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nancy i don't think your link is working properly for this post.

Nothing new - many times, Nancy's blog does not work -

My 18 year old granddaughter is soon to begin @ Appalachian State - three or four weeks ago we participated in her orientation and were given a campus tour - the restroom in her hi-rise co-ed dorm features a coin operated (25 cents) condom machine - the best advice I could give her was to keep a healthy supply of quarters close by.

Seems fine to me.

Anyway, I was struck by the USUAL lineup of liberal spokesmen for Front Pew opinion pieces: Peebles, Usey, et al. Where was Gutman? - dejas vu. Some of the advice
was just your predictable hackneyed advice to college kids: don’t party too much, watch those pesky distractions, stay off LSD, etc. Even the token evangelical’s comments were devoid of anything that would land them in a “religious” blog site. I mean, even though this was probably billed as “what practical advice would you give college freshmen today? One would have expected someone among these mostly “Christian” contributors to say something like, “make sure you find a good biblical church that teaches the Word of God, AS the Word of God, and cultivate regular fellowship with other followers of Christ so that you don’t get sucked into the cesspool of contemporary collegiate social life – and, for sure, pray a lot! Oh, and most of all, do extensive study of sound biblical theology at least two years before you enter the hollowed halls of post-modern unbelief, so you don’t get snookered by biased, anti-Christian Humanist profs.”

But no, we get typical new-agey subjectivist advice like Carter’s “God communicates DIRECTLY (mine) to each person” and Peeple’s “trust that deep, inner wisdom, because that is one of the ways God speaks to us.” In fact, God does NOT communicate true wisdom “directly” to us, but speaks directly from His infallible Word enabled by the power of the Holy Spirit – Who indwells only the regenerate. And there is no “deep inner” wisdom within any fallen human being, no matter how smart or “religious.”

These two comments more closely resemble eastern religion or Shirley McLean’s New Age “god within us” than orthodox, biblical Christianity. In fact, they are not Christianity at all; but misleading and ineffectual facsimiles - at best. If this is the kind of “Christian advice” (they do represent supposedly Christian denominations) our kids are getting today, it’s no wonder they’re falling headlong into activist neo-Marxism, god-less “spirituality,” and anything else that promises deep inner “wisdom” or mental titillation.

Only when once-orthodox churches return to sound biblical theology that starts from the truth that ALL “have sinned and come short of the glory of God,” and stand in need of being spiritually born-anew will our young people be prepared to face the moral corruption and unbelief that riddles our colleges and universities. Churches and religious leaders who disavow these key and indispensable truths of the Faith are giving freshmen little more than god-talk humanism, which has no access to the wisdom that is from above.

Maybe next time, Nancy, you could feature more first-time contributors instead of your default liberals, including some truly orthodox pastors along with other liberals. (If you’d like a few names, just drop me a personal e-mail and I’ll offer a few suggestions). I know you included a couple of more conservative types in this subject-line, but their comments were rather superficial. I know this wasn’t a “theological” story, per se, but theology nevertheless comes through.

" . . . the restroom in her hi-rise co-ed dorm features a coin operated (25 cents) condom machine - the best advice I could give her was to keep a healthy supply of quarters close by."

Perhaps this is some of the "deep, inner wisdom" Peeples was refering to. Actually it sounds like rank studpidity to me!

" . . . the restroom in her hi-rise co-ed dorm features a coin operated (25 cents) condom machine - the best advice I could give her was to keep a healthy supply of quarters close by."

Perhaps this is some of the "deep, inner wisdom" Peeples was refering to. Actually it sounds like rank studpidity to me!

Advice to a kid just starting out in college? "You will encounter a lot of people who grew up in worlds far different from the one you are so far familiar with. Do not fear them. If you can, learn more about them and what they think about life, the universe and everything. Learning what you can from the school's courses is only part of what you can potentially take with you when you finally leave.

