Category: CHSBT Blog Posts

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Is it a sin…?

Whenever a sentence starts with those four words, I’ve learned to prepare myself for at least a few of the following background conditions:

  1. The student has already had an argument or disagreement with a peer or their parent about the sinfulness of the act or behavior in discussion.
  2. The student is bored and wants to talk about something else.
  3. The student is hoping I’ll agree with them and validate their position, or condone their behavior.
  4. Moralism is in the student’s mental background radiation, so if it IS a sin… someone’s going to Hell.
  5. A simple yes or no will probably ignore the underlying issue.
  6. This is probably not going to be a question that the Christian community has agreed upon a unanimous answer.

With these things in mind, and with lesson plans to push through, my answer is often, “Depends,” or “Maybe,” followed by “and we can talk about that when we have an open discussion/question day.”

“But Mr. Seals… it is question day.”

“Oh yeah.”

What is Sin?

If we are going to condemn something as sin, then we need to be on the same page about what exactly IS a sin.

Continue reading “Is it a sin…?”

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Teaching to Essence

“Love was the ‘big bang,'” I said to a group of seniors as they gazed back at me after a deep-dive conversation about the trinity. I noticed that they were listening to the words coming out of my mouth while I explained that Love created the world. Feverishly making fire with flint, I was totally jazzed as I notice the spark catching, simultaneously aware that pushing too hard may make it die completely.

When students look you dead in the eye during direct instruction it’s usually because a) your fly is down and they are trying desperately not to look, you know, “down there” b) because you are delivering unpleasant news and they are sending smoldering messages with their retinas  c) because… minds blown.

That love existed before all of creation by way of the trinity truly is a mind-blowing concept. Continue reading “Teaching to Essence”

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Is the Bible Myth? Depends who asks.

 

  1. If it is a fellow teacher, or someone with an advanced degree in the Humanities, I say, “With a capital ‘M,’ yes. Lowercase ‘m’, it is not.”
  2. If it is a parent of one of my students, I say, “No, of course not.”
  3. If it is a student questioning his or her faith, I say, “What do you define as ‘myth’?” Then I hope they give an answer I can easily address.
  4. If it is a student assured of his or her faith, I say, “We know the Bible to be inerrant.” Then I defer to their Bible teacher.
  5. If it is a class full of students, I collapse on the ground, curl up in a ball, and sing “Jesus Loves Me, This I Know.” After I did that, I would probably do number 4, not because I don’t know the answer.  I just don’t know how the students would take my answer.

Here’s what I actually think: the Bible is Myth.  It is not a myth.

Therefore, this post is probably self-defeating since I am, in essence, confessing what I’ve censored myself from saying. It is something I have not said aloud, even when I had the opportunity to teach this concept since our first unit in World Literature was Greek Mythology.

 

Here’s what I could have said to my students:

Continue reading “Is the Bible Myth? Depends who asks.”

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So… Who Goes to Hell?

Jimmy: “Hey Mr. Seals. Jews go to Hell, right?”

Me: “What? Dude, you’re supposed to be working on your divorce statistics project.”

Jimmy: “But they don’t, like, accept Jesus… so they go to Hell, right?”

Sam: “I mean they believe in God though, don’t they?”

Me: “Yes… they do. And…”

Alice: “Yeah, so even if someone never, like, knows about God and Jesus and stuff, they just go to Hell?

Jimmy: “Yeah, ‘cuz they didn’t accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior.”

Me thinking: …

So, either A) I crack down on this group and tell them to refocus on their statistics group project or B) I surrender myself to this moment and the honest curiosity of the students about a serious topic even though they are supposed to be honing their PowerPoint and information literacy skills.

Continue reading “So… Who Goes to Hell?”

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Baccalaureate Speech 2017 – Chris

Below is the full text of Chris’ Baccalaureate Speech. (Once Wayne gets back from Guatemala, we hope to post his as well)

 

In some form or another, you have probably heard someone tell you to follow your dreams. If you count all of the times such a message has been subliminally or explicitly directed at you in film, television, social media, literature, or a motivational speech in one of your classes here at our school, I’m sure that it would total roughly around 18,000 times.

“Follow your dreams.”

“You can do anything you put your mind to.”

“One of you may be the future President of the USA.”

The American dream and many successful people in our country have verified this notion that hard work, sweat, desire, and passion can help you achieve anything. You can do all things… through Christ… right? Even the way that Philippians 4:13 is Continue reading “Baccalaureate Speech 2017 – Chris”

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Who should listen to CHSBT?

After piloting a few episodes and officially releasing some of our podcasts, one of the most frequent questions we received has been “Who is the intended audience of this podcast?”

The short and unhelpful answer is: whoever finds these conversations helpful or interesting.

If that’s good enough for you, then great! Keep listening if you like them! But for those who would like a list and a bit more explanation, here’s a better answer. Wayne has written more extensively on why we started CHSBT, to give space for conversations for those in the Christian school Bible classroom, help frame meaningful interactions with students, etc. That being said, Christian School Bible teachers are not the only people affected by or interacting with the unique cocktail of Christian culture, growing up, theology, and life. While our experience, context, vantage point, and interpretive lens will drive us toward choosing topics that are particularly relevant to High School Bible Teachers, Confessions of a High School Bible Teacher may also be helpful and edifying to other people as well. So here is a narrower list:

  • Christian school teachers.
  • Moms and Dads with teenagers (current, future, or former).
  • Youth ministry volunteers, employees, or workers.
  • Students who attend or attended Christian school.
  • Closet theologians.
  • Seekers who are interested in Christianity (many of our students are non-Christians).
  • Mentors with young protégés.
  • Those who find themselves swimming in the sometimes confusing sea of Christian culture.
  • Anyone thinking dialogue within Christianity needs to be healthier.

If you don’t fit into any of these categories but you still find these conversations helpful or interesting, then praise God! Keep listening!

Grace & Peace,

Chris

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Why We Confess

My friend Jen asked me, “So, what’s the deal with this podcast? What are you doing?” She is definitely not the only person who has asked me this question. In fact, when we started, Chris and I had to ask ourselves why would producing such a podcast even be worthwhile? The original impetus was to produce something for people like us, people who find themselves in the interesting world of Christian education with teenagers. Essentially what we realized is that Christian school teachers and students needed a space where they could explore their own theology, grow in the way they frame their discussions with students, and have a couple of voices out there talking about the things they encounter in their world.

In the United States alone, there are about 14,000 Christian Schools (Catholic or Protestant) connected to different private school associations. These schools account for over 3 million students and about 250,000 teachers. We wanted to make space at the theological discussion table for those who grow up, teach, and raise children in this unique educational faith context. While the topics we discuss will definitely apply to those who never attended or taught at a Christian school, our primary lens through which we choose and approach topics will be through the Christian school lens.

Shalom,

Wayne

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Podcast is officially up!

Our first two podcasts are officially up! We will be releasing a new podcast each week on Saturday.

iOS users, our podcast is now up on iTunes! You can either subscribe by searching for “Confessions of a High School Bible Teacher” in the Podcast app or by following this link: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/confessions-of-a-high-school-bible-teacher/id1233585058?mt=2

Our Android using friends who have their own podcast player app should be able to follow the link in the sidebar that says “on Android”.

If you prefer to just stream straight from your web browser, you can filter posts for only podcast if you click the “CHSBT Podcasts” link in the main menu or sidebar.

Happy listening!