Tag: college

Categories
Christ on Campus

Christ on Campus: Brave New World

Article PDF

by Katie Hill

A futuristic novel? No…your freshman year in college. Perhaps you’re just about ready to launch this fall, or maybe you’re looking to finish your senior year in high school with this transition in your sights. Be of good cheer. There are ways you can successfully navigate through the adventurous waters of that first year of college.

If you decide to scour websites for advice, you will encounter all kinds of interesting suggestions. I encourage you to be discerning. For example, I came across this little nugget of wisdom on a random “college help” website:

“Remember that college life is not really that difficult. All you need is to be an optimist. The correct attitude would make a lot of difference. You will definitely succeed if you have a good plan and the will and determination to achieve your goals!”

Suuuure. If it were only that simple!
So here is some basic heartfelt advice, as one who successfully made it through her freshman year out of state many years ago and now as one who has just experienced her firstborn’s freshman year and lived to tell the tale.

As you read through this column, remember one unchanging truth: You are Christ’s and no matter what highs or lows you experience this next year, He is always there for you, in Word and Sacrament. Whatever your struggle is, He has taken care of your biggest challenge ever—having conquered sin, death and the devil on your behalf.

Realistic expectations and goals
Regularly seek out the counsel of those whom you trust. This includes peers/friends who’ve been there, done that, your high school guidance counselor, your pastor, but especially your parents. Take to heart what they say because trust me, they know (Proverbs 15:22).

You may go into your first year thinking you know what you want to do with your life, and you may complete it having changed your major…perhaps even more than once. It is okay to start the journey without having your life perfectly mapped out.

Whether you plan to live at home during college or relocate halfway across the country, that first year will be an adjustment. If you choose to live at home you will have the pressure of a new schedule, budgeting your time, etc.

However, if you live on campus, whether in your hometown or out of town, one of the things that you will contend with is homesickness to some degree. This is absolutely normal. It will fade in time and before you know it, you’ll have adapted to your new surroundings. This will happen more smoothly if you take some proactive steps with the help of those who know and love you.

And of course through it all, remember who you are in Christ.

Finding Your Niche and Building Support
The French word niche (pronounced nitch or neesh) describes that “perfect fit” you can find for yourself, whether it’s your studies, your job or other activities. No matter how large or small your college is, seek to find a niche as quickly as possible. Get to know your professors personally. Even in a large lecture class you can introduce yourself to the professor after class and sit near the front. Join a campus club of some sort. Make it a point to get involved in dorm activities. Some of the friendships you forge in college will be lifelong ones.

Above all, and I cannot stress this enough: Find an LCMS church or campus group to become a part of (Christ on Campus, LCMS U or some other LCMS-affiliated group is ideal). In my daughter’s particular situation, the previously existing LCMS campus group no longer existed and so we compensated by picking her up whenever possible to get her to our home church. She also, on her own initiative, purchased a Lutheran Book of Prayer to help sustain her, as well as had time in the Scriptures. There may be an LCMS church near your campus that would be thrilled to help you get to Divine Service on Sundays. Feel free to contact the church and find out what your options are. The more you can have mapped out before you move onto campus, the better. If there isn’t an LCMS church in the nearby area, you will want to talk to your home pastor and parents about how to handle this. College, like any part of life, is still a daily struggle with sin and the Old Adam. Having a faithful pastor to care for you while in college means being strengthened in the forgivness of sins as you study and grow into your chosen vocation.

And while you it’s important to establish a good support network on campus, keep lines of communication open to your folks and other important people in your life. We have so many ways of keeping in touch nowadays. Use all of those ways and use them often.

Time management
How you budget your time will make all the difference. There is not enough space here to include every helpful tip that would make this first year less stressful but here are some general ideas.

Make a list. Yes, a list. Perhaps you hate lists. I recommend you learn to love them. I don’t care if you handwrite the list on a post-it note or in type it into your iPad or smart phone. Just keep a list. Regularly look at this list and reevaluate and reprioritize. A weekly schedule is essential. I had one semester with 18 credit hours, two part-time jobs and active involvement in a Christian ministry. To keep everything straight I had things scheduled down to the hour. That ended up being one of my most satisfying semesters ever.

