The college of Christian Studies

Studies of Saul

“Learning to the highest degree of Christian studies ”

The University of Saints and College for Christian Studies offers programs at every level of Christian Spiritual life in an extended online campus. With easy access to courses, you are closer than ever before to engaging and completing your program. We can take you as far as you feel led to go in studies.

Nice to own solid rich life in Heaven. It contains all the information you need to get your studies going and moving toward great achievements and to get start.

Drive life to all joy and richness in God which is everlasting and a great life for ever.

Courses:

Opening of registration will be notified later.

Courses and studies

Diploma in Saints life studies and assignments to be a saint
Bible Study Courses
Person in charge of Prayer Groups- Leadership Training and Planning
Master in Christian Philosophy online Courses
Vocation to be a preiest.
Welcome to Understanding Christianity through its Scriptures. Today, Christianity is a global religion. From modest beginnings 2020 years ago, it has grown to encompass nearly a third of the human population. Diverse in languages and cultures, histories and creeds, Christians nonetheless share a common collection of sacred scriptures called the Bible. This course introduces you to these scriptures. You might ask why learn about the sacred scriptures of Christians? Indeed, why study religion? One motivation is surely the fact that religions have an enormous impact on many aspects of our complex changing world, on group belonging and identity, on art and architecture, on the understanding of current events, on controversies over ethical and moral issues, on violence and justice, and much more. Studying Christian scriptures will help us understand better the impact of Christianity on these and other issues. Christians are not, however, the same everywhere. Although Christianity is a global religion, people live and practice their traditions locally. In its long history, Christianity has shaped and been shaped by many cultures and political contexts. Its scriptures have been translated into hundreds of languages. Everywhere Christians live, interact with people of other faiths and with people who have no formal religious tradition. This long history of Christian scriptures has left a deep and a complex legacy in many parts of the world. The aim of this module is to gain familiarity with the contents and some of the ways of interpreting these scriptures. We will examine all kinds of Bibles from ancient papyrus to modern print versions. You will read some of the most well-known stories and teachings in the Bible. This course will introduce you to how these stories order time and place, taking you to places of pilgrimage on three continents. We will read and talk about how Christian scriptures address fundamental existential questions such as suffering and persecution, how they portray the earliest Christian groups, and how they talk about non-Christians. We will ask about the contested and varied uses of scripture in multiple time periods and geographical contexts– in the ancient Roman world where Christianity began, in its spread through European and American colonialism, and in the diverse forms it takes in varied locations around the globe. We will see how religion belongs in local cultures and how those cultures shape Christian beliefs and practices. We will also pay attention to change over time looking, for example, at the impact of modern science and history and shifting attitudes toward sexuality, marriage, and the roles of women. In all of this, I hope to highlight the diversity, the richness, and the complexity of Christian scriptures and interpretations. In doing all of this, it will become apparent that believers and scholars ask different questions. For example, Christians might read Scripture for guidance on whether to marry or not or how to gain eternal life. Scholars, however, might ask what are Christian attitudes toward marriage and sexuality, noting a wide variety of different perspectives and practices in different places and times. Or they might ask what rituals do Christians perform, again, noting distinctive practices and the theological beliefs associated with them. The approach I’ll take in this course is that of the scholar. But I hope that all of you, whatever your own aims and interests in taking the course, will find much that is engaging and illuminating. There are many ways, very many ways to approach the study of Christianity through its scriptures. It’s not possible to give a complete picture, especially in the short time we have together. It’s also not a goal of this class to offer right and wrong answers to the kinds of existential questions that religions so often address. As I already pointed out, the instructors in the course will not be engaging in devotional study nor asking you to. Rather, the goal is to offer some tools to help you enter into this complex and fascinating tradition, it’s writings, history, and the many peoples and places it has touched and is still affecting. I’m assuming that you yourselves are a diverse group with varied perspectives and commitments.
The “we” of this class that I keep referring to probably includes Christians and people of other religious traditions, agnostics, atheists, and some who don’t identify with any religion. That diversity will be our strength in learning from each other with respect. Multiple points of view help us look with fresh eyes or they add entirely new information perspectives. Our conversations with each other can potentially expand our curiosity and lead to new insights. I expect to learn a great deal from you. And I hope you will learn from each other as well. Conversations about religious matters can be contentious, even painful, sometimes intensely so. But I hope our interactions with each other will be engaged and respectful, that we will listen carefully and contribute thoughtfully and kindly to each other in discussions and postings.

