Looking back on 2006-07

[Christiantech]

I was just thinking about how I integrated the Bible into my Computer
Science classes this past year. More than that, how did I integrate a
Christian Worldview? Thought I'd share some of the ways with all of
you here...
1) I reminded students that we Christians need to be ready to defend
our beliefs. This includes opinions that we have about the use of
technology, music players, game systems, video and audio filesharing,
as well as "fair use" of intellectual property (including that
online).
2) I spoke of Christians as being put "in charge" of the earth; that
is, we are stewards of all of God's creation. This includes things
that man creates out of raw materials God gives us. Many times, we
spoke about repairing and/or recycling before just "throwing out"
something that doesn't seem to work.
3) We talked about the fact that work can bring us joy and
fulfillment. God created us to glorify Him, and that the work we do
should bring honor and glory to the Father. This includes the work of
our hands as well as our minds.
4) When our school guidance counselor, Rhonda Meyer, died in an
automobile accident... I shared thoughts with the students about how
unpredictable and fleeting life is. Yet we have a God who loves us. We
don't always understand His ways, but that there is a purpose and a
plan in everything that happens. Rhonda's death was not, in fact, an
"accident" from God's perspective. It is up to us who remain to bring
meaning and purpose to her death, and to talk about victory over death
through Jesus our Lord.
5) When tragedy struck Virginia Tech, I spoke about the connection
that we all have; even though we may not have had any personal
relationships with any of the victims or their families, we are all
touched when such senseless tragedy occurs. I encouraged students to
reach out to fellow students at our school who may not belong to the
same social group, and even to reach across ethnic barriers. Our faith
makes us all brothers and sisters in Christ, regardless of gender,
age, ethnicity, and other social differences.
6) We talked about the obligations that are mandated in Scripture to
provide for the poor and needy; I read an article in "Bicycling"
Magazine about a "Bike Africa" program that had been implemented, and
had mixed results. We talked about sin and the effects it has on
society. Why do so many attempts to bring economic success to African
nations meet with disaster and failure? What does God say in the
Scriptures about the poor? Can laziness play a role?
7) One of our projects was to develop a personal budget based on real
salary information and investigated real life costs of living, after
college or career. I spoke about the fact that God wants us to succeed
and be prosperous. The parable of the talents was discussed, and we
talked about debt and sensible management of one's finances. Giving of
a tenth of one's income to the church was required in the budget that
was developed. Students were surprised to have quite a bit of money
left over after expenses. We talked about the fact that planning and
budgeting can help one achieve one's goals. It can lead to debt-free
living, which opens up possibilities of service to God in many ways.
8) In Computer Programming class, we talked about the many ways in
which Computer Science is used to help improve the quality of life. We
discovered the many ways in which computer chips and programs are
built in to instruments, devices, communication systems, management of
natural resources and all kinds of scientific simulations. There
literally is no area of work in which computer science has NOT had an
impact.