Why Westminster? (part 1)

"Why Westminster?" is probably the second most frequently asked question that I get (the first one being "Why Seminary?"). With so many great seminaries out there, it was a tough decision. If there was only one seminary that taught Biblical truth and nurtured spiritual growth, the decision would be a no-brainer. But, with so many to choose from, the initial array was quite overwhelming.

We have found that choosing a seminary much more difficult than choosing a college. For instance, engineering programs at well-known 4-year universities are all very similar. A recognized EE program would teach you the fundamentals of how to solve electrical engineering problems no matter where the program is located. Of course there are differences (i.e. how prestigious the school is, private vs. public, size of student body). But, any good school would teach you how circuits, systems, and computers work, and some of the physical laws that govern them.

However, seminaries are quite different and have different views on spiritual truth. I once heard a preacher mention "bad theology that closed every church in Europe" or something along those lines. Ouch! Our pastor reminded us that choosing a seminary means choosing the professors and theology that will shape and mold you. Of course we as Christians should never let the teachings of man overrule the teachings of God. All the seminaries we would consider would all claim to submit to God's Word. Yet, all the seminaries we checked out had differences, and some of them quite large.

Teresa and I started with a list of 20-30 seminaries that we listed in a spreadsheet (sounds a bit nerdy, but we're both engineers....). If we had unlimited time and money, I supposed we could've visited all 30. But, being mere humans, we had to prioritize our list. We scoured the mission/beliefs/doctrine pages of seminaries. We learned quite a bit about what each school and its professors were passionate about.

• Some schools seemed passionate about the importance of scripture as the final authority for our faith
• Some schools seemed passionate about the gospel or the Great Commission
• Some schools seemed passionate about trying to be more culturally relevant (adopting the message of the Bible to make it more acceptable to today's culture).
• Some schools seemed passionate about spiritual and character growth (not just intellectual growth)
• Many schools seemed similar to one another (e.g. there are 6-7 seminaries in the Southern Baptist Denomination)

In my next post, I'll discuss the 5 seminaries we decided to visit and what drew us to each one.

In other news....Teresa and I have now finished summer Greek, and we're relieved to have a little break from class before the fall semester starts up in about 2 weeks. We're hoping to catch up on rest, settle in a bit more, and hang out with each other. There is a Renoir exhibit that we want to see before it ends. The student rate is a lot cheaper, so we plan to go after we get our student IDs =)

Why Seminary (part 3 of 3)

FULL TIME VS. PART TIME

So, with conviction that God wanted me to go to seminary, we also had to think about whether we would go full or part time. Part-time would give us the opportunity to continue serving at Rock Chinese Church of Austin as volunteer youth directors. One danger of seminary education is that it becomes "head-knowledge" and cause spiritual stagnation. Part-time would allow us to continue investing in people and building them up in Christ. However, part-time would take longer, and it would be more difficult to focus on studies. Pastor Gaylord helped us to think through this by asking us if our priority was to equip ourselves for ministry or to serve in ministry. Since our priority was to equip ourselves, we decided to go full-time.

One of my Intel coworkers did part-time seminary while working full time, raising a family, and serving at church. I'm not sure how he did it (he said his wife was very supportive and that he had basically zero free time). If I remember right, the program took him 6 years, but he finished and got a degree! Teresa already says that I try to do too many things at one time, so juggling part time seminary and part time work would certainly cause undue strain on our marriage.

The downside of going full-time is that we've had to uproot and move out of Austin. There's certainly more financial cost (neither of us are working), but time and time again, God reminds me that He is my security, not money.

Last year, I had the joy of reading through the Old Testament from beginning to end. One historical account continues continually encouraged me to place my trust in God Himself and not what can be seen, tasted, or touched.

