Monday, October 30

Injecting God into everyday life


I teach some classes for Axia College, which is part of the University of Phoenix, including a number of classes in their Administration of Justice program. Last week there was an assignment in one of my classes about Morality and the Law. The students had a number of short answer questions asking them to give and defend their opinion on a number of questions that addressed the interaction between morality and the law.

One of my students chose to talk about the role of God in defining morality and sin in almost every one of these questions. He talked about how there is a connection between morality and the law because both spring from God. Some of the quesitons asked whether certain things should be crimes. He fell back on the position that they should be crimes because they are sins, and they damage the relationship between people and God and between people and each other. He was so intent on incorporating God into his answer, that he sometimes didn't directly answer the questions.

I was proud of my student for incorporating his faith into his school work. But I also found myself asking if I would have done the same. I am fairly confident that I would have incorporated my belief in God into a couple of the obvious places. But I'm not sure that I would have in all of the places my student did. I think I would have chosen to write a stronger answer to the question that would not have included a discussion of God.

And I'm not sure if that's a good thing. I always encourage people to try to share their faith by incorporating things about God into everyday situations. That has a better chance of opening doors for us than just trying to preach. And yet, here's a place where one of my students incorporated a discussion about God in a place I might not have. At the same time, trying to force every conversation to turn to about God, even where that isn't natural, has the potential to make people think you are constantly trying to preach at them, which could turn people off and make them harder to reach for Christ.

It's a hard balance to make, and I'm not exactly sure where the line is. And this time around I'm not sure I would be on the right side of the line.

2 comments:

Tigpan said...

Thanks for taking the opportunity to be transparent here. I am not sure on which side of the line I would fall on either. I do know that as of late I have been very convicted about the fact that I am not always as bold as I need to be in my walk.
Great example.

TheBGRT said...

I think you would like CCU then Tim, one of the principles that is stressed here is an integrated faith and learning. Where academic meets Faith in a viable and truthful cohabitation. I as well commend that student and find myself thinking at times, even though I go to a Christian college, "do I act accordingly as he did?" Something to think on definitely!