Universities are a unique challenge to the young Christian. The university system, as a worldly invention, directly conflicts with a number of godly principles. Nevertheless, in the present social order in this country, a degree is considered of utmost importance. A smart young man is expected to go to college; it is thought a travesty if he does not. Once there, the epistemology of the fallen world is thrust upon the student with disconcerting brazenness. Universities attempt to take the place of the person’s parents, to displace them entirely in the allegiance of the student. "When in doubt, the university knows best—no need to submit to your parents’ antiquated ideals." The indoctrination the university attempts to thrust upon the students is blatantly biased. How then must one deal with the pressures? How does the Christian resist an organization so bent upon removing the very ideals for which the Christian stands—while at the same time getting the degree and education needed?
These points of guidance of how to deal with the college system are directed at the homeschooled, Spirit-filled, Christian young man, for that is what I was when I started college in fall 2002 at the age of 17. I graduated with my masters in Civil Engineering in December of 2006--and I still love the Lord.
I have put together a large number of points regarding this topic from my experiences at the University, from that of friends and relatives, and from the understanding the Lord has given our church on this matter. I did not put in all the Scriptural support--if these points bear witness with your spirit, it won’t be hard to look up the scriptures that agree with what I say.
College Basics
- Only go to college if the Lord calls you to do so—meaning you, your parents, and your authority in the Church all agree that it is the Lord’s plan for you. Going to college should be the exception, not the rule. Don’t take getting a full scholarship offer as a sign from the Lord that you should go, any more than getting a free pass to a rock concert is a God’s sign that you should go. We do not take full advantage of the world.
- Do not live on campus. Period. Staying at home is a safeguard to you. You don’t need to prove that you are independent by putting yourself in a bad, ungodly living situation without the oversight of godly, mature adults.
- Only go to a college within easy driving distance of home—this is a corollary of #2. Distance from oversight is not good. A “Christian” university still takes you out of the strength of godly relationships in the home with your authority. Again, just because you receive scholarship offers does not mean you should go elsewhere. Better to be poor and safe in the Lord than rich but with spiritual problems.
- Don’t go into majors heavy with indoctrination, like the arts, English, or even history. Stick to "hard" topics like engineering, sciences, or perhaps some of the medical fields. Of course, if the Lord leads otherwise, then follow His will—but if He gives you an option, take the safe route.
- You are there to spoil the Egyptians of some of their knowledge. You owe them nothing. The world is not your friend. Don’t let a quest for knowledge become your goal. It is a lie when the world says you need to take full advantage of your talents. You are a peculiar people when you don’t, and that makes the world take note. I, for instance, surprised many by not going for my PhD, when all the faculty were begging me to go for it. I think many still expect me to show up one of these days to get it. Many in the intellectual community get all of their fulfillment from maximizing their potential in this way, and it witnesses to them of the Lord when you don’t. All you need to do is follow the Lord. That is where you get your fulfillment, not from degrees or grades.
- Your objective is to get in and get out without your faith being shaken. Remember that.
- You don’t have to go to college as soon as you finish high school. Even if the Lord has college in the plan for your life, that doesn’t mean that you must follow the world’s plan. My brother and I, for instance, waited some time—we graduated high school at 15 and 16, respectively. It may be best to work for a few years, to save some money, to get solidified in who you are in the Lord first. Some people are able to handle the college atmosphere earlier than others. It’s better to do it late than to do it early.
Maintaining Your Walk in the Lord
- Honor the Lord first. Do not skip church meetings to study or do homework. If you honor the Lord, He will bless your efforts. Time and again, if I honored the Lord first, He would make things work out. I once had 3 weeks out of 6 where my family and I visited another church, precluding work on the weekends. I couldn’t get my homework done for the Mondays. And every time, the homework was delayed by the professor. Don’t be afraid to ask for mercy.
- As far as possible, avoid working on Sundays. You need a break, and the Lord knew that when He instituted the Sabbath rest. One thing that many students fail to realize is that rest makes all the other study profitable. A well-rested student should almost always beat a student who studied all night on a test, even if the well-rested student studied less. This, of course, depends on what type of a learner you are to some extent.
- Read the Word daily. It is your true food. Some things are more important than study. If necessary, find ways to get the Word in, like tapes in the car or as you fall asleep. If you are in a time crunch, at least get 5 or 10 minutes in. The Word is one thing that should not be neglected for the sake of study. It is more important than that extra 5 or 10 minutes.
- Pray before the Lord daily, and worship as well. How else will you keep your perspective? Your priority is to be a son of God. A good time for prayer and worship is your drive to school. Don’t just listen to the radio as you drive. Make good use of the time.
