From the Inquisitive Mind
2033 words by Ronnika Jackson
In the beginning… when I first decided to attend Xavier University, I was some what hesistant because I knew it was a Catholic college. This was a problem to me because I am not Catholic and do not know much about them other then the fact that their Bible, like mormans, includes extra books. These books are excluded from Protestant bibles and are called the Apocrypha. Because of their altered Bible with books solely written by unspirited-filled men, they seem to worship and pray to \” the Virgin Mary\” more than jesus or god himself. But, to Xavier University , it does not matter whether or not I am catholic or not, nor what major I am persuing, because in order to graduate from here I am required to take at least one semester of theology. The dilemma is the fact that this obligated course is the study of a very contraversial subject. Everyone wants their opinion to be true and resents other opinions. So many things are thoughts but not known. There is an abundance of ideas, but no certainties, and a mass of theories that take the place of what should be laws. It is not like other subjects such as math and science courses, because at least with these coures what is known practically stays the same with a few limited exceptions.No one really argues over what is right and what is wrong since there is a lot of concrete information to base opinions on. There seems to be very little concrete infromation in theology. I do not feel that students should be forced to take this class , and would be more willing to cooperate with their teachers\’ expectations instead of just doing the bare minimum if they were not pushed into taking it.
Pardon me for not introducing myself before my opinion. My name is Ronnika Jackson and I am a former Biology- Premed major, present Prepharm major. I am a sophomore with a limited Bible history. In fact, when I sit back and take a look on how much I actually know about the Bible, unfortunately not much comes to mind. This could be good and it could be bad. Yes, it may seem as if I am a bad person because I do not know a lot about the Bible since it is what a christian is suppose to base their life on, this I can agree with. Knowing that, I know that when it comes to having a discussion dealing with biblical knowledge I am forced to somewhat withstand my opinion since I do not have a lot of facts to back it up. Although I might seem too blunt about it, as though I really do not care, it is far from that. I really do care because I am a very competitive, opinionated individual and I like very much to be involved in discussions, especially on ones that are considered contraversial. I love expressing my opinion and influencing others to join me. the problem was that I never found the true importance of being all into the Bible. As far as facts go, there are not many. even my theology teacher mentions the flaws in some of the verses and the imperfections in translating what has been written. I guess this is why I do not read the Bible and would prefer to read a science or math lecture assignment any day. No one other than my mother has ever really showed an interest in religion in my family, it was and still is mostly about getting an education and becoming someone successful in life. It has always been hard for Black Americans living in the suburbs to become successful in America and therefore that has been the dream of my family history. I am the first child of my parents and therefore it is my job to act as a model for my younger siblings to look up to and copy, showing that no matter what your address, income, or nationality is, you can become someone.
Here at Xavier University, there has been a struggle between me and my surroundings. Honestly, I would prefer to use the credits that theology counts as towards something else more related to my major. For some reason or another, my mind and heart are going in two different directions. I believe it to be due to this class. Just from reading some of the findings in the text, and from jotted down notes, I am becoming interested in what I just wore around my neck as a title. What is christianity? What are the books, how many are they, and who actually wrote them? The more reading assingments I am assigned, the more I am beginning to wonder. Inquisitvely, I look forward to class.
I guess I can blame my lack of knowledge on the fact that I did not enjoy being in church. I did not like to have to get up on the last morning of the weekend to go hear a preacher scream about something for three hours, see people \”catching the Holy Ghost\”, not that I really worried about what that was anyway, and watch the collection basket get passed around. I wanted to stay in bed and get up late, not having to worry about getting up early. Hey, I got up early every morning to go to school five days out of the week, and cleaned up my room on Saturday\’s even though I stayed in the bed most of the day watching cartoons, and was not willing to give up my only day that i could get up late. I only did it because my mother begged me to do so. She would tell me that I would one day wish I had gone to church and listen to the Word, and becasue I did not, I would be sorry.
