A public elementary school teacher in North Carolina has triggered a lawsuit from parents who are, quite rightly, opposed to the Christian proselytizing she did in her classroom. And the lesson she was teaching is so ridiculous, you couldn't possibly make it up:
Scents Make Sense "God's word tells us about a kind of odor only Christians have. 'For we are unto God a sweet savor of Christ ...' (2 Corinthians 2:15). Paul goes on to say that Christians carry forth the fragrance of Christ wherever they go by the way they live; that is, they remind people of Him.
"Could someone find Christ by the scent trail you are leaving behind you?"
Yikes. The school district has admitted that they were wrong to allow such a lesson and they have pledged not to allow such lessons in the future, so the court case at this point is just to have a binding agreement that prevents the school system from doing it again. The principal had been notified of the content of the lesson and didn't bother to tell the teacher it wasn't allowed. Holy cow, how does someone get to be a school principal if they can't figure that out?
I wonder if that 5th grade teacher knows Bob and Karen Testarud, a South Dakota couple who markets candles that they say smell just like Jesus. And no, I'm not making that up. They took a psalm that speaks of an anointing with the "oil of gladness" and noted that his garments are scented with "myrrh, aloes and cassia", mixed those scents together and made a candle that smells just like Jesus would:
"You can't see him and you can't touch him," says Bob Tosterud. "This is a situation where you may be able to sense him by smelling. And it provides a really new dimension to one's experience with Jesus."...The candles sell for about $18. They are sold in about 150 stores around the country. Or you can order them online at www.hisessence.com.
So let's see...you can eat of his flesh, drink of his blood, and now you can smell him too. I got news for you, folks. Jesus lived in first century palestine, riding around on donkeys and not showering very often. I guarantee he didn't smell like your freakin' candle.
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It is frightening that the principle couldn't understand the parent's objections, since the child got all the answers right.
Besides the bit about it being mind-numbingly obvious that this is over the Constitutional and professional line, what's almost as bad is the apparent lack of any understanding of metaphors. Literalism's finest hour!
The principal ('What's the matter? Doesn't your family go to church"???!!!! or something like that) sounds like a real piece of work, but the odd bit is the explanation that the teacher, who's visiting from Australia, didn't understand our ways and made an honest mistake. Does that sound plausible? I know almost nothing about the Australian education system.
It's not plausible at all. A Beka Books are overtly, blaringly, uncompromisingly Christian, as the excerpts in that article make clear. The books are intended for evangelizing. She knew she was proselytizing. The principal knew, too. She was treating a science class like a session at Sunday school.
I know almost nothing about the Australian education system.
All you need to know is that we have church/state separation as well, so that's not Christ you're smelling, it's BS.
Australian education would frown very darkly on this sort of behavior, unless the school was a Christian only school, in which case the kids have to suffer for the sins of the fathers... yea unto the sixth generation.
Geez, he lived in the Ancient World, not the Dark Ages - Graeco-Roman culture put a high value on regular bathing (perhaps not as high as the cleaning-obsessed Americans, but still ) - I think the candles have a fair chance of being accurate.
Of course, teaching this stuff in school is just lunatic
How do you kow Jesus didn't smell like her candle? Maybe her candle smells like BO
John come on.
:-9
So let's see...you can eat of his flesh, drink of his blood...
I'm actually surprised that little is made of the fact that the christian "communion" service is little more than ritual virtual cannibalism. It's ghoulish.