Amaziah, King of Judah had hired 100,000 mercenaries from Israel, his northern neighbor, with 100 talents of silver. He felt like he needed some extra hands to help him fight a war. But, God sent a prophet to Amaziah and this is what happened:

"But a man of God came to him and said, "O king, do not let the army of Israel go with you, for the LORD is not with Israel, with all these Ephraimites. But go, act, be strong for the battle. Why should you suppose that God will cast you down before the enemy? For God has power to help or to cast down." And Amaziah said to the man of God, "But what shall we do about the hundred talents that I have given to the army of Israel?" The man of God answered, "The LORD is able to give you much more than this." Then Amaziah discharged the army that had come to him..." (2 Chronicles 25:7-10)

Though Amaziah is not recorded is a "good" king from the eyes of God, in this moment, he exercised faith. He trusted the Word of the Lord: "The LORD is able to give you much more than this."

May God's Word encourage you as it has encouraged me in whatever circumstance you are facing.

In future posts, I'll discuss the process by which God led us to Westminster Seminary (vs other great seminaries out there).

Greek lessons

Alex and I have been in Philly for almost a month now, and we're amazed at how quickly it's flown by. We're approaching our third full week of Greek class. Class has been really intense, but it's also grown us a lot too. Our approach to our academic studies together now is slightly different than our approach as single undergrads. We're learning that we need to take time out of our schedule to work on our relationship and that if it means that we need to cut our studying a little short, that it's ok. In the past our tendency would have been to put in as much energy into learning the material as possible, but we're realizing that it's ok not to make straight A's and that grades are not what we worship. Not that we're not working hard still and putting in a lot of effort now :P. But it's ok to rest our bodies and our minds, and we shouldn't feel guilty if we're not studying 8 hours a day.

We've really been encouraged by the Westminster staff to keep our focus not on the accumulation of knowledge but to realize that the purpose of this time is to learn the skills to be able to know and love God more and to remember the Gospel and His death on the cross. I'm always very refreshed after the prayer time that starts every class. Even though I may have come in with insecurities or worries about not knowing the material, I am reminded of God's faithfulness and ability to provide the understanding that we need to master this material. Each day is another opportunity to trust God with something impossible, and each day He is our help. Every day He calms our hearts and reminds us of His infinite power and mercies through His death on the cross, and guards our hearts with the fact that in the cross we have everything.

Still have not found a church home, although we've visited several. You can pray that God will lead us to the church home he has prepared for us, and that we wouldn't rely on our own knowledge or understanding. Pray also that God would help us to prioritize what's really important in this stage of life and that we would be ok with saying no to things.

Praise God for things like google video chat and great pastors like PG who are willing to chat with us and give us wise counsel through this uncertain time. :) We miss ACC and Rock a lot, and have been thinking a lot about passages like 1 Thes 2:19 that express Paul's longing for the churches he ministered to.

¹⁹For what is our hope or joy or crown of boasting before our Lord Jesus at his coming? Is it not you? ²⁰For you are our glory and joy.

Paul loved the churches he ministered to, and you could see his joy in their spiritual growth. But he, like us, had to physically be away from them, but his heart was still with them. Now we get it. Now we understand.

On a more serious note, the hoagies and pizza here are really awesome! We also found a great italian market that sells $2 cannolis. Yumness.

Why Seminary Now? (part 2 of 3)

Before I continuing my earlier post on "Why Seminary?", I wanted to introduce reasons why seminary isn't for everyone.

REASONS NOT TO GO TO SEMINARY

PRIDE and SELFISH AMBITION. I heard that the gifted preacher Charles Spurgeon didn't go to seminary. He was serving the Lord and was encouraged by his father to get a seminary education. His father arranged for him to meet the president of a well known seminary in England. Spurgeon went to his home and waited in the parlor of his house two hours, as the president's assistant thought he was someone else. After the two hours, the president had to leave to catch a train. Because of the mix-up, he didn't get to meet him.

As Spurgeon left the president's house, he was confused and wondered what was God's plan. As he pondered this, he felt that God spoke to him through a verse in Jeremiah: "And do you seek great things for yourself? Seek them not" (Jer. 45:5). Spurgeon realized that he was already serving the Lord and didn't need to go to seminary. He realized that seminary would in fact be a stumbling block for as it would tempt him to greater pride.

