Category: Truth

Teaching Students to Think Wisely: Biblical Integration

Posted on by Kelly Hayes in Bible, Biblical Integration, Planning, Truth, Uncategorized

Time with students is limited. They will graduate. They will move on. And the Christian school strives to make an impact on them before they go. But what mark are we trying to leave? Well, we want them to have necessary knowledge; they need truth. However, they also need the skill of biblical thinking. We don’t want them to leave without the skill of properly weighing all things against the Word of God. We want them to be wise.

Wise choices are godly choices. Therefore, we want our students to learn to think wisely. Proverbs 4:7 makes the priority of wisdom clear, saying, “The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding.” Therefore, the Christian school’s goal is to help students get wisdom; though it cost all we have, we must give understanding. Dr. Matthew Hall says that the Christian school should “mobilize its curriculum, faculty, and programming to help students develop the skill of thinking critically according to God’s revelation.” In other words, everything the Christian school does should help students become wise. 

We are not primarily invested in what students know, but in how they think. However, the Bible actually makes an amazing connection between knowledge and wisdom: the fear of the Lord is the beginning of both (Prov 1:7, 9:10). Therefore, knowledge and wisdom are bound together. Those who know the truth about God are in position to honor Him with their lives by fearing Him. If wisdom and understanding are worth paying any price, we should give our all to teach our students to fear God. 

If we graduate God-fearers, we are largely successful. I think a large portion of our work may boil down to that. And if I am measuring the efficacy of my teaching, I can ask myself: Are my students trembling at his Word more because of my class? (Isaiah 66:2). Are they growing in fear of the One who can kill the soul rather than those who can only harm the body? (Matt 10:28). The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge and wisdom. If I am teaching my students to fear God, I am teaching them to think wisely. In light of this, let me encourage you to consider developing and implementing biblical integration that shows your students God’s glory. Help them to see Him for who He is: worthy of awe and worship. This will equip them to live lives that are worthy of their calling (Eph 4:1). This will help them to think wisely.

Different, Bold Teaching: Biblical Integration

Posted on by Kelly Hayes in Bible, Biblical Integration, Leading, Math, Truth

Who is more powerful: Christ or the devil and the world? The Bible tells us, “The one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world,” (1 John 4:4). We know this is true, so we must teach and structure our teaching as if this is true. There are several implications of this truth, but I want to highlight two here:

1) We must teach differently.

John continues, saying that worldly people “speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them,” but we are different because “we are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us,” (1 John 4:5-6). Christian teaching—academic discipleship—is not teaching the same old stuff in the same old way with some biblical ideas sprinkled into the mix. No, we actually see the whole world from a different viewpoint. Math and science, language and literature, arts and athletics, all subjects must be understood from this new point of view. The word worldview makes this point because our beliefs don’t shape how we view any one area of life, but instead shape how we view the entire world. This doesn’t mean that we stop teaching in an academic fashion. This does not mean that we trade out our content for Bible study. It means that we teach the content well, but we teach it from a different viewpoint: a biblical viewpoint. Here is a video-example regarding math.

Will the world look at us as fools? Probably. But, in Paul’s words from Galatians 1:10, “Am I now trying to win the approval of human beings, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a servant of Christ.”

2) We must teach boldly. 

If we teach differently, we must also teach boldly.  Our mission is not to protect our students from the “powerful” ideas of the world. Instead, we must wisely, age-appropriately introduce those ideas to our students so that they can see them for what they really are: weak. Paul tells us what we do in 1 Corinthians 10:5: “We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.” Why do we teach boldly? Because the gospel, the Bible, the biblical worldview, the Holy Spirit, and the church are powerful. Those who have those things don’t just dent bad ideas, they demolish them.

