Craig Ginn

Two weeks ago our site had the opportunity to learn about Church History from Craig Ginn, a World Religions professor from the University of Lethbridge. Craig covered a range of topics including historical and religious methods of studying church history, scientific proof that backs up the Bible and different revolutionaries that contributed greatly to the development of the Church.
I learned a few important lessons for myself during the week. For instance, reading the Bible in context through the author’s eyes as opposed to from my own point of view. I learned that doing a bit of research by exploring the time period and culture of the people in the context can completely change the way I understand the Bible.
"Israel does not have a story to sanitize but a record to report" was one of Craig’s key phrases. What this means is that the authors of the Bible did not try to cover up any of Israel’s shameful history. Many nations would have altered their history when recording it if, say, their King had an affair and then murdered his adulteress’s husband, as in the case with King David and Bathsheba. Or say, when Mary Magdalene was the first person to see our resurrected Lord. If reading the story through the historical view of the author’s eyes, one would know that back in those days a woman’s word meant nothing. So for the author to have written that Mary Magdalene was the first woman to proclaim Jesus’ resurrection gives more credibility to the story. Accounts like this and many others offer proof that the contents of the Bible are in fact true.
And finally, as Tim Bartsch had mentioned the week before, God often has a way of speaking through "rabbit trails," meaning that sometimes the seemingly off-topic conversations are the ways in which God teaches us the most important lessons. This was often the case with Craig, whether through his sharing stories about personal lessons, after-class conversations or random questions. On his last day with us, Craig shared a personal story from which I was able to learn much. Craig told of a time in his life when he’d learnt about the importance of obeying God when He called him to do something. Initially he’d procrastinated, but eventually Craig followed God’s leading and was greatly blessed through it. From his sharing, I was able to see the need to obey the voice of God in my own life. Learning from Craig’s story, I obeyed God and shared my own personal vulnerability, and was also greatly blessed for it. It was a great lesson that I’d learned through the rabbit-trails in which God works!

By Linda Fehr

Craig Ginn sharing a stories with the class.