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 =)