Should Christianity Be Taught In Public Schools?

1st Amendment, Apologetics, Christianity, freedom of religion, Gospel, Her Faith Inspires, Legislating Morality, Culture & Politics, online Christian courses, separation of church and state, Shanda Fulbright, State Religion, Theocracy
My sixth grader ran through the front door sounding slightly short of breath. “My teacher is teaching a unit on world religions,” he huffed. “He’s going to teach us about Islam, Christianity, Egyptian gods and who knows what else!” As a fifth grade teacher I was aware of the California standards for fifth grade but this surprised me. World religions was part of the sixth grade standards? Low and behold, written into the California content standards for sixth grade social studies is the requirement for students to learn “ancient civilizations, religion, slavery, and delving into Hammurabi’s laws, sections of the Torah (first five books of the Bible), and Confucius.”[1] My surprise wasn’t because I was worried about him learning opposing worldviews. I was surprised the curriculum took the students deep…
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A Student is Not Greater Than His Teacher

Apologetics, Apologetics for Parents, Christian education, Christianity, Culture, discipleship, Her Faith Inspires, Homeschool, https://shandafulbright.com/, Israel, mentoring, pedagogy, Rabbi, Shanda Fulbright, Teacher, teaching, Theology and Christian Apologetics
I still have nightmares about being in college. It usually has something to do with a math final and being unable to graduate without passing it. Why does it always have to be math? I wake up vowing I will never go back to college. One thing that was sure to make or break my semester in university was something some students might not consider before enrolling. It wasn’t the subject. It wasn’t even the course requirements listed on the syllabus. It was something much more important: the teacher. The teacher is a major contributor to whether you succeed or fail a class. Several of my teachers started the first day’s introductions by giving the most un-motivational speech that was sure to make more students drop the class before the…
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Are Today’s Christians Confused About the Gospel?

Apologetics, Christianity, Evangelism, Francis of Assisi, Gospel, Her Faith Inspires, Preaching, salvation, Shanda Fulbright, Theology and Christian Apologetics, Works-Based Religion
A few weeks ago, I created a post that said, “I love apologetics but apologetics is not the gospel.” It wasn’t controversial at all. Just kidding. Come on! We’re talking about social media; the breeding ground of controversy. As a teacher, I often look for the underlying cause of a misunderstanding. I ask myself, “What is the foundational aspect of this message and why didn’t the reader ‘get it’”? With the so-called controversial post about apologetics and the gospel, it became more and more clear that the reader didn’t understand the word “gospel.” A Simple Question So, I created a survey that asked, “What is the gospel?” I got a varying degree of answers that included: Sharing the gospel is praying for someone. Sharing the gospel is sharing my testimony.…
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What Babylon Teaches The Church About Discipleship

Apologetics, Apologetics for Parents, Babylon, Christianity, Culture, Daniel, discipleship, faith, Her Faith Inspires, https://shandafulbright.com/, Israel, Shanda Fulbright, Theology and Christian Apologetics
When you hear the word “disciple” does your mind go back to the first century where a group of twelve men followed Jesus and helped him pass out baskets full of loaves and fish? The word “disciple” is often associated with Christianity, and for good reason. The Great Commission in Matthew 28:19 commands every Christian to “go out and make disciples of all nations.” It’s no wonder that people’s idea of discipleship is linked only to religious groups. My goal isn’t to change your mind that discipleship is a must when it comes to Christianity. My goal is to get you to think more deeply when it comes to what it means to disciple and be discipled. I’ll start with the claim that discipleship is not isolated to Christianity. And…
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