A philosophy professor announced to his students that the final essay exam for his Introduction to Philosophy class would be comprehensive.  The students spent hours going over the Socratic method and Plato’s forms.  They tired their brains on epistemological and metaphysical concepts.  Finally, the day of the exam came, and the students filed in with their blank exam booklets.  The professor went to the white board and wrote only one question for the exam and it was only one word: WHY?

The students were stunned but started writing furiously, filling their essay exam booklets with deep philosophical ideas.  To most of the students’ shock, two students, a guy and a girl who sat together in the back of the class never saying much, stood up after a minute or two and turned in their exam booklets and exited the classroom.  Later the rest of the class who didn’t do so well on the final found out that these two students got a 100% on the exam by answering the one-word question, “why?”, with a one-word answer, “because!”

We welcome the 2020-2021 student body to campus this week! I am excited to join the Lord’s work in our lives as staff and students to develop servant leaders with Christ-like character.  Why ABC…why has God led over 40 students to be instructed this semester at ABC? While there may be many wonderful and wise answers to this question, there is one clear biblical reason found in I Timothy 1:5, “But the goal of our instruction is to love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.”  Simply put, we are called to learn to love!

“Learning to love” is our biblical theme for the 2020-2021 academic year.  God’s word is clear:  Learning from God’s love letter should help us love better!

Bernard de Clairvaux, who lived an ascetic life 1000 years ago, said it well,

“Some seek knowledge for the sake of knowledge: This is curiosity.  Others seek knowledge so that they themselves may be known: That is vanity. But there are still others who seek knowledge in order to serve and edify others: And that is charity.”

— President Dave Ley