Featured A Campus in Turmoil

Perhaps I'm in the wrong or misunderstanding your intent but I precieve that your message is that this college is now going to suffer a great loss because you do not agree with their doctrinal position and therefore the college will not have the honor of your presence on campus.

 

Wow...how very sad.

Jerome...I did go and read Ms Jones article and also her open letter to the Board at Cedarville. While she very clearly reveals her own radical unbelief and that is very sad and tragic, she also reveals (as she sees it) some alleged very dark and wicked things that happened both to her and others she knew on campus. If any of this is true then it is tragic. My own gut feeling is that she (as demonstrated by her own current testimony) was an adherent of what I'll call "Evangelical Churchianity"...NOT true "Born Again" Christianity. Just as there are no "ex" Marines, there are no "ex" Christians. Sadly, the things that happened to her at Cedarville were subject to her own interpretation from an unbelieving worldview rather than a believing Biblical one and thus we have the statement of an individual (Ms Jones) who has almost completed the trip from mere unbelief to radical atheistic unbelief.
The sad fact is that SIN permeates all of us and all the churches and all of the "Christian" colleges and all of this world (and they(the world) don't even know it).....and the ONLY cure for any of it is to embrace by faith the precious Son of the LIVING God. Ms.Jones has faith...the only problem is that her faith is in herself. Tragic. We should pray for her. As for Cedarville...well..I'm not a college guy but I am a Christian guy and as such I will say that I applaud any move by any professing Bible-Believing school or organization to stand (or attempt to restore their stand) on the plain, simple, (an sometimes very narrow) teachings of the Word of God which is the very basis of our faith and the knowledge of the God we love. I'm never surprized to hear the name-calling and the mud-slinging begin when that happens. In this contemporary culture we live in we are regarded as intolerant hate-filled bigots if we stand for Biblical truths or values. That is only going to get WORSE as the end approaches. That is also a clear teaching of God's Word. Ours is a Bible faith and a Bible knowledge and in the end that will be the ONLY thing that will stand the test. All this ballyho about "academic freedom", or academic or intellectual "integrity" is just the latest "buzzwords" for biblical apostasy in the days we live in. None of this takes our God by surprize. Nor should it surprize us.

Bro.Greg:tear:

 

That isn't what I said at all. No campus is suffering because I'm not a part of it.

My point is that if I disagree with the standards and theological positions outlined in the documents of a university it is my obligation to not pursue employment. I'm not right for the university (or church for that matter.)

The example I gave of Pete Enns (obviously it didn't start with him if we go back 100 years ago, my point was that this recent spate of controversies have largely started with his dismissal) is that Dr Enns should have left Westminster by his own accord rather than drawing it out. If we had any question whether Dr Enns disagreed with some of the major doctrinal points of Westminster, his writing and blogging has shown that he clearly didn't agree.

So I'm not saying anything close to your interpretation. The tone of your words is concerning as well. I truly have no idea how you read my post in the manner which you did.

 

My best guess is the reason for my outburst is that you are on a much higher level of wisedom, knowledge and spirituality than me and I'm like green with envy. Lets just leave it at that professor.

 

From a Cedarville Graduate's point of view (2003), It seems that these most recent controversies SEEM to be a delayed reaction to the earlier controversies surrounding "truth & certainty."

At that time, events surrounding the dismissal of 2 bible proffessors caused many to think Cedarville was moving in a liberal direction.

Now, it seems many thing they are moving back to a fundamentalist direction.

That said, I haven't heard or read ANYONE who actually seems to know what's going on...rather all we can do is make deductions based on a few snippets of infromation (professorial let go, people resigning, philosophy major being cut). They also cut the physics major by the way, so there's at least SOME money reasons behind them. They are still going to offer philosophy CLASSES, just not the major. (and with so many Ph.D's unemployed or underemployed...it might not be a bad move.)

I personally know lots of cedarville grads, some of which still live close to campus, a few who work there in offices like career services...and there's just not enough information known to go around pointing fingers or making huge statements about the direction of the college.

That's my view, for what it's worth.

I will say that, at my time at cedarville, and afterward, my biggest concerns were never about theology...it always seemed pretty straightforward...if decidedly dispensational, unfortunately. My concerns were in the worldliness of many students, who even at a christian university seemed to not care about honoring God with their lives. I'm not saying it was the majority of the 3,000, but enough to easily notice. I suspect it is like that today as well...There are still a lot of great people at cedarville, perhaps some not-so-great.

...and one more fact for those interested...for the last 2 years at their worship conference, the feature guests leaders have been worship teams from large, charismatic churches out west, one of which has a pastor I'm pretty sure teaches a from of prosperity Gospel (Robert Morris @ Gateway Church).
Interesting that for a worship conference put on jointly by Cedarville and the SBC of Ohio, they felt the need to find worship leaders form charistmatic, non-baptist churches 2 years in a row...(They are having Travis Cotrell next year, who is the worship pastor at a baptist church in TN.)

 

Which faculty members in Liberty's dept. of Religion would you consider not up-to-conservative snuff? Just curious.

 

Jonathan, IMO it isn't that Liberty isn't "conservative", but that they have adopted in their courses and training, what is in my view, a more worldly/seeker view of church planting in ministry. Purpose driven drivel and Hybels' stuff were all required reading for me. Just disappointing. Ministry is more about spiritual fruit than drawing huge crowds.

I know I'm in the minority. Liberty is still a good school and one could certainly do worse. I appreciate their political stances as well.