Who can deny that the nature and climate of education on many secular campuses has changed in the last several years? Student unrest and violence are commonplace. Lack of discipline and respect for authority is universal. Immorality is almost taken for granted. Un-American and anti-Christian ideologies are promulgated freely. These factors are frightening when we consider these words of Aristotle: “ All who have meditated on the art of governing mankind have been convinced that the fate of empires depends on the education of youth.” It is because of this kind of educational climate that I am more convinced than ever of the necessity of Christian colleges. I would like to suggest three reasons why I believe in the Christian college. (I'm using the term “ Christian college” in a general way to include not only Christian liberal arts colleges but also Bible institutes and Bible colleges. Also, my re marks should not be taken as speaking against secu lar colleges or public schools. Certainly a strong Christian witness is needed in more secular colleges through Christian faculty members and students.) 1. Scriptural Perspective on Life. We are living in a day when people think they can get along without the Bible and without God. As a result, they are floundering and have no rudder for their souls. They are trying to find answers to their spiritual problems but they have forgotten God. They are like a man trying to open a safe after he has thrown away the combination. Only a Christian school can meet this need in college students’ lives for a Biblical perspective on life. If a student is not taught the Bible and led to know Jesus Christ, he misses the very basis of knowl edge and wisdom. According to Proverbs 1:7, "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” In the Hebrew, the word translated beginning can also be rendered head, summation, or capstone. Without a thorough knowledge of the Bible and a personal knowledge of Jesus Christ, we are in an educational vacuum and a spiritual void. A graduate of a secular college lamented, “ College gave us spokes, but no hub.” Irving Jensen, a Christian college Bible professor, wrote, “ The written revelation of God alone plumbs the depths of the secrets of life and living as it offers to man the keys to life everlasting and abundant. The speculative philosophies have nothing eternal or dependable to offer man.” C. Hoyt Watson, of the Seattle Pacific College, wrote the following regarding his training in a secu lar college: “ Mine was a long, arduous, painful task to build a reasonable foundation for my faith. Except for help outside the school, I was in a battle all along. . . . I was not given assistance in building a rational foundation for my faith. This has long since been done. But it was in spite of my teachers in the secu lar college. Had I attended an evangelical Christian college, I would have had sympathetic, yet scholarly, THE KING'S BUSINESS
The Necessity of Christian Colleges Today
by Dr. R oy B . Zuek Executive V ice-President, Scripture Press Foundation, Glen Ellyn, Illinois
y 1980, college enrollment is expected to climb ; from the present 7 millions to 11 millions. This is more than the number of students who attended college in the whole world in the entire 19th century! In the face of this growth, school administrators are wondering where to secure finances for these stu dents, academic deans are searching frantically for faculty members to teach these students, and bull dozers are digging dirt to construct facilities to house and feed these students. But a far greater problem that ought to concern all of us is the question: What kind of education will these millions of students re ceive in the 70’s? 12
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