Christian on Campus

Again, a disclaimer. I don't claim to speak for Christians nor any other sect of religious affiliation. This is a personal opinion.

So, I happen to classify myself as a Christian. The way I look at this is not that I attend a Christian church, or that I believe in the Bible, or any of that. I mean, the above statements are true, it's just I personally feel that doesn't make you a Christian. Being a Christian is a way of life, not filling your head with a bunch of facts or simply being at a certain place at a certain time, as great as those things may be. Nope. Being a Christian involves realizing your own shortcomings, how utterly lousy you are, and putting your faith in something greater than you who cares and is willing to help you. Of course, there's more to it than that, but I don't want to plunge into a giant rant about being a Christian and all that. This is just to let you know where I'm coming from.

In a prior post I talked a little about differing opinions and such. This is extremely applicable and so I suggest you read it if you get confused, because I'm going to assume you've at least skimmed it.

Now, to the main topic.

First, realize that there are differing definitions of being a Christian. I've presented one of them. Also, people tend to classify Christians in different ways. I use the word "people" to include Christians themselves in the prior sentence. I'm sure you know about Catholicism and Protestants and all that jazz, but even on a finer grain there's variety. Showing up for church is what some people think is a necessary pre-requisite for being a Christian. Perhaps being good enough or doing good deads. Others feel you have to believe the entire Bible literally, some think it's more of a guideline manual. There's huge variety, even down to people who claim to be Christian but don't believe in the divinity of Jesus nor the resurrection. Personally, those people kinda confuse me. I mean, you think someone stole the body or something? Bug me with your theory and I'm pretty sure I have a rebuttal, I won't list all the various crazy theories I've been presented here. Seriously, Jesus just went into a deep sleep? There was a spear stuck in his chest for crying out loud.

Moving on, there's plenty of different ways to express your faith on campus. We do have an Intervarsity (IV) group here on the Claremont Colleges, and they are awesome. I kinda wish I'm able to attend more often, but homework keeps kicking me in the face. Of course, there's also several churches locally, and people with cars who might be able to get you there. And of course there's everyday stuff. I mean, we don't have Bible burnings and being an awesome person in general is never frowned upon.

Conflict of course arises when the extremists start being, well, extreme. For example, going around being the stereotypical "you're all going to hell" kind of Christian is a Bad Idea. Not only are you being a jerk, you're also making people less likely to view Christians in a favorable light, and probably pissing off other Christians as a result. Also, there have been times that Christianity in general has butted head with other groups. The issues of abortion and homosexuality are the big current ones, evolution to a lesser degree. Maybe I'll do a random rant some other time on one of them and what both sides have been arguing so people will stop getting one-sided information. I hate that kind of stuff. Back to the point, while the general Christianity, or at least whoever the media report about, may set some kind of platform, even withing Mudd you'll find people who agree and disagree with the general platform. Kinda fun. Lovely little microcosm. Hey, there's another idea for another post.

This beings me to the final point. A weird thing occurs when you profess to be something. You are now an example of what that label might be. I profess to be a Christian, so I can be a representation of what a Christian is. Others claim to be jerks, and we all know the connotation of that based on people we know who are labeled or label themselves as jerks. Some people avoid labels because of the connotations and that their actions may reflect badly on that label. Sometimes I don't want to call myself a Christian since it would tarnish what other Christian I know have worked hard on to give it a good name. Then again, it's an accountability system. I need to live up to what I say I am. And, as I mentioned above, I know how lame and lousy of a Christian I am, which is probably a good thing. Being a self-righteous Christian is usually a bad idea.

I imagine that all of these things apply to other groups as well. Just wanted to share some stuff form my side.