Christian Living

Bible colleges exist to train Christian workers. Seminaries exist to equip Christian leaders. If you want to be a good deacon, Sunday school teacher, or youth leader, then Bible college is adequate. If you want to be an effective pastor, missionary, church planter, or preacher, then seminary is very important. True, some men can minister well without attending seminary, but even they would be more effective if they had.

The goal of these articles (Part 1, Part 2) is to challenge misconceptions about the world and worldliness by taking a fresh look at our authority, the Scriptures themselves. I’ve argued that the biblical concept of worldliness encompasses much more than the matters of fashion, entertainment, and material possessions that we fundamentalists tend to focus on when we use the term.

At the SharperIron website, there are a number of Christian colleges, universities, and seminaries represented by contributing authors, forum administrators, members, and visitors. Now that a new academic year has just begun, it might be a useful exercise for us to reflect on our postsecondary institutions and consider why they do what they do. To get started, perhaps we should ask, “What is [insert the name of a given institution]’s ultimate goal, or mission?” The purpose of this article is to generate discussion on the development of a philosophy of Christian higher education.

What Is Written

The meaning of “worldly” is a matter of some controversy. This is true even among people strongly committed to Christian living as defined in Scripture. Most agree that “worldly” means being like the world and that being like the world isn’t good. But from there, confusion multiplies.

(See Part 2, Part 3)