When we are firmly grounded in Scripture, we have no need to fear ungodly ideas because they are, by nature, lacking the power of God. We should not fear them (unless we are giving in to them); those ideas should fear us and our believing students. We aim to teach and unleash our students on the world. And the gospel gives our students the ability to turn the world upside down (Acts 17:6). The gospel is the power of God (Rom 1:16). The power that God has given us is “his incomparably great power” and “is the same as the mighty strength he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms,” (Eph 1:19-20). 

So, it is essential for you to be bold in your teaching. Help you students learn to demolish worldly arguments. With Paul, I want to remind you “to fan into flame” the faith that God has gifted you and your students (2 Tim 1:6). Don’t fear, but act out of “power, love and self-discipline,” (2 Tim 1:7). God has given us the ability to be bold, so let’s do it. 

Biblical Integration and the Power of Truth

Posted on by Kelly Hayes in Bible, Biblical Integration, Truth

“What is truth?” This is a big question. Philosophers, psychologists, lawyers, and first-century Roman officials (John 18:38) ask it. The dictionary says that truth is that which is “in accordance with fact or reality.” Truth is the way things really are. Truth is what really happened. Truth is real — fact. Untruth is unreal — fiction. 

And truth does not change because we agree with it. Truth does not require our assent or permission to be true. I can say that up is down, but that does not make it true. 

Sometimes people can get confused about truth because (truly) we all have different experiences. Since we live different lives, we all experience different things in life. Different things are true of me than might be true of others, but those those truths about me are a part of the real, true world. For example: I am a man. And I have a beard. Those things are not universal truths because they are not true of all people. In addition, they are different kinds of truths. I am a man, and I always will be. Though I have a beard, I likely won’t always have one. My beard could change. But the truth that I had a beard at this time on this date will never change. In fact, it can never change.

That might have seemed like a long and wandering introduction. After all, truth is evident to all, so why bother sharing pop-philosophical thoughts about it? Well, truth is a concept that is highly valued, but not well understood. And as teachers, we are called to teach truth. We are also called to teach students to know and find the truth in a world of competing messages. To that end, the folks at GotQuestions help us understand what truth is not with the following list:

  • Truth is not simply whatever works. This is the philosophy of pragmatism—an ends-vs.-means-type approach. In reality, lies can appear to “work,” but they are still lies and not the truth.
  • Truth is not simply what is coherent or understandable. A group of people can get together and form a conspiracy based on a set of falsehoods where they all agree to tell the same false story, but it does not make their presentation true.
  • Truth is not what makes people feel good. Unfortunately, bad news can be true.
  • Truth is not what the majority says is true. Fifty-one percent of a group can reach a wrong conclusion.
  • Truth is not what is comprehensive. A lengthy, detailed presentation can still result in a false conclusion.
  • Truth is not defined by what is intended. Good intentions can still be wrong.
  • Truth is not how we know; truth is what we know.
  • Truth is not simply what is believed. A lie believed is still a lie.
  • Truth is not what is publicly proved. A truth can be privately known (for example, the location of buried treasure).

It is a fact that many intelligent academic leaders deny the truth of the Bible. But the Bible is true regardless of what they believe. It is a fact that some people get away with telling lies in this life. But that doesn’t make the lies truth regardless of the consequences. It is a fact that many people earnestly believe that there is no God. But they are earnestly wrong regardless of how fervent their beliefs are.

When you teach in a biblically-integrated fashion, you are offering your students something amazing — truth. God is the ultimate Truth. He is the Truth that all truths are contingent upon. Why is the earth in orbit around the sun? Well, gravity hold it in place. But God holds gravity. And the sun. And the earth. And our ability to notice these things. He has declared these things to be so. I tell my students that when God said, “Let there be light,” light came true. God, as Truth Himself (John 14:6), is the one who defines and declares truth. He is the Shaper of reality. Reality conforms to God. And truth is that which conforms to reality.

When you practice biblical integration, you are trying to tell “the truth, the whole, and nothing but the truth.” An dis-integrated lesson can’t be the whole truth because it is missing Truth Himself.