“How to Stay Christian in College” (Book Review) – A Christian Conservative Goes to College, part 12

“[From] the moment students set foot on the contemporary campus, their Christian convictions and discipline are assaulted. ‘Faith is just a crutch,’ they hear from friends and teachers. ‘The Bible is just mythology.’ ‘Christianity is judgmental and intolerant.’ ‘Morality is different everywhere.’ ‘Everyone must find his own truth.’ ‘I can be good without God.’ ‘Jesus was just a man who died.’ No wonder so many lose their faith!” (J. Budziszewski, How to Stay Christian in College).[1]

Drip, drip, drip. I witnessed the constant attack on Christianity, Christian beliefs and morals, while I was in college. At times I felt totally alone. Many times I wanted to fight. Many times I just stayed quiet, silent, while within my blood boiled. Oftentimes I argued with myself about responses or lack-thereof. I was sometimes so spiritually oppressed (Ephesians 6:12) that I needed some time of refreshing. I needed my tank refilled, needed a good influence, needed to be reminded how I could answer the enemies of Christ and the cross (Philippians 3:18). And then, by the grace of God, I ran across J. Budziszewski’s How to Stay Christian in College at an online Christian bookstore.

“[From] the moment students set foot on the contemporary campus, their Christian convictions and discipline are assaulted. ‘Faith is just a crutch,’ they hear from friends and teachers. ‘The Bible is just mythology.’ ‘Christianity is judgmental and intolerant.’ ‘Morality is different everywhere.’ ‘Everyone must find his own truth.’ ‘I can be good without God.’ ‘Jesus was just a man who died.’ No wonder so many lose their faith!” (J. Budziszewski, How to Stay Christian in College).[1]

Drip, drip, drip. I witnessed the constant attack on Christianity, Christian beliefs and morals, while I was in college. At times I felt totally alone. Many times I wanted to fight. Many times I just stayed quiet, silent, while within my blood boiled. Oftentimes I argued with myself about responses or lack-thereof. I was sometimes so spiritually oppressed (Ephesians 6:12) that I needed some time of refreshing. I needed my tank refilled, needed a good influence, needed to be reminded how I could answer the enemies of Christ and the cross (Philippians 3:18). And then, by the grace of God, I ran across J. Budziszewski’s How to Stay Christian in College at an online Christian bookstore.

Dr. Budziszewski is a philosopher, and a professor who, according to the website at the University of Texas at Austin, “specializes in political philosophy, ethical philosophy, and the interaction of religion with philosophy. Among his research interests are classical natural law, virtue ethics, moral self deception, family and sexuality, and the problem of toleration.”[2]

Good stuff… and right up my alley, as was this book, with chapters entitled Worldviews, Talking with NonChristian Friends, Campus Myths (knowledge, love, sex, politics), and How to Cope. Aaaaah, “The one who associates with the wise grows wise” (Proverbs 13:20). Reading How to Stay Christian in College was a blessing and a help in my battle against the enemies of the Christ.

To begin his book, Professor Budziszewski points out that for many young people college is the first escape from the structure and boundaries of home. College can be a strange world of adult personal freedom combined with, in some cases, an atmosphere that still protects, provides, and pampers. Unfortunately, “colleges and universities are [also] magnets for extreme beliefs, ideologies, and cults.”[3] For the young Christian, raised by Christian parents, who was part of a Christian youth group and church, and who may have even attended Christian schools, campus can be culture shock.[4] Finding oneself with an unbelieving roommate, and/or suddenly outgunned and outnumbered in a place where the Bible, the Christian faith, and Christian values are held up to constant ridicule is a face-slapping reminder that the world is the enemy. Unfortunately,

“As students grow older, the intellectual level of their Christian training often drops instead of rises! Many of them never get beyond a child’s understanding of the faith. They carry it right into college, where it’s all too often blown away.”[5]

So Dr. Budziszewski begins the book by underscoring the basics of orthodox Christianity.[6] (A good place to start!) God, creation, and then the bad news (Satan, sin, hell): We are broken and cannot fix ourselves. “We’re just plain guilty. Disloyalty to your family, your country, your friend, or your spouse is bad enough, but disloyalty to God is the worst thing in the universe. The worst thing carries the worst penalty.”[7] But then he presents the good news: Jesus Christ, the God-man, redemption, the cross, the resurrection. And Jesus is the only hope, the only way… no matter what they tell you at college.

Following that the author introduces the false philosophies and beliefs systems that the Christian student may run across in the halls of academia: Naturalism (“Naturalists like to think of themselves as brave defenders of clear reasoning against irrational superstition, but actually naturalism itself is the superstition. It isn’t supported by reasoning, but by blind hostility to the evidence of God.”),[8] Postmodernism (basically a self-refuting “There is no such thing as truth” belief system), and Do-It-Yourself Spirituality (as in “I’m a very spiritual person”, a wonderfully ridiculous western buffet of pick and choose what you want kind of religion you want).[9]

He introduces the reader to many other lies that will be commonplace in the halls of academia such as, “Faith and reason or faith and truth are mutually exclusive” (untrue),[10]  “Truth is whatever you sincerely believe” (i.e. relativism), and “Truth is whatever works” (pragmatism), and “We can’t really know anything for certain” (Can you say that for certain?).

