Thank you! I already contacted the Registrar at my local seminary. I have been preaching in my local congregation and sharing in discipleship and connect groups. This is such a wonderful video. Apologetics is so important.
Glad that you found the video helpful and thanks for watching. I would only review the seminary's statement on the doctrine of inspiration and inerrancy. It's important that if you are going to attend, that you will attend a good seminary that teaches and affirms the truthfulness of the Bible, and that they will work hard at helping you successfully complete what ever program that you decide to pursue. God bless.
I talked to you over a year ago before I started a MA at Liberty University. I just finished the course work for the degree last week. I am about the tackle the thesis. Thanks for the words of encouragement!
Doc, I am richly encouraged by your UA-cam channel. Just finished this video. I am enrolled in your NBST-515 class at Liberty. This is my fourth sub-semester, and I am growing more excited by the day. Thanks for the information in this video; upon you suggestion, I purchased Basic Theology by Charles Ryrie. This will be a great companion volume when I take Systemic Theology. I want to keep your UA-cam channel all through my master of arts degree and beyond. I will be send some financial support in the near future. Be blessed and thanks.
Wade, thanks for the kind words. You made a great purchase, and it will be an acceptable source for your theology courses concerning citing critical works. Not all of your theology profs will share Ryrie's perspective, so be open minded when writing papers for them. Nevertheless, it is a solid foundational work by a thorough scholar. You will never be disappointed. Lastly, I hope to expand the channel and website, so please feel free to remain subscribed to this channel, and if you think of any good questions or issues, then please feel free to suggest them. It may take awhile to get to them, but we always want to address what is relevant for today's viewers. May your tribe increase! Blessings.
Hey thank you for this inspirational video. I am definitely going to use these points to prepare. Right now I am currently trying to decide between going to divinity school and seminary. Correct me if im wrong, here. I know that divinity school has a broad religious focus that is good to help me understand cultures/religions and the view of the bible from the worlds perspective, probably helping pursue evangalism/apologetics. and seminary would help me grow in spirit and knowledge of the bible from the perspective of the church and denomination of the school, helping me be an accurate teacher to the church. If that description is accurate, how can I know which direction to go in when I feel called to both evangelism and some form of preaching? On one hand I know that being able to understand and empathize with those who are secular/pagan helps me to know how to tune the gospel, but it doesnt feel like I would get that cultural understanding, neither from peers nor professors at a seminary. On the other hand I would like to be prepared to preach, but I dont think the secular view of the Bible in divinity school would prepare me to bring spiritual understanding to a congregation.
Wow, great question. First, I recommend that you make sure you go to an Evangelical school. If you do that, then the moniker of “divinity school” or “seminary” is not really an issue. I teach at Liberty University’s divinity school, and it is no different than any other conservative Evangelical seminary. However, when consider a secular “divinity” school, you are spot on about the difference between their “divinity” school and an Evangelical seminary. However, there are very liberal seminaries, so just because a graduate school calls itself a seminary doesn’t mean they will equip you for effective Christian ministry. Here is my advice concerning what you should seek from a seminary/divinity school. You want to thoroughly learn the contents about the Bible while also building your trust in it; especially if you are trying to prepare for ministry. You really don’t want to be trying to do that on your own while interacting with professors who marginalize the Bible, the Christian faith, and the Lord Jesus Christ. Trust me, and I really mean this, learning how the world marginalizes the Bible and the Christian faith is the easiest thing to do because our culture is permeated with that worldview and attitude. You don’t need to pay for a degree from a grad school to become educated about how the world views Christianity and the Bible. And lastly, take it by faith, more and more congregations are being influenced by secular culture, so it won’t be hard to get that perspective from your own congregants. Your challenge will be to convince them that they should reject the world’s view of the scriptures and embrace Jesus’ view of them. I hope this helps. Blessings.
@@askabibleprof7099 This does very much! Thank you! How can I know if a seminary / evangelical school will help in the area that I align as it pertains to a denomination? For example here in chicago is moody bible institute which is made up of mostly calvanist theology. But since I dont follow that viewpoint wouldnt it be hard to digest the core takeaways of the classes? Do you know any good resources for sorting through schools based on denomination?
