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How am I going to maintain my faith in college?

Posted by tom | Oct 17, 2007

For those of you wondering about InterVarsity's ministry in the field, here's what a senior in Harvard Radcliffe Christian Fellowship's shared with the first years a few weeks ago.  A good word which calls us to continue to pray for first years as they enter the second part of their term, older students as they serve as mentors, faculty as they seek to pass along their faith in words/action, and InterVarsity staff as by the grace of God they are part of bringing the Light of Christ to the campus mix in an era where Christian image is turning youths off.

And I don’t know if this is you, but in case any of you are worried, you know, thinking, ‘how am I going to maintain my faith in college?’ I just wanted to let you know that in my three years here I have never seen anyone maintain their faith in college. Sometimes it is neglected, and it sort of withers, and dies, it’s true, but in my personal experience, college has made my faith grow tremendously, you know, just skyrocket. And that is why we call this event Launch. Because we are not about maintaining anything. So, my first bit of advice to you, Christians, not to maintain but to increase your faith during your time here at Harvard, is doubt! Pursue your doubts and see where they lead; own them and be honest about them. Because if God is not bigger than your doubts, if he’s not stronger than your fears, if he’s not the bad mama jama that he says he is, then either he’s not real at all, or he’s not a god worth having faith in

Because frankly, not pursuing your doubts is not faith at all. And the fact is most of us, no matter what we say we believe, are still living a good chunk of our lives as if there isn’t an all-powerful, all-knowing, good, loving, personal God working for good all over the world all day every day. We are living, functionally, as atheists. Oh sure, we believe in God, but we’re still hedging our bets, just in case. I "believe" that God will guide my future, but I obsess over classes and majors and papers like my one and only hope is – me.

PS.  You'll notice the Harvard strand w/yesterday's piece on College Depression & Harvard Course in "Positive Psychology"

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2 Comments & 0 Trackbacks of "How am I going to maintain my faith in college?"

    I always like to tell people how I became a Christian at Carnegie-Mellon - everyone always thinks of it as a "Godless" place - even my aunt's Unitarian church in Hamilton, Ontario had a speaker preaching about the evils of CMU.

    But, yes, it is a good point about "maintaining" faith. Not much sanctifying work is going on, if nothing is changing.

    Posted by Jon Daley, Oct 25 2007, 00:28

    Indeed, it is risky (and foolish) to characterize any place as "Godless." When we moved from Florida to Massachusetts we were warned about the "Godless Northeast," especially New England. There is certainly some truth about general prevailing attitudes (and politics), compared with the South, but God is most definitely there, and led us to a wonderful church not five minutes from our apartment. The very liberal Boston Globe ran a long, positive article about Christian fellowship at Harvard, an institution frequently reviled as "Godless."

    That said, there are plenty of evils that assail a young college student, and I'm grateful for IVCF and other Christian fellowships who work to be God's hands, feet, and voice on campus.

    Posted by SursumCorda, Oct 25 2007, 07:29
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