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.