Skip to main content

Moore College graduation

Last night (Wed 12 March 08) was my graduation from Moore Theological College. 104 people were graduating, 45 of us with the Bachelor of Divinity degree.
It felt funny to be with my Moore College buddies again, but in such a formal environment. I'm used to just hanging out with them, seeing them in t-shirts & jeans - not those huge bulky heavy hot academic gowns.
My parents were there; I also had guests from church & Subcontinental Bible Ministry. Everyone congratulated me, told me how proud they were of my achievements... my host family, George & Lyn, gave me a bunch of roses (!), SBM gave me a card. It was a great celebration, I felt very honoured.
I hope this doesn't sound overly pious... but I never thought of my studies as academic achievement. The real value for me was always the increased clarity into what the bible actually says - so I can explain it to other people more accurately, and worship God more thoroughly myself. So getting the actual degree is almost an afterthought. The real value is in being deeply confronted by the word of God, and having it work me over for four years.
Which is why I like the way Moore graduations always emphasise the ongoing ministry that the graduates are involved in. It's not the degree itself that matters; it's what the experience of study has done to you: who you have become; and what you're going to do with it.

Comments

Nixter said…
Congrats Kamal :)
Anonymous said…
Congratulations Kamal. Sorry I didn't get to congratulate you in person - I was there, but didn't see you after the ceremony.
ian said…
congrats kamal look at the tasmanian christian convention web site for the cricket trophy photo. god bless

ian waterhouse

Popular posts from this blog

The different distractions of secularity and spirituality

There has been a lot of discussion about the recent 'vibe shift' away from radical atheism back towards an openness to the supernatural. I don't think this new spirituality is necessarily an openness to the unique claims of Christ. It will more probably replace one set of commonly-accepted misunderstandings about Jesus with another.  Under radical atheism, people dismissed the Biblical claims about Jesus' resurrection because they 'knew' that it was impossible. Jesus hadn't really died. He just passed out (after being beaten and whipped and crucified) and then woke up in the tomb (and rolled away the stone himself and overcame several guards). Or the disciples hallucinated that they saw him (even though Jewish beliefs of the time didn't expect one person to rise possessing eternal life himself; they expected a general resurrection at the end of time - see John 11:24 ). Or something else.  The so-called 'explanations' of Jesus' non-resurrectio...

A better understanding of nonbelief

The Nones Project is an ongoing study into the belief systems of people who call themselves non-religious. A few weeks ago one of the project leaders,  Ryan Burge  of Washington University,  posted some really interesting preliminary results  on his Substack.  1. We've probably heard of people who are spiritual but not religious (SBNRs). SBNRs were "the largest group of nones" in the sample. They believe in the supernatural realm but not necessarily in "a God." They are "deeply skeptical of religion but highly interested in spirituality," therefore individualistic and anti-institutional.  2. But this study differentiated SBNRs from people they called Nones In Name Only, NiNos. They different to SBNRs by being religious about their spiritual. They believe not just in the supernatural but in "God." And they tend to engage in traditional communal religious practices while SBNRs practice individualised eclectic bespoke spiritual practices. The s...

Wax and Wright on the definition of "mission"

Trevin Wax has written a clear, simple, and charitable introduction to a debate about the nature and boundaries of the kinds of Christian activities that validly should be called "mission." In brief:  Should we use a broad definition, where "mission" encompasses all the various purposes which God calls Christians and the church in general to perform, e.g. being ethical at work; general acts of care and charity; standing against systematic oppression and working towards justice instead? If so, "evangelism" is only one part of the church's mission - a central, necessary, and irreplaceable part, but only one part nonetheless. The latter kinds of activities don't save anyone for eternity, but they do genuine good in this world which please God. And that kind of good makes a real difference in many parts of the world which have not benefited from the kind of Christian moral transformation which the West benefited from - the kind of moral transformation...