John 1:3

God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him.

Video

Transcripts

How to speak to Lord

1. Get humble.
The story begins:

The boy Samuel ministered before the Lord under Eli (1 Samuel 3:1, NIV).

Notice that God spoke not to the grown-up priest, Eli, nor to the priest’s haughty sons or anyone else. Just to “the boy Samuel.” Maybe because he was a boy. Maybe because he was the lowest on the totem pole, so to speak.

The Bible says:

God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble (James 4:6, NIV).

It is a grace to hear God’s voice. So if you wish to hear God’s voice, humble yourself.

2. Get quiet.
The story continues:

One night Eli, whose eyes were becoming so weak that he could barely see, was lying down in his usual place. The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was. Then the Lord called Samuel (1 Samuel 3:2-4, NIV).

God spoke when “Samuel was lying down.” That’s probably not incidental.

They say that Londoners who live in the shadow of St. Paul’s Cathedral never hear the church’s great bells, because the ringing blends in with all the noise of that busy city. But on those rare occasions when streets are deserted and shops are shuttered, the bells can be heard.

Do you want to hear God’s voice? Get quiet.

3. Get into God’s presence.
Did you notice where Samuel “was lying down?”

Samuel was lying down in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was. Then the Lord called Samuel (1 Samuel 3:3-4, NIV).

Samuel’s mother had dedicated him to the service of God, so he was in the temple. But the account says more. He was “where the ark of God was.” That is, he was in the place of God’s presence.

For you, that may signify a church service. But that is far from the only place to get into God’s presence. Some people have a “prayer closet” where they spend time with God. For others it’s a city park or a forest path. For some, it’s not even a place, but a song, a silence, a state of mind.

4. Get counsel.
Verses 4-8 of the story relate how God spoke repeatedly to Samuel, even calling to him by name. But Samuel was slow to catch on at first. It’s likely to be the same with you. But notice verse 9:

Then Eli realized that the Lord was calling the boy. So Eli told Samuel, “Go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, ‘Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.’” So Samuel went and lay down in his place (1 Samuel 3:9, NIV).

Though Eli was not the one hearing God’s voice, he nonetheless gave wise counsel to Samuel.

If you believe God is speaking, but you’re not sure, go to someone you respect, someone who knows God, someone who is spiritually mature.

5. Get into the habit of saying, “Speak, Lord.”
The story continues:

So Samuel went and lay down in his place.

The Lord came and stood there, calling as at the other times, “Samuel! Samuel!” Then Samuel said, “Speak, for your servant is listening” (1 Samuel 3:9b-10, NIV).

It is one of my favorite and most frequent prayers. Oswald Chambers wrote:

Get into the habit of saying, “Speak, Lord,” and life will become a romance. Every time circumstances press, say, “Speak, Lord.”

If you face a decision, large or small: “Speak, Lord.”

When you lack wisdom: “Speak, Lord.”

Whenever you open your mouth in prayer: “Speak, Lord.”

As you greet a new day: “Speak, Lord.”

6. Get into a listening attitude.
When God finally spoke, He said:

“See, I am about to do something in Israel that will make the ears of everyone who hears of it tingle” (1 Samuel 3:11, NIV).

Samuel heard it because he was listening. Not talking, not singing, not reading, not watching TV. He was listening. And God spoke.

If you want to hear God’s voice, get into a listening attitude. God is a gentleman. He does not like to interrupt, so He seldom speaks unless we are listening.

7. Get ready to act on what God says.
When God spoke to Samuel, it wasn’t great news. In fact, it was a message of judgment on Eli (Samuel’s “boss”) and Eli’s family.

Ouch.

If you want to hear God’s voice, you must prepare for the possibility that He may not say what you want to hear. And that you may have to act on what He tells you.

As someone said, “Hearing should always be for heeding.”

If you intend to hear God’s voice, and then decide whether or not you will heed it, you’re not likely to hear God’s voice.

But if you are ready to act on whatever He might say, you may truly hear His voice. And then life becomes a romance.

You start speak to lord and say come Holyspirit