So I have this kid in class who, when talking about ethnic strife over religious differences, announces that he is going to hell. When I asked why he believed that, he told me that he thought the Pope was just some dude, and not really given power by God. I suppose this is heresy in the Catholic Church. What power they have, as well as many other churches.
He asked me if I believed in evolution. I answered in the affirmative.
“How can you believe in evolution when the Bible said that we were created in seven days?”
I got into my explaination that time is something that man could have invented and that perhaps God would see time in a different matter. He asked if people could change time now. I said, “Sure, let’s make a minute an hour and all go home!”
It’s weird talking about this stuff with students. I don’t feel comfortable either talking about it or not. I’m always careful to emphasize that what I say are my views, and that they are to come to their own conclusions. Probably the thing I said about time was the most radical thing they’ve heard in a while. It is odd teaching about ethnic religious conflict in an area where there are some pretty extreme Christian views. Strangely, it helped them to relate.
It was interesting.
