Paul the Apostle experienced a dramatic, and even for him a traumatic, conversion and transformation on the Damascus Road. There, he met Jesus Christ in an explosive way. Paul was never the same, transformed in mind, heart, soul, and spirit, FOREVER.
Paul wrote to Roman Christians the following:
“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed in the renewal of your mind, that by testing, you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”
When you, and everything about you, has been transformed by the blood of Jesus Christ, you can no longer be a part of secular culture, nor can you adopt its standards, especially just to avoid conflict, but you, the new converted one, must be different from the world, in fact a light unto the world. The saving transformation of Jesus Christ requires radical change.
No longer can you conform or compromise to this world. But tragically today, in this hyper-polarized academic landscape, there exists an unspoken ultimatum:
CONFORM OR BE CAST OUT!
Many college students today do just that. They conform by hiding their true beliefs in order that they may navigate the social and academic minefield of ideological conformity. There exists, for many, a fear of social ostracism. If a student’s morals or spiritual values are different, ostracism occurs. So many professors, woke and radical, apply academic penalties for those, especially Christians, with CONTRARIAN BELIEFS. That crushing culture, according to a recent survey, led 88% of students interviewed to admit that they, on a regular basis, pretended to hold many more progressive views than they really believed in order to succeed socially and academically. 88%! Almost 9 out of 10.
In order to achieve acceptance, including professor approval and social compliance, compromise and conformity to the new radical culture was required. As a result, this study concluded, performed in the University of Michigan and Northwestern, authenticity, true beliefs were lost in the process. That self-censorship, that moral and intellectual compromise, occurred with respect to GENDER IDENTITY, and on politics (a student should never vote Republican or for Trump), and worst of all, family and spiritual values. Students at both universities routinely concealed their beliefs for fear of ideological fallout, ridicule, and even ostracism. To confess to a strong belief in and love for Jesus Christ would have resulted in the ultimate ridicule. Consequently, faith witness was virtually nonexistent.
Gender ideology was key. Some 87% of the students interviewed identified as exclusively heterosexual and indicated they supported a binary model of gender. Those students disagreed with prioritizing gender identify over biological sex, especially in areas like sports, healthcare, or other privacy places. They were honest in the survey, but many believed that public honesty is unethical if it risks exclusion, ridicule, and ostracism. In many ways, telling the truth was deemed as radical.
That compromise culture in academia results in a total lack of dialogue, honest dialogue. Students felt they could not be true to themselves or their beliefs (to thine own self be true). They were afraid to test the spirits, as Scripture states, to question and disagree. They ignored the Biblical admonition which states emphatically that God has not given them, the true Christians, the spirit of FEAR (afraid), but of power, love, and a:
SOUND MIND.
The compromising and conforming student, especially the Christian student, was robbed by woke professors of that very special SOUND MIND. They were robbed of the experience of open dialogue that defines true education.
The Apostle Paul tells us emphatically as students, and in fact all Christians who should embrace learning their entire lives, to:
STUDY TO SHOW OURSEVLES APPROVED UNTO GOD, WORK MEN AND WORK WOMEN, WHO ARE CAPABLE OF RIGHTLY DIVIDING (THAT IS DISCERNING AND UNDERSTANDING) THE SCRIPTURES, AND IN FACT ALL THINGS INTELLECTUAL.
The sound mind is critical for every Christian. CRITICAL!
There can be no compromise and no conformity with the things and the thinking of this world. NONE!
Test, says Paul, the spirits, the facts, the knowledge of the culture, the values and priorities of this non-binary culture. Compromise, whether in words or deeds, is still compromise, and where compromise and conformity exist, the transgender culture wins. Progressive agendas win. The passion for good grades prompts even more compromise, including accepting men invading women’s private spaces, children facing life-altering surgeries, and high schools and colleges permeated with ideological propaganda. Christian students can not let that happen.
It is more difficult than ever not to be conformed to or compromised by the things of this world. It is more difficult than ever to test the spirits, to discern right and wrong, and what is good, acceptable, and perfect. It is more difficult than ever to be ready to give an answer to the faith and belief which truly lies within. It is more difficult than ever to not be ashamed of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is more difficult than ever not to be afraid, to live the life and have the testimony of a true Christian.
But we must always remember that God has not given us the spirit of Fear. We should never be afraid, nor should we be ashamed of the Gospel. For God has given us the spirit of power, and love, and a:
SOUND CHRISTIAN MIND.
It is our duty, our privilege, our pleasure to use that sound mind so that we can be true sons and daughters of our Living Lord, and courageously stand up to the compromising and combative culture of this world!