Summit Ministries

By Amanda Haymond

Greetings from Summit Ministries! So far, so good-- day four was just as fun and exciting as Monday and Tuesday. Summit is really living up to its reputation for challenging students and boggling minds. Today's primary speaker was Dr. J.P. Moreland. A well educated philosopher, Dr. Moreland dove right into the tough stuff. I actually enjoyed his lectures because they were deep, but also understandable. Dr. Moreland delivered three lectures today: Evidence for the Existence of God, and a two-part discussion on the worldview of Post-Modernism. Before attending this class, I thought Post-Modernism was something out of an art exhibit. Who knew that it was one of the six major worldviews?

Dr. Noebel also began his morning lectures with Bible hour, and evening lectures with a worldview overview. He is probably one of my favorite speakers because of his understandability and humor. I learned a lot and enjoyed the rabbit trails along the way. I know we all all enjoy his step by step style and humorous comments.

Today in place of afternoon sports time we had free time, or at least, after the Bible exam. The Bible exam is a 180 question test with questions on Biblical history and passages from Genesis to Revelation, let's just say that we were all ready to finish up and enjoy our free time. I'm anxious to see my score tomorrow like everyone else. All in all, though, it really opened my eyes to how much I know about the bible.

During my free time today, I walked to downtown Manitou Springs. There are so many little shops to explore, which was really refreshing. I'm going to find a way to get back down there soon. The shops in Manitou are very unique. Today I was admiring some earrings made with laminated butterfly wings. Quite pretty, but a little unusual. Needless to say, my friend and I had a laugh when we saw them.

We finished tonight with a video on America's Godly Heritage. While I admit to being very tired after everything we've done, I did manage to stay awake through the video. It was interesting to see the charted effects taking prayer, the 10 Commandments, and religious references out of the public schools has on education. I went to a public school last year for high school, and was awakened to the rather "unmentionable" quality the Bible seemed to take on in certain classes. The charts just reaffirmed how detrimental to the students it was to remove the moral fiber from the classroom. Lower tests scores, higher teenage pregnancy rates and higher STD rates, higher violent crime rates, etc. This Wednesday at Summit was yet another eye-opening experience.