The Bible as a Textbook or, The Lord Helps Him who Helps Himself.

Years ago I started a class in zoology as I started most other classes. I told the students that there would be reading assignments in the text, that the text was an important ancillary to the class, and I asked if they all had gotten their book. One student held up a well-worn Bible and said “this is the only book I need.” Ok, I thought, no point in getting into an argument here. I had a brief conversation with the student after class, and he reaffirmed that he didn’t need a textbook because he could find all he needed in his Bible.

He came to class regularly after that and listened to the discussions on various animal groups and the evolutionary processes at work. He didn’t interact much with me or other students. He was home schooled. When I graded the first exam, all essay questions, he failed. His paper was nearly blank. A few snippets remembered from class, but nothing more. I asked him to talk to me after class, and he affirmed that he would not be buying a textbook, and that he would do much better on the next exam.

He failed every quiz and exam, and failed the class. He never lost his faith that he would in the end pass, and his faith in this regard failed him. I have had other very religious students over the years, and they have done as well as others. I had a young man take my Evolution course who started out on the first day by saying to the class “I am a Christian. I don’ believe in Evloution. I believe that God made everything you see as you see it.” He had a Bible with him, and he also had the textbook. He worked hard, did well and passed with an”A”, never believing a thing he learned. But learn he did.

I have no idea what happened to the first student. He disappeared after that term and I never saw him again. The other, though, went on to FSU and graduated with a degree in Biology. He is now a Chiropractor I think. Good student with a good mind. And there is a moral here: The Lord Helps Him who Helps Himself.

I have had hundreds of students tell me before an exam “I prayed that I will do well on this test.” Some did and some didn’t. My answer was always the same: “I hope you studied too.”

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