As the more demanding times come upon you, you might take to heart one of my favorite quotes, which comes from author and humorist Mark Twain: “The secret of getting ahead is getting started. The secret of getting started is breaking your complex overwhelming tasks into small manageable tasks, and then starting on the first one.” I applied it way back in college and I still try to today.

Don’t allow yourself to procrastinate, as tempting as that is. Look at the syllabus for each course you take and map out your study plans for the semester to the best of your ability. You will get better and better at this.

Take advantage of study groups. Not only does this help hold you accountable to get your study time in, you end up having a lot more fun along the way.

There will be those days when your schedule seems overwhelming and finals week is creeping up and you want to panic. Using time management tips is a great practice, but more importantly know that God will make perfect what concerns you today (Psalm 138:8).

Now what happens when you have all this great advice and fail to follow it? When you’re overwhelmed, have put things off, and are not prepared? Well even that was carried to the cross by Jesus. Yes, He died even for stressed-out college freshmen!

Hang in there as you head down this exciting and life-changing road, lean on good counsel, but most of all, remember who you are in Christ: beloved, cherished and forgiven, all for His sake.

Katie Hill (formerly Micilcavage), is the very recently and happily remarried editor of Higher Things Magazine and is mom to two active teens in Gilbert, Arizona and stepmom to three energetic kiddos in Holbrook, Arizona. She is an elementary teacher in her spare time. And yes, she relies heavily on lists.

Categories
Christ on Campus

Christ on Campus: Salvation and All That Cool Stuff

Article PDF | Bible Study PDF | Leader’s Guide PDF
By Magdalena Teske

Class began at 9:30, and I rushed into the room at about 9:27, feeling slightly panicked because biology had gone a few minutes late, as usual, and because the effects of my coffee had worn off. The class was Religion and Politics in America, which I was taking mainly to fulfill my requirement to take an honor’s course that semester, although I had been more than a little nervous to take a religion course at my Methodist-affiliated college. Before we began class that day, my professor handed back my first essay, which he had just graded. The topic was civil religion. We were supposed to describe and discuss how politicians and other public figures refer to God and religion in their speeches, and how God is depicted in patriotic contexts.

Glancing at my paper, I was pleased to see that on the first page, the professor had made only three comments, two of which simply said ”good,” and the third said ”yes.” As class started, I shoved the paper in my folder to look at later. After class, when I had a chance to turn to the second page, I saw a slightly longer remark. The professor had underlined one of my sentences in which I had said that while politicians frequently mention God in their speeches, civil religion is necessarily vague and generic, because public figures never say anything theologically significant. The phrase I had used was that politicians don’t talk about “the important subject of salvation and eternal life.”

It was this phrase that my professor didn’t like. He told me in his comments that he felt I exaggerated the insignificance of civil religion’s theology. His note on that particular phrase pointed out that civil religion did include messages of justice, mercy, blessing, and providence. If he had still been there when I read his remarks, I would have had a few things to say to him. Justice, mercy, providence and blessings sound nice and are certainly valid religious topics, but I fail to comprehend what significance they have outside of the concept of forgiveness and salvation. The Bible certainly tells us that God is just and refers to justice as a good thing, and it’s a virtue for rulers. But I can think of one important case where God Himself seems completely unjust and unfair. If God gave us what we deserved, we would all be condemned and Jesus would never have died, but instead, God chose to send Jesus to live a perfect life on Earth, to suffer and die in our place, so that we could be saved and have eternal life. Rather than justice, God chose to give us justification, and for us, this unfairness is certainly better than the fair alternative.

As for mercy, I’m not sure what mercy even means apart from salvation. Referring to my handy copy of Webster’s New World Dictionary, I find that the official definition of mercy is ”a refraining from harming offenders, enemies, etc.” Doesn’t this mean that talking about God’s mercy towards us necessarily requires us to acknowledge that we are sinners and enemies of God, but that He has graciously forgiven us our sins through the death of our Lord Jesus Christ? Incidentally, this sounds to me like the message of grace and salvation (Romans 5:6-11).

