The Public-Schooled Christian

Last week’s article was about why it’s important to know what we believe as public-schooled Christians. Knowing our beliefs well can help us to stand strong when our faith may be challenged at school.

But how do we practically apply that? Knowing our beliefs is important, but how do we learn more about them? There are so many topics we could learn about and so many resources we could use that learning about our faith can get confusing. 

Here are some tips for learning our beliefs well:

1. Learn about what you’re interested in

If you learn about what you’re interested in, you’re likely to remember more of it and put more effort into learning. For example, if you read and remember these blog posts, it’s probably because you’re interested in representing Jesus well at school. 

We’re not expected to be experts on every topic related to Christianity, or even on one topic. Christians are simply people who want to learn more about our Savior because we love Him. 

If you’re passionate about the unborn, you can learn more about abortion. If science interests you, you can learn about how the conditions of Earth point to God’s existence. If you’re a very logical person, you may want to learn about the logic-based reasons for God’s existence.

Learning becomes much more fun when you learn about what you’re interested in. Isn’t that a lot of what makes classes fun at school? You may like chorus because you enjoy singing, while math is less fun because you don’t want to go into a career related to math. 

Learning about your interests and playing on your strengths can be rewarding. 

2. Memorize Scripture

Imagine this: someone at school tells you that Jesus never claimed to be God. If you have Scripture memorized, you may be able to tell them where in the Bible Jesus claims to be God. At the very least, you’ll be able to assure yourself that your beliefs are right. 

Memorizing scripture can be hard to start, though, and even harder to make a habit. Once you make scripture a habit, it becomes easier. When I get my brain used to memorizing scripture I’m more willing to do it and memorize scripture faster. 

It’s helpful to memorize Bible verses in a way that works for you. For some people, it works to repeat scripture until it sticks in their head. I like to write songs based on Scripture because that helps me remember verses better long-term.

You don’t have to be musical to use this method; people have made songs with scripture in them. Here is a playlist of songs based on scripture

I think a lot of us recognize that maybe we should be memorizing scripture, but we forget because of our busy schedules. I haven’t been memorizing as much scripture lately, but the scripture I do memorize I remember well because I’ve learned the method of memorization that works best for me.

3. Practice explaining your beliefs to a Christian friend

There are some beliefs that I have a hard time explaining. Something I got stumped on the other night was the belief that everyone is born into sin and humans have a sin nature because of the fall. How do I explain that? Is a newborn baby sinful? 

I knew what I believed, but didn’t know how to articulate that belief. Explaining our beliefs to friends can help us in these situations. There’s low pressure because you’re only explaining to a friend, and knowing how to articulate what the Bible says about a topic can strengthen your belief or help you explain it to someone in the future. 

Can you explain what the Bible says in a way that makes sense to you and others? Practicing can help you learn how to explain something better and therefore understand it better. I think the most important belief we should be able to articulate is the Gospel–who Jesus is and what He did for us. 

4. Use a Bible commentary

There are some parts of the Bible (sorry, Leviticus and Isaiah) that are hard to understand. A commentary can help a lot in these circumstances. 

My grandmother gave me the Tony Evans Bible Commentary, which I use sometimes. Bible websites like gotquestions.org can be helpful for reading hard-to-understand Bible verses. The Bible Recap podcast is also a resource that many people have recommended.

Our goal when reading the Bible isn’t to read as much as possible, but to understand what we’re reading. You may have heard the saying “quality over quantity.” Understanding God’s word takes time and effort, but it will help us better know why we believe what we do. 

Our Beliefs and Public School

Knowing what we believe and why we believe it is important to living for Christ in public school. It’s good to be grounded in our faith before we enter a place where it could be swayed or challenged.

I hope these tips helped give you direction. I’m going to work on following them more, too. Which of the tips applies most to you?