RESTORE YOUR SPIRITUAL HEALTH. An acquaintance of mine has written about "how he sold his soul in seminary." Rather than help in grow in his relationship with Christ, he found that the busyness of studying took so much of his time and energy that his relationship with Christ began to grow cold.

We also heard that seminary cannot give you what you don't already have. One of the seminaries we visited made this clear to us. The admissions officer told us something along the lines of" "Seminary isn't going to give you a heart for God, a desire to share the gospel, or love for people. If you don't have these things, seminary isn't going to give them to you. Seminary can only help you do what you are already doing better".

REFLECTIONS

These thoughts led us to some good soul-searching. I was challenged me to think about my reasons. Was I going out of pride or to fill my head with knowledge? Or, is it truly for God and His glory? A formal education (whether its engineering, teaching, law, etc...) is not good or bad in itself. The motivation makes all the difference in the world. One can go into any endeavor with the aim of bringing glory to God or bringing glory to self.

Though an engineer doesn't need a degree to do his job, a degree lays a good foundation. This knowledge can be self-taught, but it is often better and more efficient to learn from other teachers. In the same way, a pastor, teacher, or elder doesn't need a seminary education. God's Word is sufficient so that "the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work" (2 Tim 3:17). There are also plenty of solid books written by godly men on theology. But, there is something to be said about taking the time to be properly equipped and to learn from others.

If God has called me to serve as a pastor, shouldn't I be willing to invest the time and money to learn and be equipped? Pastors are doctors of souls. Someone looking for a doctor to perform surgery should make sure that the doctor is properly trained. Someone who is looking for a pastor to nurture their souls should make sure that the pastor knows God and His Word.

On future posts, I'll discuss why we decided to go to seminary full time (instead of part time), and why we decided to go to Westminster.

Why Seminary? (part 1 of 3)

Teresa and I started attending seminary at Westminster (http://wts.edu/) this summer. "Why seminary?" is one of the questions we get asked. I hope to capture some thoughts that I've had to wrestle with and think through the past few years.

One of the earliest seeds of seminary was sown while I was doing chip design. I joined a fellowship group called Intel Bible Based Christian Network (IBCN). The lunchtime fellowship studies matured my understanding of God and the gospel through an evangelism training class and a class on doctrine. The doctrine class was taught by a co-worker who went line-by-line through his church’s doctrinal statement. I used to think that doctrine was boring- why bother with details that divide the church and create denominations? But, as he went through it, he explained the theological, practical, and eternal significance of what the Bible teaches. The class challenged to think through topics such as the “Inerrancy of Scripture”. For instance, why does my church believe that scripture is the final authority for what we need to know about God? Other branches hold church tradition or the teachings of the church as equal to scripture. Or, even the incarnation of Christ (What does it mean that Christ is 100% God and 100% man? What difference does it make?). Can a true Christian continue to live in sin and rebellion against God?

The great need for understanding Biblical doctrine led me to read Wayne Grudem’s Bible Doctrine from cover to cover. The book fed my great hunger to know the truth revealed in scripture. Yet, at the same time, I also grew in my hunger for knowledge. While I was reading and growing, I had the great joy of teaching youth and adults at church. Teaching God's truth and helping others understand and apply God's truth excited me far more than the engineering work. I began to think about whether God wanted me to leave engineering and serve Him in the church (or even possibly on the mission field).

Though I have plenty of ministry opportunities at work and church, I began to evaluate whether engineering was my life’s calling. I enjoyed the engineering work and the thrills designing computer chips. But I could not see myself doing that for the rest of my life. God wanted me to be willing to leave an engineering career. Chip design is a great steady job, I have great working relationships with my co-workers, and I enjoy the work. Yet, God was asking me, “Are you willing to use the gifts, talents, and abilities I have given you to serve the church?”

I'll try to answer these questions more fully on my next post, titled "Why Seminary Now?" Hopefully it'll be up in a week or so.