I am Sophie Bell. I graduated from East Hamilton High School in 2015. I am also a Bible program alumna. Although I grew up reading the Bible, taking a Bible class with Mr. Fairbanks was the first time I studied the Bible in much greater detail. The most memorable part of my Bible class was the stories Mr. Fairbanks would tell while we were studying the Bible. As a class, we would read the Bible together and talk about it as one big story. It really made sense and allowed us to remember each chapter we read.
The Bible, the Old Testament specifically, is one big history book. It holds a series of stories about people who made history and changed aspects of our world. In Bible, we learned about historical events, but we also saw how things changed from generation to generation. The beauty of learning history is that not only are we trying “not to repeat it,” but also to appreciate what the ones before us did so we don’t have to. Studying the Bible can help us understand why we live the life we live now and see how much times have changed.
Reading the Bible helped me in my other subjects. The Bible is so detailed and worded so beautifully. Still to this day, studying the Bible is something I challenge myself with daily because I truly believe it changes our entire life. It has made me internalize the words and apply them to every situation that comes my way. I think that everyone should read the Bible because it is a gateway to life.
Taking Bible paved my whole future. When I took the class in 2012, I knew I wanted to learn more. I knew I wanted to study the Bible and apply it to my life. This inspired me to pursue a degree at a college where I could continue to study the Bible. The Bible remains a priority for me personally. I definitely owe a lot of that to the opportunity of taking Bible my freshman year of high school.