I went to Michigan State University ...as my older brother chose that college & it seemed easier to carpool that way, so all six of us children went there.

There are so many different reason why people choose the college or university they do.   Yes, there are many variations throughout the different Institutions of Higher Learning (or education) ...but there are also things that hold true for most all of them.

Most of us view college as a stepping stone, gathering much invaluable information and knowledge that will hopefully serve us in a significant way as a wise investment towards a career choice.

There are also many other decisions we make that influence greatly our collegiate experience. And one such decision is our credit load.

Since room & board are not inexpensive, I usually took 16 or 17 credits per term.  And that meant 4 or 5 classes.

The demand were high for learning in each class.  Each class had a tremendous amount of knowledge we were to absorb, and if we focused too much on one subject we may suffer in another subject.

So, in order to institute a good plan ...I did what most students recommended I do.  

I attended class.

What was covered in class was what the instructor (or professor) wanted to stress, and it would likely appear on a test.

Now, that may not work for every subject, but it did quite well for most. 

So, what I was somewhat graded on ...was not necessarily any knowledge on the subject, but i was being tested mostly on my ability to regurgitate what the instructor felt was important and professed to be true.

I was somewhat graded on how I could comply and accept the facts as the professor saw them.

Mostly I was not encouraged to think for myself or think of new innovative ideas ...but to show my ability to share in their innovative ideas, and I could innovate as long as it supported and did not depart from their given knowledge.

• Don't get me wrong, there is some good in this ...and in some subjects there is a near necessity for it, but in many cases, it is not so good.

I find a surprising similarity in most people's approach to the Bible.

On one hand, it is not so good to explore for alternative texts, commentaries, or interpretations ...as knowledge often builds, and many rabbit trails may lead us here & there & everywhere ...yet, pretty much tend to lead us nowhere.

The Bible is the truth ...and it's the absolute we must all draw truth from.  Other trails only lead us away from the truth.

Like many textbooks, the Bible is quite extensive.  Similar to when we take a college course, we may attend the lectures, or sermons.  Yet, we often even begin attending at an age much before our college years.  At an early age, some of the stories listed in the Bible become somewhat memorized through much repetitive teaching.  Many pictures and cartoons are often used to help interest children ...and soon they accept the depiction of Adam & Eve eating an apple in the Garden of Eden.  We also sing songs of three wise men, and we place the figurines in the manger scene during that exciting holiday season (two weeks vacation from school, and visions of so many gifts & toys).

Often we don't question how these stories are depicted ...until someone points out in the Bible that it isn't quite how we were taught.  It becomes an uncomfortable moment to discover part of what we were taught is not true.  And during that uncomfortable moment, what awaits us as an alternative to the group who have somewhat let us down??

The theory of evolution is presented, with much documentation and peer reviews from institutions of higher learning.  We become like the naive Adam & Eve, and we consume the fruit of what we feel is not forbidden us ...and instead of the apple, we cling to carbon dating.

We look at the Bible believers as those who've committed collusion against us ...and we no longer really believe the one who is the author of great deception.

With evolution as the foundational teaching that is widely accepted in our colleges and universities ...we get lost in the millions and billions of years, not wondering if that all-faithful carbon displacement would have depleted itself long ago, with nothing left to measure.

But, we certainly can't measure up to the professors and scientists who profess it to be true ...as our own peer group would think us quite unwise to challenge them.  We can only appear wise by aligning with the intellectuals.

Yes, there are difficult things to understand in the Bible ...and we want to be seen as good students, so we repeat what we've learned.

And especially concerning the Bible ...who would want to be depicted as having radical thought??

Yes, the Bible is lengthy ...more so than most textbooks, but it benefits us to read it ourselves, not to diverge our thinking from that of years & years of scholastic studies, but to find truth.

 

There is no 'higher' learning than what we can obtain from the Bible.

Papua New Guinea is located on an island just north of Queensland, Australia.  This particular video is focusing on the Mouk tribe ...and the name of the video is taken from their excited response of "Ee-taow!! Ee-taow!!" which means "It's true!!" (or "It's good!!  It's very good!!")

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1N-Hdqno4w

The Mouk people showed tremendous incite for a people most would say were highly uneducated.  But, the power of the truth about Jesus, not only frees us from guilt, but also from the chains and shackles of blindness which we allow ourselves to be contend with through no knowing His Light.