@@jesusphreaks6891 Wow again, you don’t make it easy to answer your questions and be brief, lol. First, as far as I know, MBI is an independent non/trans-denominational school, so if you concerned about staying within your denomination, then MBI may not be for you. Second, putting MBI’s “theological viewpoint” a side, no one should avoid having their theological viewpoints challenged while preparing for ministry. Remember, you are basically seeking education, which inherently should challenge you. There is no value in seeking training of any type that will simply affirm you for what you already believe, whether what you believe is error or poorly defended. On top of that, no student should assume that their profs agree with everything that the student believes-that’s simply not realistic. So expect to be challenged, and hopefully that will be a positive growth experience for you. Trust me, learning through challenges are a good thing, and it’s what education is all about. Now to the problem of “denominational schools.” Regrettably, many denominations have “confessional statements” or “statements of faith” that their faculty simply sign off on but have no intention of defending. It is the dirty little secret of the Christian educational industrial complex. It’s the minority of schools (seminaries/divinity schools) that expect their faculty to defend and promote with integrity their statement of faiths. And regrettably, there is no media source that will help you determine which schools are truly Evangelical and which are sliding down the slope towards liberalism. One thing you might do is review the faculty of any school you are considering, and then do a web search of recent blogs that they have posted, or read books that they have recently published. Also review their critics, you can tell a lot about a school’s critics. For example, if the mainstream media loves your school, then that is a sure sign that the school is trending to a secular/liberal trajectory. Lastly, try to listen to recent interviews, sermons, podcasts, and blogs of the presidents of the schools you are interested in attending. Presidents generally set the trajectory of the schools that they lead. Hope this helps.
@@askabibleprof7099 Thank you once more for the indepth answer. You hit on the next question that was rising up with your thorough response. I thank God to be able to ask a bible professor these questions with such ease. Have a blessed night.
I actually learn a lot thanks more grace
Glad to hear that you found the video helpful. Thanks for watching.
Thank you! I already contacted the Registrar at my local seminary. I have been preaching in my local congregation and sharing in discipleship and connect groups. This is such a wonderful video.
Apologetics is so important.
Glad that you found the video helpful and thanks for watching. I would only review the seminary's statement on the doctrine of inspiration and inerrancy. It's important that if you are going to attend, that you will attend a good seminary that teaches and affirms the truthfulness of the Bible, and that they will work hard at helping you successfully complete what ever program that you decide to pursue. God bless.
I talked to you over a year ago before I started a MA at Liberty University. I just finished the course work for the degree last week. I am about the tackle the thesis. Thanks for the words of encouragement!
Wow, congrats, glad you found the channel beneficial. Blessings.
Doc, I am richly encouraged by your UA-cam channel. Just finished this video. I am enrolled in your NBST-515 class at Liberty. This is my fourth sub-semester, and I am growing more excited by the day. Thanks for the information in this video; upon you suggestion, I purchased Basic Theology by Charles Ryrie. This will be a great companion volume when I take Systemic Theology. I want to keep your UA-cam channel all through my master of arts degree and beyond. I will be send some financial support in the near future. Be blessed and thanks.
Wade, thanks for the kind words. You made a great purchase, and it will be an acceptable source for your theology courses concerning citing critical works. Not all of your theology profs will share Ryrie's perspective, so be open minded when writing papers for them. Nevertheless, it is a solid foundational work by a thorough scholar. You will never be disappointed. Lastly, I hope to expand the channel and website, so please feel free to remain subscribed to this channel, and if you think of any good questions or issues, then please feel free to suggest them. It may take awhile to get to them, but we always want to address what is relevant for today's viewers. May your tribe increase! Blessings.
Wonderful, thank you.
Great, glad you found the video helpful.
Hey thank you for this inspirational video. I am definitely going to use these points to prepare. Right now I am currently trying to decide between going to divinity school and seminary. Correct me if im wrong, here. I know that divinity school has a broad religious focus that is good to help me understand cultures/religions and the view of the bible from the worlds perspective, probably helping pursue evangalism/apologetics. and seminary would help me grow in spirit and knowledge of the bible from the perspective of the church and denomination of the school, helping me be an accurate teacher to the church.