He covers a lot of ground in this easy to read, fairly short book. Here I highlight some of the things he points out:

·        Sinners look for reasons not to believe

·        “Many cults take Christian words and pour nonChristian meanings into them…”[11]

·        False worldviews often build upon a grain of truth.

·        Lessons on evolution often depart from science and evidence.

·        Look out for contradictions in worldviews and teaching. (Contradictions cannot be true; they are self-refuting.)

·        Christians being labeled as arrogant and intolerant by people who contradict themselves by being arrogant and intolerant towards anything Christian.[12]

·        Prepare for ridicule: “Things like sneering, name-calling, and intimidation. For example, when a teacher at my own university opened her class by saying, ‘All of you here are too intelligent to be pro-life, right?’”[13]

·        Note unproven statements, especially by professors, for instance: Dismissal of Christian beliefs and biblical worldviews offhand, without any reasoning, debate, or argument (making note of give away phrases like “as-we-now-know”[14] and talk of certain ideas and beliefs as being archaic or belonging to the Dark Ages).

The book is filled with great examples of professors and students giving off hand comments about and against Christianity, not only off-hand comments, but blatant attacks. Still, the author offers some good advice, even offers some great examples as to how one might answer attacks, point out unproven assumptions, etc. One great piece of advice he gave is one I tried to follow even prior to reading this book: “[Be] such a hard worker that even an unfair teacher will find it difficult to complain about you.”[15] (See 1 Peter 2:12.)

In a section entitled “How to Deal with Questions”, he points out that some people’s questions are nothing but smoke screens. “Some questions and objections aren’t intended seriously. They’re not real…. They’re not ways of getting at the truth but ways of hiding from it.”[16] (Lord knows I have experienced that!)[17] In such a case the author suggests that we need not have to fret about answering such people/questions/objections. He suggests we leave the person alone and leave them in God’s hands.

He also helps to remind us that not only will the Christians beliefs of the student be attacked, but their lives and lifestyles will most likely also be attacked. Let us not forget that the devil is cunning (2 Corinthians 2:11). Beware the subtle attacks against one’s emotions, heart, relationships. Love, sex, acquaintances, friends, can all be used against the Christian student if he or she is not on guard. He writes,

“You belong to Jesus Christ. God wants to use you to reach your nonChristian friends—but Satan wants to use your nonChristian friends to reach you…. Satan will try to turn the tables by making you feel embarrassed about your faith—by making you think that its childish, silly, or intolerant…. Still another way is to weaken your discipline and suck you into sin—especially into an entwining, addicting sin like drunkenness, drugs, or sex. That strategy is one of the Enemy’s favorites….”[18]

Remember what Scripture tells us: “Do not be deceived: ‘Bad company corrupts good morals’” (1 Corinthians 15:33). Remember, “Like a city whose walls are broken down is a man who lacks self-control” (Proverbs 25:28, NIV). 

Thus he covers basics for dating and marriage,[19] friendships and relationships, clubs and activities. Staying close to Christian friends and church is foundational. Trying to be a “solitary Christian” is not good. He even has a great section on what to look for and what to avoid in a church.[20] All of this requires a lot of prayer, something he continuously advises (as do I).

Lastly, Dr. Budziszewski suggests that to cope in the classroom we must submit ourselves to Christ and in return our minds will be renewed. He says that when we are aligned with Christ, we will be able to sense, spy, smell when something fishy is going on or being taught:

“[You] need to have a spirit of obedience to Jesus Christ. If your spirit is in rebellion, your nose will be in rebellion too. [You also] need to study the Word of God and other Christian literature. We’re talking about a mental, not physical, sense of smell. In order to develop it you have to use your mind.”[21]

This is so very important always in our Christian walk, certainly it is not something to put aside when on the college campus. Romans 12 speaks of this:

“Therefore I exhort you, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a sacrifice – alive, holy, and pleasing to God – which is your reasonable service. Do not be conformed to this present world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:1-3).

In conclusion, the Christian student does not always have to win the debate; all one needs to do is plant a seed, a seed of truth, or a seed of doubt in questioning unquestioned assumptions, “truths”, and worldviews. And while many young college aged Believers are often thinking about what their future vocations and callings may be, they should never forget that they have a calling here and now, while in school, while on that campus, and while in that classroom. You are God’s representative, ambassadors, called to be witnesses with your lives and in your speech. Salt and light, remember? (Matthew 5:13-14). Therefore your time, your classes, your professors, your classmates, your seating choice or seating arrangement, your schedule, your semester, etc., none of it is by mistake but it is by divine appointment. You are there for a reason.

So “set Christ apart as Lord in your hearts and always be ready to give an answer to anyone who asks about the hope you possess. Yet do it with courtesy and respect, keeping a good conscience, so that those who slander your good conduct in Christ may be put to shame when they accuse you” (1 Peter 3:15-16).

“Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunities. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you should answer everyone” (Colossians 4:5-6).

If you’re a Christian in college, or have a child or friend attending, get this book.

Feel free to read my other columns at http://www.examiner.com/christian-perspectives-in-philadelphia/stephen-j-drain.

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