Providence and blessings are likewise vague and fairly meaningless when not taken in the context of our salvation. Undeniably, God gives us many blessings—not only spiritual, but sometimes material and worldly blessings as well. But when a politician or public figure talks about providence and blessings, they generally only mean material and worldly wealth. I certainly am glad to live in a country and society where necessities like food and shelter are abundant. I am glad to have access to things like the internet, coffee, and duct tape, which are technically luxuries, although I admittedly take them for granted much of the time. But these are not the only blessings that God gives us. The greatest blessings He gives us are forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation. Christ came and lived among us, He led a sinless life, died, and was raised, and besides all this, He gave us even more. He gave us the Bible so that we would have access to His word in our daily lives. He gave us saving faith, and He gave us His sacraments of Baptism and Communion by which He strengthens this faith and assures us of our salvation.

I am not interested in hearing about a generic God who gives us justice, mercy, and blessings. I go to a confessional Lutheran church because I want to hear about the true Triune God who gives us justice, mercy, blessings, forgiveness, salvation, His word and sacraments, and eternal life. And coffee, too.

Magdalena Teske is a senior at Birmingham-Southern College and attends Hope Lutheran Church in Birmingham, Alabama. She can be reached at magdalenateske@yahoo.com

Categories
Christ on Campus

Christ on Campus Dare to Be Lutheran: Challenged Accepted

Article PDF | Bible Study PDF | Leader’s Guide PDF

By Caitlyn Baker

The day my mother told me she wanted to take my brother and me to Irvine for the Higher Things Twelve conference, my heart began its journey from my ribcage to my throat. Conference? That meant people—lots of them! Group work? Ugh, don’t even bring it up! And my worst fear was that I would be bored out of my mind! Placing a socially intimidated girl like me in the midst of a gathering like that spelled trouble. Gently, my mother reassured me that I would be on a college campus and that it would give me a taste of what my upcoming freshman year would be like. Plus, this was our last family vacation before I started college. How could I refuse?

Finally, the day came when we started our voyage from the valley of the sun and I braced myself for my challenge that was to come.

We checked in smoothly. Mom introduced us to her co-workers and friends, and we began to get settled into our dorm rooms. I had a day to relax before the mass of teenagers arrived to check in. Cleaning up my space, I prepared a homey environment for whatever roommate I would have, for I wanted her to be extremely comfortable. Sadly, I found out that no roommate was assigned to me. However, my silence was interrupted by a buzz at my door, and that was when I welcomed in my suite mates—more like sweet mates—who went out of their way to introduce themselves to me.

And with that, we all headed to the first item on the schedule: Divine Service. One of the best elements of Higher Things Twelve was definitely the worship. For the first time, I experienced pure enthusiasm without the aid of a rock band, which is what many of my non-Lutheran peers experience. Because we sang so loudly at each worship time, it was quite the adjustment returning to our more reserved group at my home church. Singing my favorite hymns beside fellow Lutherans was rather powerful, often bringing tears to my eyes.

Okay, so at this point, I had to admit that my time at Twelve was going well. I relished the freedom of attending the breakaway sessions. After services and lessons on theology, my nights were filled with mini-adventures, consisting of a trip to a beach beneath the moonless sky, running for my life amidst a water-balloon battle, giggling over chalk-drawn troll faces, creating memes in class with Matt, and even winning second place in a karaoke contest.

My best memory was made the day before the conference ended. When the light rain stopped, I decided to take a walk through the campus. In my hand was a snail (yes, the snail is important) and he kept me company in the dark. Suddenly, my foot slipped on a puddle and I flew forward, losing my grip on the snail, and launched it into the air. A group of three behind me quickly expressed their concern for me, yet I was more worried about my snail (he was okay). Christina, the youngest of the group, remarked about Jacob’s “wishful abomination” of snails. Liz, the leader, laughed with her, and Jacob, the middle, was quite indignant. This group of three had no planned destination, and since I did not either, they let me join them. As we passed the Dippin’ Dots machine, I remarked I had yet to try them, which elicited a response from my newfound friends, “YOU’VE NEVER HAD DIPPIN’ DOTS?!” Thus, my new friends bought me ice cream. The night concluded with a game of Taboo hours past curfew (my apologies, Higher Things staff). During breakfast and lunch the next day, I felt included as if I had been part of their group for ages. Honestly, I have never felt so welcomed by just a few people in such a short period of time.

