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My Thoughts
I won't go into much detail about what's happened so far this week because I really want to get out of the computer lab and go home.
This was the first full week of class. Suffice to say it has gone well and no one has died of a brain overload, especially not yours truly. I try to stay ahead of the game by reading ahead the day before the class. I know that sounds very anti-college but you gotta do what you gotta do.
I would have to say that the class with the most workload is "Jesus and the Gospels" as taught by professor Dan Wilson, not to be called Mr. Wilson, of course. In this course, besides the usual quizzes and taking of exams, I must read "Jesus and the Gospels" Craig Blomberg by the end of the semester. That's about 400-some-odd pages. I would've had to read "The Case for Christ" but I'd already done that and of course, me being me, I tell that to (Candidate) Dr. Wilson, who recommends "The Case For Faith." I've read that too. "Well, is there another book you can read?"
I said yes and I selected "Jesus Under Fire" which is a book in response to a lot of the modern scholarship on Jesus that is so far out in space it outdistances Voyager I. There are many skeptics of the Gospels but it's the Jesus Seminar that has stated some of the most ridiculous things I've ever read. A link, The Coming Radical Reformation, tells basically what the beliefs are behind this supposed "scholarly" group. It ain't pretty and I might add it's fruitless, lifeless, and hopeless. I might post something about them in the future. Anyway, I have to have that book read by Sept. 24 with some little diddy written about it. I also have to write a 7-10 page research paper on a topic or passage of Scripture. I have decided to do it on the gospel of Thomas, which is a Gnostic (from the Greek, gnosis, meaning "knowledge") writing written roughly 100-150 years after the Four Gospels. It is held in high esteem by the New Age and Gnostic crowd which isn't surprising. It has many Gnostic sayings that don't make too much sense and some of them are fairly demeaning of women, so... I'm definately going to do more research on Gnosticism.
Pentateuch is also taught by Dr. (Candidate) Wilson and yesterday he invited his class (which is small) to dinner at his home. Only three of us, myself included, were able to make it, but the spaghetti, salad and brownies were excellent. We also played this game called 5,000 that involves dice. I trounced the competition by hitting 5,000 on the nose (which was required to win), soundly leaving a 2nd place score of 3,200 in the dust. ;) We just enjoyed talking and fellowshipping together and it was a good time to know the professor outside of the classroom, which is what he intended.
Personal and Cult Evangelism (That means you, Jehovahs Witnesses, Mormons, and Unitarian Universalists!) is taught by a younger prof as well, Dr. Rick Morton. We've had some good discussions in class so far about what evangelism means and how one goes about doing it. The books for the class haven't come in yet so we haven't done too much study on individual cults but that's coming soon. I also have an excellent book, "The Encyclopedia on Cults and New Religions" that has an ample amount of information on a lot of the main cults and religions floating around out there.
Biblical Worldview, which is really what Bryan College is all about, is purring along smoothly. I had already read the assigned reading for the class last Saturday (Nerd! Shut up!) The professor there is the head of the Bible Department, Dr. Paul Boling. He looks like he's getting ready to take a ride on a Harley with that black leather jacket he's got on. Then there is Greek by a short, humorous prof named Earnie Rickets. He will be responsible for teaching me to talk wierd for the next four semesters. However, I will gain a greater understanding of the Bible by reading the New Testament in the original language it was written in.
That's about all. Besides some of the long distance phone calls I make and checking up with the News-Sun back home, the KC Star or the Orlando Sentinel, things are pretty normal. Until next time.