Cornerstone Curriculum, Official Certification Edition - Mentor's Guide

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is not completely the same as other academic disciplines. Our minds cannot comprehend God in his infinite mystery and unfathomable purposes. Being smart or academically experienced is no reason for confidence that a person will truly understand God. On the contrary, when we human beings come to the study of God, all of us stand on a level playing field: he is completely beyond us! Therefore, any true understanding of God will come through the gracious work of the Holy Spirit. Confident students should humbly acknowledge that their ability to memorize facts or manipulate concepts will not make them into theologians. They are completely dependent on the Spirit for true understanding. On the other hand, apprehensive students should be assured that if God has made them leaders in his Church and has brought them to this class for training, his Spirit is more than able to give them wisdom and understanding for the task. They, too, are completely dependent on the Spirit of God. Everyone who receives training in theology must come to rely on the promise of Christ: John 14.26 – But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. As you introduce this assignment, please assure the students that you are not looking for high quality art work! Give the students 2-3 minutes to think of an idea and put it down on paper. After students have finished drawing, invite them to share their drawings with the whole group if the class is small, or break into small groups to share if the class is large. As each student shares they should explain why they chose to draw what they did and how it represents the Holy Spirit to them. Transition to lesson: “People often have a difficult time understanding and relating to the Holy Spirit. Since it is common in our lives to be around fathers and sons, we have some starting point for understanding what it means to talk about God the Father or God the Son. It is much tougher to relate the title “Holy Spirit” to anything in our everyday experience. As we go through the lesson, stay alert for ideas that make it easier to understand who the Holy Spirit is and how we can explain this to others.”

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