Central Bible College

Bible college was definitely a mixed bag of tricks when it came to good and bad experiences. I know that God led me to Central Bible College and there were definitely some good experiences I had there. For one thing, I flourished academically for the first time in my life there. I made friendships that have impacted and continue to impact my life. In the midst of what was not the best environment for me there were a few professors who were unique for where they were and they recognized my unique talents and abilities and encouraged them, even when it meant breaking their rules to accommodate them.

But, that said, I was as about as out of place at CBC as a roast pig at a kosher wedding. Central Bible College was and is primarily a denominational preacher's college. Their main purpose is to produce pulpit preachers who tow the line, positionally speaking, according to denominational theology. I, on the other hand, didn't go to college to study and memorize denominational position papers and put the denominations particular spin on biblical interpretation on a pedestal above genuine scholarship. I went to college to learn the skills and gain the knowledge and tools necessary to test, challenge and own my beliefs.

I am not the kind of person who can just accept something as factual just because I am told it is the truth. God did not wire me that way. I don't care if you are the foremost expert in your field in the entire world, I am not going to just take you at your word. I want to be presented with the evidence or the facts, so that I can test it for myself. Only then, once I have seen the proof and decided for myself can I own the knowledge or belief as my own. Up until that time it was just heresy evidence that belonged to somebody else. This is something that has served me very well all my life. It has kept me from rushing in to things that were completely foolish and it has forced me to examine things that initially my first reaction was to reject, but on further examination found to be true.

This practice put me at real odds at CBC. They didn't want someone who thought that way. They expected you to just trust them and memorize their positions then go forth and regurgitate them. They didn't like their positions being challenged, especially when some of them were only loosely based on scripture, at best, and were based more on a few men's preferences. And when it came to doctrine, they really didn't want a critical thinker operating there. Being Pentecostal, there were certain areas were practice had trumped scripture and they were not interested in open dialogue that challenged those positions. Learning was obviously intended to be a one way street designed to strip away individualism and replace it with denominational collectivism. I am sure if you completely agree with their views, your opinion would be quite different.

All tolled this added up to a less than satisfying experience for me at Central Bible College. Although, in retrospect, had I not gone there I never would have discovered my talent for writing or how creative a thinker I really am, I never would have made the friendships that I made, I never would have had professors I respected acknowledge in me an advanced aptitude for biblical scholarship, I would never have begun to really understand what it means to be uniquely created as an individual by God, I would never have had my first teaching experiences as an English teacher, and so many more things that God did for me and through me that would not have happened had I not gone to CBC.


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