A Singer, A Song

Often when people ask Camille or me about our resignations from BJU, they’ll say with a puzzled tone, “Why would you leave when things are getting so much better? I hear that things are improving under the new administration.” I can very much appreciate the wish for things to get better. I believe that things CAN get better (though whether or not they actually will is another story). But those Outside the Gates can’t really appreciate what life is like Inside the Gates.

When we were there, we saw some of the rules and regulations become less stringent — like ties for men and hose for women (and now facial hair for male employees). That’s all well and good, but these relaxations are an unfortunate distraction from the real problem. The trend we were trying to warn against did not entail these small-minded things but rather larger theological perspectives that indicated a much more insidious kind of misdirection. We were trying to get the administration to reassess those foundational struts that have recently become wobbly: mistaken perspectives that deal with works righteousness, fundamental misunderstandings of sanctification, an atmosphere of man’s all-consuming control that wrest from the believer the joy of learning the Holy Spirit’s leading. Which is more important: students who can conscience going to the mall without hose on their legs, or students who understand that God’s righteousness (and not their own goodness) is their life and breath, their all-sufficiency, their joy and hope?

You can choose to believe me or not. Now that I’m on the outside like many of you, what do I know, right? Maybe a current student’s words will help you to understand what I’m talking about.

Unfortunately, the opening meetings this week are pretty discouraging. Could I please hear something about the Grace that flows from the Cross and a little less about how badly God wants to sit back and watch me strive myself to death trying to get sanctified? And I sure hope I “end up” in God’s will, since He’s evidently not going to be very glorified if I blow it…. I’m not hearing about the gospel or the God that I see in Scripture.

I’m beginning to see that fundamentalism isn’t just wrong, it’s frightening….

Matthew 7:26: “But if you just use my words in Bible studies and don’t work them into your life, you are like a stupid carpenter who built his house on the sandy beach. When a storm rolled in and the waves came up, it collapsed like a house of cards.”