THE TENSION OF LIVING
BETWEEN THE LINES
As Christians, we
find ourselves in tension. This tension may be expressed
in different ways: the already vs. the not yet; the seen vs. the unseen (the
physical reality governed by its absolutes vs. the spiritual reality governed
by its absolutes); the uncertainty of the present vs. the certainty of the
future. Ironically, it is our very faith
that gives rise to the tension. We're on
a time line moving toward what God has determined and promised. We are in the world but not of the
world. We don't know what the immediate
future holds, but we do know who holds the future and whose we are. Living in this tension is neither
contradictory nor illogical. It is positive
(full of hope).
Non
Christians are also in tension governed by their unbelief:
the uncertainty of the next moment vs. the certainty that there will be a final
moment; the tension of the unknown vs. the known. This is life without hope.
AN OVERALL PERSPECTIVE ON WHAT TO TEACH
Teaching can be thought of as equipping people for
learning. The obvious first thing to
teach is the basic tool for learning (reading) and its companion for
remembering and expression (writing).
What the teacher endeavors to instill in his pupils is the joy of learning, discovering, and creating. If he is successful, his students will be
self-motivated to explore and produce works of their own upon which others can
build. The problem the teacher must deal
with in the real world is epistemological in nature: how to teach students to identify facts or truth; how to
identify unstated presuppositions or
hidden assumptions; how to reason from one point to the next
without logical breaks or gaps. In other
words, the challenge in today's world is not to impart all kinds of information
to students, it is to teach critical1 objective2 thinking in every
subject and discipline. Toward this end,
students will need exposure to and experience with all kinds of learning and
creating tools as well as subject matter. Throughout the schooling process the teacher
must train students to evaluate and reason through the information they are
given. It is a matter of practicing thinking together.
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1 Untrusting, not accepting at face value or allowing to stand without challenge.
2 Giving consideration to other less popular explanations that are
coherent (logically self-consistent) and comport with the real world.