
Exploring Christianity Week
There are many big questions in life. How did the world begin? What is the purpose of life? What happens after death?
At Shore, we have an amazing opportunity to investigate the Christian faith, which provides answers to many of these questions through the Bible, and the life of Jesus, the Son of God. Last week was a special week where students were given extra opportunities to engage with Christianity and ask questions.
One of the special events for the week was having a student guest speaker in Chapel, Year 12 student Charlie C-J. Looking at the School’s New Testament reading in 1 Peter, Charlie spoke about how God has made Jesus, the one who was rejected by His people, the cornerstone in rebuilding the temple, and how each person who believes in Him are living stones building the house of the Lord.
At recess after Chapel on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday was ‘Chips ‘n’ Chat’. This was a chance for boys to ask questions and hear biblical answers as well as answers from the knowledge and experience of Christian Studies teachers and Old Boys. Discussions spanned various topics, including how God can use suffering and grief for good and how we should approach reading the Bible.
On top of this, each lunchtime from Monday to Wednesday, Old Boys presented seminars on various topics regarding the Christian faith. On Monday, Old Boy Mr David Kellahan (’20) spoke on the topic of whether the Bible is reliable. Mr Kellahan began by mentioning that since the Bible claims to be the ultimate authority, looking to anything else to prove its reliability surrenders this claim, so the Bible should be proved with the Bible. Boys heard how after Jesus rose again and ascended, His Spirit was poured out on the apostles, which allowed them to perform miracles and gave them a particular authority when determining what can be considered scripture. Another key point was the fact that the Bible is so internally consistent, with about 40 authors over hundreds of years all writing about the same person.
On Tuesday, Old Boy Mr Mac Green (‘18) was answering the question “How do I become a Christian?” Mr Green began by providing his own testimony and how he initially went to Youth Group during the assignment in Year 9 before church in Year 12. Between these two occasions, Mr Green considered his position in relation to God, and as God worked in his life, he decided to put his trust in Jesus. Mr Green went on to explain how the first step in the process is to understand that we fall short of God’s standards and have all sinned, despite everything God has provided us with, ultimately rejecting Him and going our own way. The good news is that we can put our faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus, who died in our place, so if we believe in Him, we have eternal life. When we trust in him, our lives should be changed so that we are trying to live for Jesus, not ourselves.
On Wednesday, Old Boy Mr Jesse Cochrane (’23) addressed the co-existence of science and God. Mr Cochrane mentioned how Christian scientists were very common in history, linking this to the belief that the world can be understood in its consistency since there is one God who created and sustains the world, holding all things together. He also spoke about how things like science and God are not necessarily mutually exclusive. For example, just because a human is made up of molecules does not mean they cannot also be a son or a brother.
In addition, Old Boys were visiting Christian Studies classes throughout the week and answering boys’ questions, while our CRU group also took place as usual on Friday lunchtime. Overall, it was a great week of investigation and exploration of Christianity, and I would encourage boys to continue to think about what they believe, as our School is unique in the many great ways we can learn about the Christian faith. A great resource is Mr Kellahan’s Monday and Friday recess Christianity Explored sessions for the next few weeks in the CS breakout area.
Daniel B
Year 11