If that description is accurate, how can I know which direction to go in when I feel called to both evangelism and some form of preaching? On one hand I know that being able to understand and empathize with those who are secular/pagan helps me to know how to tune the gospel, but it doesnt feel like I would get that cultural understanding, neither from peers nor professors at a seminary. On the other hand I would like to be prepared to preach, but I dont think the secular view of the Bible in divinity school would prepare me to bring spiritual understanding to a congregation.
Wow, great question. First, I recommend that you make sure you go to an Evangelical school. If you do that, then the moniker of “divinity school” or “seminary” is not really an issue. I teach at Liberty University’s divinity school, and it is no different than any other conservative Evangelical seminary. However, when consider a secular “divinity” school, you are spot on about the difference between their “divinity” school and an Evangelical seminary. However, there are very liberal seminaries, so just because a graduate school calls itself a seminary doesn’t mean they will equip you for effective Christian ministry.
Here is my advice concerning what you should seek from a seminary/divinity school. You want to thoroughly learn the contents about the Bible while also building your trust in it; especially if you are trying to prepare for ministry. You really don’t want to be trying to do that on your own while interacting with professors who marginalize the Bible, the Christian faith, and the Lord Jesus Christ. Trust me, and I really mean this, learning how the world marginalizes the Bible and the Christian faith is the easiest thing to do because our culture is permeated with that worldview and attitude. You don’t need to pay for a degree from a grad school to become educated about how the world views Christianity and the Bible. And lastly, take it by faith, more and more congregations are being influenced by secular culture, so it won’t be hard to get that perspective from your own congregants. Your challenge will be to convince them that they should reject the world’s view of the scriptures and embrace Jesus’ view of them. I hope this helps. Blessings.
@@askabibleprof7099 This does very much! Thank you! How can I know if a seminary / evangelical school will help in the area that I align as it pertains to a denomination? For example here in chicago is moody bible institute which is made up of mostly calvanist theology. But since I dont follow that viewpoint wouldnt it be hard to digest the core takeaways of the classes? Do you know any good resources for sorting through schools based on denomination?
@@jesusphreaks6891 Wow again, you don’t make it easy to answer your questions and be brief, lol. First, as far as I know, MBI is an independent non/trans-denominational school, so if you concerned about staying within your denomination, then MBI may not be for you. Second, putting MBI’s “theological viewpoint” a side, no one should avoid having their theological viewpoints challenged while preparing for ministry. Remember, you are basically seeking education, which inherently should challenge you. There is no value in seeking training of any type that will simply affirm you for what you already believe, whether what you believe is error or poorly defended. On top of that, no student should assume that their profs agree with everything that the student believes-that’s simply not realistic. So expect to be challenged, and hopefully that will be a positive growth experience for you. Trust me, learning through challenges are a good thing, and it’s what education is all about.
Now to the problem of “denominational schools.” Regrettably, many denominations have “confessional statements” or “statements of faith” that their faculty simply sign off on but have no intention of defending. It is the dirty little secret of the Christian educational industrial complex. It’s the minority of schools (seminaries/divinity schools) that expect their faculty to defend and promote with integrity their statement of faiths. And regrettably, there is no media source that will help you determine which schools are truly Evangelical and which are sliding down the slope towards liberalism. One thing you might do is review the faculty of any school you are considering, and then do a web search of recent blogs that they have posted, or read books that they have recently published. Also review their critics, you can tell a lot about a school’s critics. For example, if the mainstream media loves your school, then that is a sure sign that the school is trending to a secular/liberal trajectory. Lastly, try to listen to recent interviews, sermons, podcasts, and blogs of the presidents of the schools you are interested in attending. Presidents generally set the trajectory of the schools that they lead. Hope this helps.
@@askabibleprof7099 Thank you once more for the indepth answer. You hit on the next question that was rising up with your thorough response. I thank God to be able to ask a bible professor these questions with such ease. Have a blessed night.