Day 2 or 3, I can't remember

Well, today was day 3 of the semester, but I didn't have class Tuesday, so really it was day 2 of classes for me.  On Tuesday, there was a convocation chapel in which the whole student body (college, graduate school, and seminary) all got together to dedicate the year.  Dr. Dan Lockwood, who is the president of Multnomah and also a PCHS graduate, gave a great speech about finding and being a mentor.  He used the example of Barnabas in the book of Acts to encourage every student to find someone who could be an encouraging friend.  It got me thinking of all the people who were mentors to me in the past.  I can think of Jim Budlong, Don Ebel, and Evan Irwin who encouraged me to foster my musical talents at a young age, and use them to glorify the Lord.  Bob Barber and Nancy Parker who inspired my love of music, Choral music in particular.  Dr. Scott Tuomi and Dr. Bruce Browne who were instrumental in my studies at Portland State.  Tamara Anderson really came alongside me as I began by teaching career at PCHS.  Jon Stuber and more recently Paul Quarino as partners in music ministry.  But like Dr. Lockwood, I would have to agree that the people who were my biggest mentors and encouragers were also my parents.  Andrew and Diane, thank you for always supporting me.  Being there, and being an inspiration to me.  I know that you may not feel like it all the time, but I am who I am because of you.  The sacrifices you make and the blood sweat and tears that you both poured out.  THANK YOU.

Today, in class I was beginning to notice a couple themes that were prevailing in almost all of my classes thus far.  The first one is the idea of  Sola and Prima Scriptura.  Only Scripture, and First Scripture.  Multnomah has had the slogan for many year "If it's Bible you want, you want Multnomah" or something along those lines, but it really is true that we use the scripture as the basis for everything that we study.  In Theology we talked about the Wesleyan Quadrilateral which is seen here:

No it isn't the Wesley from ST:TNG, and it isn't even a real quadrilateral.  (even I know that and I am horrible at math and geometry.)  What it is are the 4 areas to be considered when studying Systematic Theology.  Reason, Tradition, and Experience; all wrapped in a large tortilla shell of the scriptures.

In both theology and Biblical Interpretation we discussed the concept of Presuppositionless Exegesis.  That concept says that you cannot study the scriptures (or anything else for that matter) without bringing your own "Baggage" for lack of a better term.  Our experiences and upbringing will always effect the way we look at the Bible.

Another thing that came up in both classes was the story of the rich young man who wanted to become a disciple, but wasn't willing to give up everything he had to follow Christ.  This story really hit home for me, even though I was by no means "rich," I did live a comfortable life.  We owned a home. Had some nice things, and now it seems like we have given most of it up to follow the call of Christ.

There is a pretty adequate workout facility here on campus, and we are free to bring one guest with us, so if anyone wants to work our for free, let me know.

I have my First "Bible Class" on Friday, the assignment on the class website is to come to class having read all of Genesis. It took three days, but I finished tonight.  Now, I was pretty familiar with most of the stories and characters from Sunday school, and bible class at PC, but there were some ones that I don't ever remember talking about like the raping and inscest stories.  I wonder how that discussion is going to go?

DAB-8-29-12