Seminary Can Be Hazardous to Your Spiritual Health

Lombardi Pumpkin Patch

That's some good dancing!!

Two little princesses off to the Harvest Festival at Fuller

Belle and Sleeping Beauty!

 God is so good to us!  The girls continue to do great, and Janelle seems to be past the early-pregnancy nausea.  School is a lot of work, and I am learning some really wonderful things (like what does the Bible really say about wealth and poverty?  I'll give you a hint - there isn't a super-simple answer to that question).

Here are a couple early thoughts about seminary:
During Orientation week, one of the professors told us, "Seminary can be hazardous to your spiritual health."  I can see that.  It is a strange deal because all of my professors seem to really love Jesus; they desire for our classes to help us grow with Jesus; we pray at the beginning of most classes; the classes are full of wonderful people; the seminary offers many options for spiritual health - chapel, spiritual direction, service opportunities, a prayer garden, and more.  Yet, it is not  easy to be growing with God.

Why not?  I'm not sure.  Maybe it is the fact that studying the Bible and theology and other Christian writers is homework, so it is hard to do that on your own.  Maybe it's because "everyone" is a Christian so people just get complacent and are not challenged by being around people with different views.  Maybe it is because people come to seminary to prove themselves to God or others.  Maybe it's because school is a lot of work and people get tired.

It could be all those things, but here is my top theory - people come to seminary for the wrong reasons.  I wonder if people come to seminary to figure things out with God and end up with more questions than they when they began.  I also have found that many people don't seem to get connected to a local church, which can't be good if God made us to live in community and worship him in community (especially in my opinion, an intergenerational community - the Body of Christ!).

Here is my current summary:
If you want to figure things out with God, Go to church.
If you want to get equipped and challenged academically and theologically, Go to seminary.

I'll let you know how my analysis progresses as the year goes on.  For now, you could pray for me, that I (and our family) would keep growing in our relationships with God in our time here.  While you're at it, you could also pray that I could get my PhD applications done for Scotland and we would trust and follow God with this PhD process.  Thanks!

May you know God's abiding presence in Christ by His Spirit today!