Smokescreens on Campus

[El_Jibaro]

[i][b]Hide and Seek: Smokescreen on Campus:


One day in a college classroom, students were discussing the medieval theologian Thomas Aquinas and his teachings about God. One student became noticeably agitated. Finally, he stood up and asked permission to leave.

Later he explained his strange behavior. "I'm not interested in finding truth," he confessed. "All I care about is what has immediate practical value for me." Searching for truth, it seems, might have turned his whole world upside down.

This incident reminds me that the truth can be scary; and truth about God is the scariest of all. Like the student who left class, some people actually prefer not to know the truth.

In his outstanding book, How to Stay Christian in College, Professor J. Budziszewski of the University of Texas says even on the college campus -- a place historically committed to the search for truth -- there's a lot of hiding from truth.

When Christian students understand this they can respond better when their faith is under attack. When Pilate asked, "What is truth?" do you think he really wanted an answer? No, not on your life! He didn't even wait for Jesus to respond. He immediately turned away. His question was a cynical dismissal intended to cut Jesus off.

Thinking Christians on campuses can influence students to seek truth. Dr. Budziszewski tells the story of a conversation between a Christian professor and a student named Tom. Tom was arguing that all morality is relative.

"How do we even know murder is wrong?" Tom asked defiantly. The professor saw the question as nothing but a smokescreen. The Bible teaches that the moral law is written on every human heart. That means everyone really knows murder is wrong -- whether we admit it or not. So the professor pushed Tom, "Are you in real doubt about whether murder is wrong?"

Tom was evasive: "Many people might say it's all right."

"But I'm not asking other people," the professor pressed on. "Are you at this moment in any real doubt about murder being wrong?"

There was a long silence. "No," Tom finally admitted. "No, I'm not."

"Good," the professor said. "Then we don't have to waste time asking whether morality is relative. Let's talk about something you really are in doubt about."

Tom at that moment realized his smokescreen had been blown away and he agreed to discuss his real questions about morality and religion. It was a turning point in the conversation -- and perhaps in Tom's life as well.

Many of the ideologies that Christian students encounter in college are smokescreens, set up not to find truth but to hide from anything that threatens people's comfort zones -- and Christians must learn to tell the difference.

[triptico]

Your posting reminds me of my own college days and it is very true. The smokescreens are there.
Leonel Uribe

[El_Jibaro]

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Now I know for sure that this place does not support unicode...

[Edited by El_Jibaro on 7th August 2001 at 20:42]