OK, Namtac, that sounds fine on the surface, but that's exactly what I did throughout my college experience and beyond. Yes, it was all very interesting; and indeed we SHOULD learn all about other cultures and religions. However, the question remains: "what is truth?" I not only sought to learn about world religions and philosophies, but practice many of them at various times as well. All seemed futile in the end - until I met the risen Christ. This will be the experience of all who search and learn and prcatice what's out there, until they too meet the "Way, the Truth and the Life."

My advice: "Seek and ye shall find." Or, as the wise old bumper sticker says , "Wise men still seek Him."

The point of my advice was not about seeking "truth." It was about learning about other sorts of people and discovering their common humanity. Too often, people who develop fears of strangers will go overboard and attempt to de-humanize them. Getting to know students and faculty members from cultures around the world will tend to fight against the tendency toward xenophobia. Whether you agree with their "world view" or not should have no bearing on whether you can accept them as being as human as you are. I think that is a vital lesson that many people fail to learn in college, because they spend too much time concentrating on getting ready for a chosen career.

Hoping that this crop of young people will stay closer to the advice of their elders; what can one expect when putting a throng of them together. I thought the comments of Max Carter were very poignant.

Shalom

Sorry! I scheduled this post to run over the weekend and linked to the Web site instead of the story because I didn't have a specific link for it. (That's usually when I get in trouble.)

as an incoming freshman, had someone said to me...

quoting Nikos
make sure you find a good biblical church that teaches the Word of God, AS the Word of God, and cultivate regular fellowship with other followers of Christ so that you don’t get sucked into the cesspool of contemporary collegiate social life – and, for sure, pray a lot! Oh, and most of all, do extensive study of sound biblical theology at least two years before you enter the hollowed halls of post-modern unbelief, so you don’t get snookered by biased, anti-Christian Humanist profs.”

I would have rolled my eyes, given him a polite thank you and backed away from the babbler.
I bet things have not changed much, except the thank you would likely be dispensed with.
Some might ask him what is a hollowed hall, and how can you prove you have the truth other than using a circular argument.

that should have read
Some of the kids entering college today might ask him what is a hollowed hall, and how can he prove he has the truth other than using his circular arguments.

"Whether you agree with their "world view" or not should have no bearing on whether you can accept them as being as human as you are."

Being human is not the issue. I fully agree that getting to know other people from differing cultures and religions is very important. I certainly enjoyed doing so. Still do. I guess my point, though not clearly stated, is that without a truth-matrix to order knowldege and understanding, learning can end up like western philosphy, riddled with nihilism, existential despair, and endless speculation without even finding a viable answer.

Our universities seem more like endless landscapes of knowledge that lead nowhere, because they deny absolute truth - or a final destination. Everything is relative in the postmodern wilderness. All roads lead to nowhere. Western man cannot live forever in this caldron of meaninglessness. Western universities were founded on Christian theology and Scripture. Now that they have successfully jettisoned Christianity, they end up proposing and teaching the most ludicrous and insipid nonsense. Standing for nothing, they fall for just about anything that sounds nouveau and exciting - whether it's true or not. And we blithely send our vulnerable, mind-numbed humanist clones into this amoral morass of purposeless dribble. No wonder they like Obama - takes one to know one, I suppose.

"Being human is not the issue."

I disagree, Nikos. Learning how to live peacably with people who are different from you is of paramount importance in this time. Learning how to manipulate atoms or populations to do your bidding tends to give a young person a narrow view of her/his own place in the world. The de-humanization of outsiders is a very real problem that needs to be fought from the very start. Otherwise, one can gain knowledge that leads to power, then end up using that power without thought for the consequences to the humans that make up the populations being manipulated, or who are standing in the way of the atoms being pushed around.

Namtac, you said, " . . . their 'world view' . . . should have no bearing on whether you can accept them as being as human as you are."

I said, "I fully agree that getting to know other people from differing cultures and religions is very important. I certainly enjoyed doing so. Still do.

Don't think you read my entry very carefully.

Nikos I beg to differ with the above post. When you call the Christian groups some belong "cult/s," that is not seeking very greatly "...getting to know other people from differing cultures and religions is very important."

Prove this wrong and I will publicly apologize to you in Hamburger Square!

Shalom