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Integrating the Bible with the school’s speech curriculum involves more than memorizing Bible verses and stories. It involves understanding the significance of speech as we commune with God and others, the importance of testifying to the character and nature of God, and the content and manner of our speech. God has much to say about speech.
The ability to speak is given to us by God. Humans are created in the image of God; God is a communicating Being (Genesis 1:27). Understanding the significance of speech is important for a number of reasons: (1) the ability to speak differentiates humans from animals (Genesis 2:18-20), (2) speech has great potential for good or evil (Proverbs 18:21), (3) our speech is an index of our inner attitudes and our spiritual maturity (Ecclesiastes 10:12-13), (4) sins of speech are considered by God to be very serious (Matthew 12:36-37).
Students should be taught not only that they must be careful of the words they choose but also that they must give careful attention to how those words are expressed. While the Bible is not a speech book, it does give clear guidelines related to speaking. Thus, the student should learn to apply the principles of Scripture to every speaking situation.
Helping out students to think critically and constructively from a Bible-based Christian worldview should be a major concern of ours. Students and teachers must be engaged in both the study of speech and the study of the Bible in order for this kind of integration to take place. The Christian school teacher must continually search for ways to involve students in learning speech from a biblical worldview and life view.
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