So the reality is my first Higher Things conference was not the culture shock I expected. Never ever was I awkwardly standing in a corner with nothing to do, I wasn’t bored, and I felt comfortable interacting with kids my age. In fact, I was constantly on my toes, I discovered more about my Lord and Savior, delved deep within the community of Christ, and burrowed myself within a niche of fellow Lutherans. “Twelve” was a very preferable way to get a taste of college life. As I start my college career, I am seriously considering the temporary vocation of CCV (College Conference Volunteer) for a conference next summer. Higher Things has given 
me the opportunity to 
“Dare To Be Lutheran.”

Caitlyn Baker is embarking on her freshman year at Arizona State University in Tempe, Arizona. She is a member of Risen Savior Lutheran Church in Chandler. Feel free to drop her a line at halfbloodwalrus@yahoo.com.

Categories
Christ on Campus

Christ on Campus: Evangel-less Christianity on Campus

Article PDF | Bible Study PDF | Leader’s Guide PDF

Craig A. Parton

The modern American university campus is a product of three centuries of secular culture. The roots of that secular culture are found in the earliest attempts within the university to engage in what was thought to be a “safe” biblical criticism aimed at the first books of the Old Testament. Radical surgery on the Old Testament was soon performed within the university on the New Testament, and the untethered campus man concluded that he did not need any word from God to give him either morals (found so obviously in nature and her laws) or an explanation for the origin of the species. The Bible was dead. God was dead. Man was free and had in hand a self-diagnosis of perfect health. This brief moment of delusional peace came to a decisive end with World War I. Man was now dead, too.

Culture and university life went from a total optimism in man’s ability to create his own meaning and to save himself, to utter pessimism and a retreat into despair. Painting, music, and literature, unleashed from any concept of being entrusted with gifts from God, degenerated into narcissistic efforts to shock the conscience. Good or bad did not matter because it was all about accepting the mantra on the university campus that all views (save for biblical Christianity) are equally valuable. Rushing into the vacuum came Eastern religious positions like Buddhism and Hinduism, pointing out that Christianity in particular had kept man from discovering inner divinity and his essential oneness with the cosmos.

Christians on campus were defenseless against the inroads of Eastern and New Age religious positions. Why? Instead of proclaiming the faith once delivered to the saints and defending it with the factual arguments honed over the centuries by apologists from Cyprian to Chesterton, Christians defaulted from defending the Gospel to being the Gospel. The casualties on campus have been the loss of apologetics, evangelism, and the Gospel itself.

Ignore Apologetics on Campus and You Get a Defense-less Christianity
The word “apologetics” comes from the Greek text of I Peter 3:15– “be ready always to give a defense (apologia) for the hope that is within you, yet with gentleness and reverence.” Two broadsides are delivered from this passage.

First, apologetics, or defending the faith, is biblically commanded. It is not optional to give a reason for the hope that is within us, nor is it relegated to the pastoral office or to a special class of “intellectual” Christians with a university degree. Second, sharing you (whether it is your heart or your testimony) is not biblical, let alone apostolic, apologetics. Instead, we are to give reasons for believing in Jesus’ perfect life, atoning death, and resurrection from the dead, and are to persuasively present the evidence that demands a verdict. We can see how Paul brilliantly did this before Herod Agrippa in Acts 26:26-28.

Apologetics is about giving reasons. It is not, therefore, simply a form of philosophy, nor is it a species of systematic theology, nor is it simply a subset of preaching, as if defending the faith is something only pastors do!

Apologetics is not only biblically commanded, it has a long and noble history. There was even a so-called “Age of the Apologists” in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th centuries that developed a Hall of Fame of defenders of the faith (Cyprian, Irenaeus, Tertullian, and Augustine to name but a few). Today, there is an impressive pedigree of trial lawyers that have investigated the truth claims of Christianity and found them utterly compelling. The Canadian Institute (www.ciltpp.com) has the finest array of resources for the college student on the defense of the faith today.

