The Courage To Just Say No

By Charles Colson
Prison Fellowship

CBN.com - Recently, a well-known American college required graduating seniors to take a course entitled "Contemporary World Issues." In the first semester, the main issue studied by the class was feminism.

The course had its problems. On the first day of class, one of the biology professors stood up and told the students several bizarre stories about mismatched primary and secondary gender characteristics. Eventually the professor worked his way around to stories about women with Y chromosomes, and then he concluded by telling the students that there is no physical difference between men and women. That’s right—none!

Well, as you can imagine, this came as a bit of a shock to the students. But there was more. The next day, a sociology professor came to class and taught these young people that in a perfect just society, women would hold 50 percent of the jobs in every career field. One suspicious student asked, "How about the National Football League?" to which the professor answered smugly: "Yes, even in the National Football League."

Well, needless to say, this politically correct and very unbiblical approach to gender issues was disturbing to the Christian students in that class. But even more disturbing was the fact that the class was offered at a leading Christian university! That’s right, one of the more reputable Christian colleges in this country was teaching unchristian nonsense to its students.

If you’re a Christian parent, this story ought to be particularly chilling. You probably realize that secular colleges are often hostile toward your Christian views and values, and maybe you’ve comforted yourself with the thought that you can at least protect your kids by sending them to a Christian school. But that’s not always the case anymore, as some parents are discovering.

Granted, not all Christian colleges would offer a course like the one I just described. Most have a deep commitment to helping students understand their Christian faith as a total worldview. But some—more than you might like to believe—think that providing a Christian education means having a cross on the school emblem, offering Bible courses, and holding chapel services once a week. Unfortunately, there are always a few faculty members who don’t understand how their faith is relevant in their academic discipline. And there will be plenty of skeptical students to challenge your child’s faith.

Now, if you send your son to Harvard, for example, you already know that not everything taught there will dovetail with your Christian beliefs. But he’ll likely be on his toes, seeking to discern truth from lies. But if you send him to a Christian college, he’s more likely to swallow whatever he learns, without appropriate intellectual defenses.

That’s why your kids need to understand their Christian worldview before they leave home. You can’t assume they’ll get this in college. As a matter of fact, it’s safer to assume that their faith will be tested, possibly even undermined.

Before your student leaves for college, why not consider investing in a doctrinally sound worldview camp, like the ones offered at Worldview Academy. These summer leadership camps for Christian teens, nationwide, train students in three key areas: worldview, apologetics and evangelism, and servant leadership.

Worldview graduates understand how to think and live, and they’ll also know to "Just say no!" to bad ideas.