- Do not let school consume you. You are to be consumed by your love for the Lord. The Lord comes first! Be ever ready to heed the Lord’s call. If the Lord called you to drop out of college, would you do it? Don’t let doing something the Lord put before you take priority over hearing the Spirit and obeying. You don’t know whether the Lord needs you to get that degree, or if He just wanted you to go to college for a couple of years. Don’t assume anything.
- Ask the Body for prayer. If you are having difficulty, ask for the church to pray for you. Listen to any words they have for you. Hear the wisdom of those who have gone before you. Prayer makes a difference.
Dealing with the Pressures of the World
- Make sure your parents know where you are at all times. It is a safeguard for you and peace of mind for them. Get a good cell phone plan. If something requires you to stay on campus an extra hour, let your parents know what it is and when to expect you. And be willing to come home if they ask you to.
- Do not stay on campus to study unless you must. The less time spent in the worldly influence of campus, the better. If you say that you have trouble studying at home, try to work through it. Find a way to study at home. Ask your parents to help you set up a good study situation at home. It is better to deal with the inconveniences of having family members bother you than to stay on campus outside of protection.
- Avoid study groups. Most are excuses for social interaction, and even the most serious are not profitable. If you need help, talk to your instructors, not students. You pay the instructors. You don’t pay fellow students, who will look for something in return from you. If you don’t need help, why go to study groups? To help fellow students? You do not owe them anything. If they ask you for help, give it if you feel to, but beware being dragged into anything. If they are fellow Christians, then look to help them a little more, but still avoid study groups outside of the supervision of parents.
- Do not stress about grades. Do your job and let the Lord take care of the rest. If you get a C, would that bother you? It shouldn’t upset your peace. You work heartily as unto the Lord. You be a responsible individual, doing all of the assignments, not skipping lectures, studying for the tests. Don’t waste time with idle pursuits. If you do that and don’t get an A, don’t sweat. If you aren’t responsible and don’t get an A, it is your mistake, but still don’t let it upset your peace.
- If a class has bad topics, avoid them as much as you can. This is one of the few good reasons for skipping a class. Talk to the instructor. If it gets too bad, drop the class. Talk to your parents about strategies.
- Beware the internet. There are a vast number of dangers lurking on the internet. For safety, when you use the internet, it is best to be out in an open area where many walk by—just as an added safeguard for you. At home, use your computer out in the family areas, not behind closed doors in your room. You know well what not to get into. Those with good foundations shouldn’t have a problem with getting into bad things on the internet, but it is always wise to not put yourself in dangerous positions.
- When you get home, tell your parents all about your day. Tell them the good and the bad, and talk over the bad with them. Keep everything out in the open. If you are experiencing pressures, let them know about it and pray with them. If the Lord gives you an opportunity to speak to someone, let your parents know so more can pray.
Dealing with Peers
- Avoid group exercises if you can. The less interaction with peers, the better. Bad company corrupts good morals. And you seldom find good company with fellow students, even the “Christian” ones. Some group exercises are required, but if permitted, work alone. You will probably learn more, waste less time, and not have to depend on someone else you do not trust.
- Don’t give your cell phone number out unless you must. If you give your cell phone number out to peers, they will call you and ask you for help with schoolwork. And you will either have to compromise or say no, neither of which is a good choice. The less interaction with peers, the better.
- You will hear cuss words. Feign ignorance of them. Let them go over your head. Don’t use them. This is one of the ways we honor the Lord and are different from the world.
- If a conversation in a room gets on a bad topic, leave the room. Go get a drink or something. Pray against it as you go.
- Guard your heart. Guys, avoid interacting with girls much. You are there for the knowledge, not to look for a wife. There is tremendous danger if you wander on this point. Your wife should come out of the church, not out of the university. Girls, the same point stands.
- Avoid getting in arguments. You do not have to prove to them that the way you walk is the right way. You do not have to defend your positions on topics. "If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men." Arguing over topics like politics, science, etc. alienates people. Let them be wrong. You are a representative of the Lord--you don't want to alienate someone over a relatively petty topic. Just try to steer clear of controversial topics. You can't persuade a person that abortion is wrong. But in time, if a person turns to the Lord, then they will see the truth.
- Be a witness--don't witness. Let your witness be the way you live. Don't advertise your faith by trying to always steer conversations to the Lord, or even by wearing symbols of your faith. A life lived the right way speaks far louder. Trying to foist your faith on someone the Lord has not prepared will inoculate them to the Lord. If the Lord has prepared someone, He will make it clear, and give you opportunity for speaking light to that person.