There is something to learn from the fact that the most effective apologists in the last century were not trained in formal theology at all (C.S. Lewis, G.K. Chesterton, Dorothy Sayers, Charles Williams, and J.R.R. Tolkien). One need not have a seminary education to be effective in the defense of the faith on the modern secular campus. In fact, an insulated theological education may end up impeding one in the apologetical task since theologians tend to maximize the assumptions that are to be accepted and minimize the evidence to be marshaled.

Lose Apologetics on Campus and You Get A Christ-less Christianity
We ignored apologetics on campus and lost what apologetics was defending. Well, what is it we are defending in apologetics? The Gospel, of course! Or, to be more specific, what C.S. Lewis of Oxford University called “Mere Christianity.” Think of the central propositions of the Apostles’ Creed, most especially that Jesus Christ, true God and man, died for the sins of the world and rose again to life.

But this is exactly where so many well-meaning Christians on campus miss the 3:10 train to Yuma. Because the Gospel is not the center and circumference of their theology (it is just one of many equally important doctrines), they end up with what is secondary in Scripture becoming primary while what is primary becomes secondary. Arguments are centered on, for example, what went on before time, or at the beginning of time, or what happens at the end of time. Speculation has the front seat, and facts get stuck in the back seat if they are there at all.

So apologetics is about the defense of the faith, and specifically of the Gospel. What then is the Gospel? Just this: Christ died for sinners and you qualify. The Gospel is all about what was done for you and in spite of you. We are the problem, not the solution. Any “apologetic” that is about your anything (except your sin) is decidedly not defending the Gospel.

In summary, when defending the faith in the dorm or in the classroom, every once in a while stop and ask: Is what I just talked about in the Apostles’ Creed or not? If not, a flare should go up that you are very likely headed in the wrong direction.

Christians on campus thought they could ignore apologetics with no harm to evangelism or the Gospel. Christians in the college square stopped contending, then stopped evangelizing, then stopped believing there was anything worth contending for or evangelizing about.

Defense-less Lutherans and Christ-less Liberals: A Campus Trainwreck
Our situation today on campus? A multiplicity of religious options are being presented, essentially all claiming to change one’s life, and none of them offer anything resembling persuasive factual evidence. The Christian at the modern university has the answers. In fact, offering evidence for belief is unique to Christian truth claims.1 Apologetics that focuses on the case for Christ is not antithetical to evangelism. In fact, such a defense of the faith is evangelism.

Instead of providing historical, scientific, and legal evidences on behalf of the Christian position, Christians on campus have jettisoned the apostolic admonition. Instead of learning the many convincing proofs referred to by Dr. Luke, they are way too busy learning the purpose-driven life while buying work out programs so that they can exercise like Jesus did.

Apologetics as Evangelism on Campus
It is not apologetics instead of evangelism. It is not apologetics versus evangelism. It is not apologetics without evangelism.

Apologetics on campus that centers on the authenticity and centrality of the death and resurrection of our Lord for the forgiveness of sins is apologetics as evangelism. It is the tool of apologetics that helps Christians to boldly give to others those reasons for the hope that is in them.

  • 1* For a superb summary of those evidences, see John Warwick Montgomery’s Tractatus Logico-Theologicus, 4th ed. (Bonn: Culture & Science Publ., 2009, available through the Canadian Institute for Law, Theology, and Public Policy), esp. Proposition 3 (“Historical, jurisprudential, and scientific standards of evidence offer the touchstone for resolving the religious 

predicament by establishing the truth claims of Christian proclamation.”), pp. 65-128. See also, R.C. Sproul, Reasons to Believe (Dallas: Regal Books, 1978), which deals with the ten most common objections raised on campus by unbelievers.

Craig Parton is a trial lawyer and partner in a law firm in Santa Barbara, California. He is the author of three books on the defense of the Christian position and is the United States Director of 
the International Academy of Apologetics, Evangelism and Human Rights 
(www.apologeticsacademy.eu) which conducts its annual summer study sessions in Strasbourg, France. He can be reached at cap@ppplaw.com.