When I was a junior in college I took a Mathematical Physics course. It was not my favorite class, because it involved lots of complicated extensive calculations with infinite series. I even bought shelf paper for my homework, since some of the expressions were too long to fit on a normal sheet of paper. The problems were ugly. The professor was OK, but on the Wednesday of the last week of class, the professor said let’s have our final exam this afternoon at 3:00, instead of during finals week. I don’t think a professor could get by with that today, but in those days they didn’t take prisoners.

Later, years later, I realized that the professor probably did us a favor; studying for the final in that course would not have been fun. Sometimes studying for a final exam can lead to synthesizing the material, but many times cramming for a final only leads to short-term memorization; I had a colleague who used to call this “legal cheating.” In our case, I don’t think that studying for the final exam would have led to much more understanding.

I spent 44 years teaching math, and students always asked me about the final exam – what it would cover, how long it would take, what was the nature of the questions, etc. Before giving any kind of direct answer, I would say that it was a learning opportunity and the questions were designed to reinforce what was learned, in class. I also said that I hoped that the exam tested long term retention and permanent understanding. I would then add, probably subconsciously motivated by my pop-final experience, that the ideal final would occur at some random time a year or so from now. The students would roll their eyes.

Many Christians seem very interested in the end times, and over the years lots of energy has been spent on trying to predict when this will happen. To me this is like the legal cheating of cramming for a final. It even ignores scripture, for in Matthew 24:36 Jesus says, “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” I have even more trouble understanding those who support actions, many political, that they feel will hasten the last day; somehow, that seems like playing God. I feel that the best way to prepare for this ultimate final lies in the way we live our lives. We should follow the commandments to love our God with all our hearts and to love our neighbor as ourselves, both of which reflect God’s unconditional love for you and me.

Jim Previously posted 2019