I’m in the last couple weeks of my college classes, except for my internship. I am working hard. One of my last classes is Philosophy of Religion.
This is a class I almost dread every week. It’s very humanistic. I’ve taken other classes that were quite outspoken. In their anti-Christian sentiments. It’s a secular college, so I knew it would occur. Over the last few years I have definitely gotten an education in what secular colleges are putting into the minds of their students. It makes it easy to understand much of the sentiments and thought processes by many anti-Christian millennials and liberals. As much as Christians are accused of indoctrination, I am no longer surprised by the shallowness of thought I am exposed to in some of my classes. And make no mistake, there is little tolerated of a different opinion.
Philosophy of Religion seems to have more of a mix of thought, however, within the students. It’s an online class, which may actually be a benefit. People will share views in discussion boards that, in a classroom of students, might take more courage. Like on social media, there is a bit of protection being behind a keyboard. Thoughts are expressed a little more freely, perhaps, because we don’t have to see the faces of those that might be offended.
I tend to ask God, in the midst of different struggles, “What do You want me to learn from this, Lord?” Asking that has changed my perspective about many situations because it gives me a positive thing to focus on... what God wants me to see, or do, or change.
In this class, I find that I read the textbook, and I get a tad frustrated at the bias shown. Even though the students are a good mix, the coursework is still quite secular. And yet, I have found a blessing in disguise.
Every week there is a discussion board or two and a journal entry or two that is graded. The topics and questions always come from the reading. I may be presented with one point of view, the secular one; but I have the ability to research. I’ve found myself digging out books I haven’t read in years and rereading sections that correlate with the text I’ve read.
I am thankful that, when I was a new Christian, God led me to books that answered questions. He led me to Lee Strobel, for example, and showed me the research that was begun by an atheist that wanted to prove his Christian wife was wrong about her beliefs.
I find myself digging through these books, seeking answers to questions I haven’t researched in many, many years. Despite the secular thought presented in the text, I find my faith being strengthened. I remember my beginnings with God; back when I was a mom searching for truth, searching to fill the void.
As a Christian of many years now, I absorb the knowledge differently. The questions I had then are not the same questions I have now. Now, I have different ones. Or perhaps it is safer to say that I stumble across stuff I never thought about, but when faced with it, it still lights up my heart and mind.
I read once that study is a form of worship. God often speaks to me when I study. Many times it isn’t necessarily in a Bible study when something is revealed. It can be a fictional story, a tv show, or, like now, a college class.
God can and will be found in many unexpected places. He won’t stay in the boxes where we often place Him. He will speak, if we seek Him, even in the midst of a secular college class.
