turboEDvo:
Yeah, seriously lighten up. Plus, who says you shouldn’t defend your faith at school? I would (do, actually) in a hot second. You should defend it everywhere you go in my opinion. And why no debates in class? Is thinking, abstract thought, and opinion no longer valued these days.
I agree.
While it is true that she shouldn’t have to defend her faith, look at it as an opportunity to do so in a public school.
This teacher, by bringing up the subject, is doing you the greatest favor possible in this regard; giving you a perfect excuse to shine in your faith. Remain calm and kind, but respectfully provide your own point of view.
In a day and age where schools can get sued over allowing students to say silent prayers for 10 seconds, this teacher is taking a risk. Technically he should not allow this sort of debate in a history class, especially if he is promoting a particular point of view.
Let’s look at challenges to our faith as opening a door to allow us to show how happy we, as Christians, are. Don’t sweat the fact that he believes differently; that’s not you’re problem. (As Jesus told His people, do not pull up the weeds lest you pull up the good plants; let them grow together until the harvest.) Rejoice in the fact that he has allowed you to share your faith in a public school. This allows you to give testimony to your whole class at once, rather than having to sneak around and talk to them one at a time.
Again, this teacher has cleared the way for you to share faith among children who would never listen to you if you approached them outside of school. In a way, he has created a captive audience for your testimony. Take advantage of it in every way you can. If you get upset over it, then it will promote the often-too-frequently-true stereotype of Christians being indignant, intolerant, and lacking in peace and for that matter, a sense of humor.
When life serves you lemons, make lemonade.
The attitude of being truly fascinated by other points of view, while ready to explain my own, has gotten me much much farther than trying to coerce everyone to either agree with me or shut up. Nobody taught me this when I was young, though; I had to have a psychotic breakdown trying to get other people to understand simple truths before I realized that was God’s job I was trying to do. Finally when I quit blaming everybody else, I realized that Christ gave us peace the world cannot take away (see Romans 8).
Like Fox News, you witness; they decide. If God calls them they will come, on His time. If not, no amount of apologetics will change them.
A karate expert supposedly hopes not to ever have to use his/her art “for real,” but I suspect most wish that at least once, just once, they will get to exercise it. Without an opponent, that wish will never come true. Your teacher is the greatest blessing possible, in giving you this platform to voice your ideas.
Just imagine; if your teacher was actually saying things that were in line with the Church, then he certainly would have been fired by now and you would not have had this opportunity to give witness.
Christ came to give us peace to weather the storms, not to calm the storms. Remember how he scolded the apostles for their lack of faith even after he calmed the storm? What did they think would happen? He was going to let them die just because He wanted a bit of shut-eye?
Alan
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