I am, because now I have to take a theology class and I do not know enough material on the subject to be able to pass the class with out bypassing the assignments and not having to do the assigned worked. I do not think the class is going to be hard in the fact that it would be impossible to pass with an A, I just think, that like all classes here at Xavier University, it is going to need some hard work and effort put into it.
Thwe teacher does not seeem to be that bad, in the fact that he like all other professors here, is looking for our best effort, expecting a lot out of us Xavier students.
Theology was never something that I thought I would be taking, saying that I am a science major. In fact, when I discovered that I would have to take it, I was shocked. I did not know what to expect in this class. Hey, science courses like biology and chemistry are easy courses. Things are the same and as concrete as anything can be. They barely have things change in them and they are all backed up by what has been the out come numerous times, being repeated each time the experiment is performed.
After just looking at the syllabus and listening to my teacher\’s oral demands, it seems as though I will be putting forth a lot more effort towards theology class than in the courses that actually count towards my major. It fells like it is going to be a long semester. Another positive thing I can say about taking this class is the fact that it gives me a little more background on what is actually the foundation of my life, the Bible. This class also reminds me of the History class I took last semester. Some of the turns and events I am familiar with and therefore provides a little background for me to use when reading the text. The second day of class gave me a little more to go on when answering the constant forming questions in my head that I become too embarrassed to ask.
Satisfying the commitments to this class is not a problem. I am perfectly capable of doing it when the occassion seems necessary. At least, all my life it has been that way. I was more concern with coming up with quality in this essay rather than just trying to meet your set quantity. In the future, unlike when completing this essay, I will do my best, especially since my teacher deserve it (it is not his fault that the university made me take his class) , and because that is why I am here; to become the best at what I can do.
Yes, it is true that theology is not my major. I am sure that this is nothing that you do not already know, especially after reading this much of my blog so far. To be honest, I never once thought of another major other than one of the sciences. When children are bruoght up in today\’s society, theology is not one of the things that they are told to become \”when they get older.\” Parents encourage doctors, lawyers, firemen, and astronauts, no one ever promotes anything else. Think about it, did you ever hear a parent tell a child to grow up to be a historian, sociologist, archaeologist, or a theologist? I never once thought of pursuing a career in any of these fields. After thinking about it, I have another reason other than being encouraged by parents from childhood, also is the fact of religion. No one tells their children to grow up and question everything that has been accepted as the normal things in life. No one wants their child to grow up going against what has been thought of as being the truth from generation to generation to generation, etc. One someone does grow up in a \”church\” home, they are told that what they are being taught is the truth and nothing but the truth. When you are a child, everything that comes out of your parents mouth, that really came from your grand parents, which before came from your great grand parents, is what you redeem as truth and not misleading at all. Here is where the problem comes in. If you do take on a job in any of these fields than you are questioning what the Bible says is true. You are searching for answers, for facts that support what the Bible says. These types of acts are looked on as being unfaithful, or being like \”doubting Thomas.\” In order for you to understand the Bible or be able to believe that it is true, you need to dig up some artifacts, or find some ruin that is compatiable to what one of the books in the Bible said. This is just not what is taught, especially not in the community where I grew up.
What was striking to me was when my theology teacher said that one of his goals is to convert his students into theology major, not wanting to be what they were already attending school for. Well, he wanted to at least change our minds about theology to the point where we would at least double major or minor in it. I really would like to see if he could have that great of an influence on me to get me to change my life long dream of doing what I am good at; science.
At first, your class seemed to be somewhat of a Xavier University joke, you know, just one more thing students are obligated to do to get somewhere at this university, but know I see the need for this class. I know when you read this it seems as though my opinion goes back and forth and i do not know whether I want to like the class or not, but it is just because I am trying to take in consideration the university\’s goals, my teacher\’s goals, and my own personal goals all at the same time. I am just going to keep a positive mind and just do what is expected of me.