- Build up fellow Christians. Do not get into theology discussions with them. It is not profitable at all to argue over those points. Just live your life as the Lord has shown you, and encourage them to do so as well. When the Lord is ready, He can give revelation to those people of the truth in matters. You can't. "Now accept the person who is weak in faith, but not for the purpose of passing judgment on his opinons.... Who are you to judge the servant of another? To his own master he stands or falls; and he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.... So then we pursue the things which make for peace and the building up of one another.... The faith which you have, have as your own conviction before God." Once, for instance, I sat near two Christians in a class. One day, one was telling the other how everyone she knew was coming to her for advice on their problems. The Lord had me tell her that the reason for them doing that was because they could see the Lord in her, and the wisdom that He was giving her. These Christians, I'm sure, did not believe many of the same things I believe. But the Lord would rather us build up our fellow Christians than tear them down by attacking their convictions.
Making an Impact on the World
- Be a light to the world. How? By being different. We are to be a peculiar people. Don’t think that you can best reach the world by being like them, by socializing with them, by being friends with them. You best reach them by being different, by following God’s principles.
- Be ready to give a word to someone when the Lord gives it to you. Do not be afraid—greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world.
- Be ready to give an account of the hope within you. When everyone bombs a test, you will be the only one at peace. Why?
- You are an ambassador of the Lord in an evil world. Do not get entangled in the affairs of the world. Do not sully the Lord’s name. The only way the world sees the Lord is through His people.
- Dress modestly and cleanly. Think on how it reflects on your Lord. Do not dress as the world does. Do you think a son of God should dress like a bum? That is okay for the world, but “you are a royal priesthood, a holy nation…” Following the fads is for the people in the world searching for acceptance. You don’t have to follow them. In fact, to be a good witness, you should not follow them, but rather present another option. Let even your clothes reflect this. I, for one, felt it appropriate to always wear long pants and a polo shirt, at least.
- Let your speech be with grace. Do not speak like the world does. Use proper English, no slang, no cuss words. It reflects on the Lord. Be willing to stand out, to be different. If you are different, it both protects you from people seeking "friends" and it witnesses to them that there is a different way.
Helpful Things to Get You Through
- Make sure you get enough sleep. You learn more when rested. There is a happy medium between sleep and study. Don’t assume you should study until you collapse exhausted. It may be more effective for you if you get enough sleep and study less. It was for me. Try it out.
- Grades don’t matter. You are just getting a piece of paper and some knowledge. Just do your job and don’t let a B upset your peace. You don’t have to honor the Lord by getting straight A’s. If you get an F, would it upset your peace? If so, you are too absorbed by school. Your peace is in the Lord.
- Let your fulfillment depend on your place in the Chosen. Do not measure your performance at all. Whether grades or souls saved, your fulfillment depends not on how you do, but on God’s choice of you.
- Do not waste time on useless pursuits like TV and games. Some relaxation is necessary, but do not let football, for instance, consume your mind. Both your schoolwork and your spiritual life will suffer.
- Listen to music in moderation . Avoid popular music entirely—it simply is not profitable. Music is very powerful, far more so than most realize. It is capable of manipulating emotions, of making a person feel a certain way. Worldly music influences feelings falsely into directions that are not profitable. Contemporary Christian music is not as bad, but the instrumentation, the beat, appeals to the soul rather than edifying the spirit. Is there any good music to listen to? Some Christian music is edifying, that which praises the Lord without attracting people with a driving beat. Some classical music, like that by Bach or Handel, is edifying. And listening to recordings of worship can be profitable. But let all things be done in moderation.
- Do not think that you must be out of college and have a steady job to get married. Being married is a tremendous safeguard to you. There are ways to work out a living situation until you have enough money to buy your own place—garage apartments, mobile homes on parents’ land, etc. Think outside the world's box.
As I mentioned, these are directed towards the homeschooled, Spirit-filled, Christian young man, still living at home throughout college (unless he gets married). There are many Christians not in this position. Some went to public school. Many Christian young women go to college (I think it imprudent). Many Christians go to college far from home. These are not optimal positions to be in, but the overriding principles still remain:
- Put the Lord first in your life
- Minimize the influence of the world on you
- Maximize contact with the saints
- Follow the Spirit in everything
- Follow godly authority, listen to their advice
- Do not let college consume you
All of the specific points I gave earlier are not absolutes, but rather, “I give an opinion as one who by the mercy of the Lord is trustworthy.” The outworking of following the Lord may not always be the same. First and foremost, follow the Spirit. Only when we follow the Spirit can we be assured that we are safe from the enemy and are fulfilling all that the Lord has for us. The Lord may not have us follow some of these points—nevertheless, I believe that the one who adheres to these principles will do well. These are the type of things that would be good to follow unless the Lord says otherwise; they are a good default. The aim is to glorify God to the utmost in our lives—no compromise. That is why we were created; that is why we were saved.