney Young wants to settle for being normal? Or do they want to give their students a
well-rounded liberal arts education in preparation for college and careers that
require such basic background information, especial for someone like Nick who
wants to pursue a career in journalism?
Why not have as required reading large sections of the book
that was the first to be printed on a printing press, that has been and
continues to be the world’s best seller, and that, according to the March 2007
edition of Time, "has done more to shape literature, history,
entertainment, and culture than any book ever written. Its influence on world
history is unparalleled, and shows no signs of abating."
Were the staff at Whitney Young to offer, say, a class such
as “The Bible As Literature”, it would go a long way toward providing a
foundation of familiar connections and understanding for its students in many
fields of study.
But it would fall short if it left it there, for the Bible
wasn’t meant to be seen as written simply by human beings for their own limited
purposes. It’s unique claim is that
these humans were so inspired in their writing that the Bible is said to be God’s
“Word”, His ongoing revelation of himself throughout human history.
1 Peter tells us that “you must understand that no prophecy
of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation of things. For
prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human,
spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”
A secular high school couldn’t teach the Bible on a spiritual
level such as this, but one must understand that the reason the Bible has had
such an impact on world history is because that is the level at which it has
largely been received.
As the apostle Paul explains in 1 Corinthians, it might be
read by secular people but can only really be understood by spiritual
people: “And we impart this in words not
taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths
to those who are spiritual” and “The person without the Spirit does not accept
the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and
cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit.”
So ultimately, while I as a Christian would like to see the
Bible not go ignored in our public schools, it would really be up to
individuals like Nick to read and study it for themselves if they want to have
a better and well-rounded understanding of the world, and they might just gain
a vision of our Creator in the process.
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