Blog: Max Dawson
December 24, 2015
Every Wednesday morning during the school year I have opportunity to spend about 15 minutes with Middle School kids. I teach a simple Bible lesson of some sort each week. Someone might ask, “Is it legal to teach the Bible in a public school?”
Indeed, it is legal. It is a Bible Club. Students have the right to organize clubs of their choosing. It might be a chess club or might relate to some other hobby or activity. Some schools even have atheist clubs. So, there is no problem in having a Bible study club. There has to be a teacher who serves as sponsor, even though the club is technically organized by the kids. For the past seven years I have been teaching on Wednesday mornings during the school year.
The name of the school will remain anonymous. Though what we are doing is completely legal, I don’t want some atheist group hassling the school over this. It is often the case that when schools get hassled, they cancel activities like this–even though such activities are constitutionally protected.
In any case, the last two weeks I talked to the kids about Christmas. These are good kids, smart kids, and many of whom are from religious families. Their ages run from 12 to 14 years old. Here are some questions I asked them. Answer these for yourself. The answers are found in the green block below. (Don’t look ahead!)
1. What was unique about the birth of Jesus?
2. What is the date of Jesus’ birthday?
3. How many kings came to the birth of Jesus in the manger?
4. Was Christmas observed by the earliest Christians?
5. Is it important to know that Jesus was born of a virgin?
THE ANSWERS TO THE QUESTIONS ABOVE
1. Jesus was born without a human Father. He is the Son of God (Luke 1:26-35).
2. Contrary to popular opinion, no one knows. The Bible never tells the date.
3. The number of kings is unknown. The Bible actually calls them “wise men” or “magi.” We know only that there was more than one (Matthew 2:1-16). According to this text Jesus may have been as much as two years old when the wise men came. They did not find Him in a manger, but in a house.
4. It was not. The early Christians memorialized Jesus’ death–not His birth–by their observance of the Lord’s Supper on the first day of the week (Acts 20:7; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26).
5. Indeed, it is important. And the proof of it is equally important. The fact that Jesus was raised from the dead declares Him to be the Son of God (Romans 1:4).
(Note: I like to ask question #5 because of what the youth minister taught at the denomination I attended when I was about 13. He taught us that it was only important that Jesus was born–not whether or not He was born of a virgin! Shame!)
While the questions above might seem easy and fundamental to you, they are really eye-opening to most 13-year-old kids. I found that these kids are taught more about traditions at their churches rather than what is in the Bible.
Even though I only get about 15 minutes a week with these kids, that time can still do a lot of good. I try to plant the seed in their hearts in hope that they will remember the things they have learned at this age. Who knows what good it might do in the years to come!
Blessings to all,
–Max