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Math: A Neutral Subject?

Andrea G. Schwartz
  • Andrea G. Schwartz
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One of the women I mentor who participates in my Women of Honour Skype Bible Study teaches high school math* in a girls’ school in the U.K. She shared with the group an experience she had recently. As you can see, no one has to go outside one’s sphere of influence to proclaim the Crown Rights of Jesus Christ.

"I have recently taught converting between measures to a group of year 9 students (grade 9 - 13/14 year olds). I like to challenge my girls to think, as they are very spoon-fed in the state school system. At the start of today's lesson I wrote: "Does God care whether we measure accurately?" on the board and asked the students to write their responses in their books.

Their reaction took me by surprise. It was as if I had dropped a nuclear bomb in my classroom. The students immediately became very hostile toward each other and toward me, which is VERY unusual in my normally calm classroom. I was expecting:


· The view that God has to love us all as we are, no matter what. (Love to them defined as tolerance.)
· The Deist view (that God has left us to do as we please) to come up (which it did), but was shocked by the anger and venom in their response.

These are normally very sweet, quiet, Catholic girls, yet today they were anything but that.

I did have the opportunity to share Proverbs 11:1 ("Dishonest scales are an abomination to the LORD, but a just weight is His delight") explaining that inaccurate measures could lead to breaking the 8th Commandment.

The majority of the class was very hostile to the message, but some students did write this down and I believe will consider what I was trying to share with them. I have certainly learnt much from this experience and will have to seek the Lord for wisdom as I proceed to try to establish an understanding of the ways of God.

This experience has made me more aware that there is a battle on and it is a fierce one. The need to reform society to the ways of God is so great. I am so grateful that we have the opportunity to participate in this study and pray that God will use us all in this task as we see His Kingdom advancing.”

*Mathematics: Is God Silent? is available from www.ChalcedonStore.com