Search the Scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of Me." John 6:39 [KJV]
In seventh and eighth grade (1967-1969) church catechism class was conducted by Pastor Keith. This class prepared us for the "Rite of Confirmation" when we renewed our baptismal vows spoken for us by our parents and godparents when we were infants.
Catechism was not as expected. A Catechism book was used in our study. We memorized printed answers to printed questions and the Bible seemed to take second place. Being in the last row, where I could not see, did not help my concentration, but "we must sit alphabetically."
Thumbing through the Bible I read a text that was so impressive that I wrote it in large letters in my catechism book, "We ought to obey God rather than man," Acts 5:29.
We were required to memorize the catechism's version of the Ten Commandments.
One day in Catechism we were studying the Sabbath commandment, third in the Catechism, fourth in the Bible, when Kurt asked, "Why are the catechism's Ten Commandments different from the Bible's?"
Pastor Keith asked if anyone had mentioned this to him. Kurt said his grandmother had.
The pastor said the Bible and Catechism agree on everything, then changed the subject.
Kurt persisted and the class urged him on. As he read the Sabbath commandment from the Bible and then from the Catechism we were amazed they did not agree. Kurt pointed out that the Bible specified the seventh day of the week as the Sabbath, not Sunday the first day as the pastor taught.
Pastor Keith angrily snapped, "Do not mention this subject again! You are too young to understand, you do not know anything! You have not even been confirmed! You are to take my word for what the Bible says and accept it!"
He dismissed us early under a veil of fear and confusion.
. Questions were raised such as, “Why does the Bible say one thing and the catechism another? Why does the pastor get upset if we ask Bible questions?”
On Confirmation Sunday the pastor gave each confirmand a personal Bible text. Mine was, "lo, I am with you always even unto the end of the world," Matthew 28:20. I had never heard this text before, and it filled me with questions and awe; "the end of the world?"
In seventh and eighth grade (1967-1969) church catechism class was conducted by Pastor Keith. This class prepared us for the "Rite of Confirmation" when we renewed our baptismal vows spoken for us by our parents and godparents when we were infants.
Catechism was not as expected. A Catechism book was used in our study. We memorized printed answers to printed questions and the Bible seemed to take second place. Being in the last row, where I could not see, did not help my concentration, but "we must sit alphabetically."
Thumbing through the Bible I read a text that was so impressive that I wrote it in large letters in my catechism book, "We ought to obey God rather than man," Acts 5:29.
We were required to memorize the catechism's version of the Ten Commandments.
One day in Catechism we were studying the Sabbath commandment, third in the Catechism, fourth in the Bible, when Kurt asked, "Why are the catechism's Ten Commandments different from the Bible's?"
Pastor Keith asked if anyone had mentioned this to him. Kurt said his grandmother had.
The pastor said the Bible and Catechism agree on everything, then changed the subject.
Kurt persisted and the class urged him on. As he read the Sabbath commandment from the Bible and then from the Catechism we were amazed they did not agree. Kurt pointed out that the Bible specified the seventh day of the week as the Sabbath, not Sunday the first day as the pastor taught.
Pastor Keith angrily snapped, "Do not mention this subject again! You are too young to understand, you do not know anything! You have not even been confirmed! You are to take my word for what the Bible says and accept it!"
He dismissed us early under a veil of fear and confusion.
. Questions were raised such as, “Why does the Bible say one thing and the catechism another? Why does the pastor get upset if we ask Bible questions?”
On Confirmation Sunday the pastor gave each confirmand a personal Bible text. Mine was, "lo, I am with you always even unto the end of the world," Matthew 28:20. I had never heard this text before, and it filled me with questions and awe; "the end of the world?"
1 comment:
Oh, that we all kept that childhood curiosity God gave us! Those were valid questions we should all explore more fully.
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