“…and the teachers of the law were looking for some sly way to arrest Jesus and kill him.” Mark 14.1

Doesn’t it say something in the law about murder?  Hmmmm!?!  Look and see that a tension usually arises between people’s rules, or belief systems, and being able to follow them logically.  Those who knew the law were intentionally looking to break it so that they could remain teachers of the law. 

The incident in Will Vill last week (see previous post) reveals the same problem.  In order for the council to be tolerant, they had to exercise strict intolerance.  It was also seen in the Miss America pageant incident.  Miss California didn’t win because she doesn’t agree with same-sex marriage.  So the ‘tolerant’ judges lowered their marks for her because she didn’t agree with them.  She is not free to express her beliefs without harsh judgment.  Tolerance means no other opinion is valid except mine and I will intolerantly enforce my view of tolerance.

 On campus this week another example occurred.  The campus tolerates the obvious law breaking marijuana fest of 4/20 on their premises (lack of funding for sufficient resources is an issue), yet couldn’t stand to have students singing to Jesus and praying on another part of the campus just 2 days earlier, even threatening police intervention if the offenders didn’t leave promptly.  Of course, no one is offended by the giant, joint smoking mob in the middle of campus!

Apart from Jesus and His way, life isn’t livable with consistency in any other system of belief.  People have to borrow from Jesus’ way to live in their way.  For example,  naturalism provides no basis for an inherent value of people’s lives - we are here due to meaningless forces for meaningless reasons.  But life can’t be lived practically or relevantly with this value statement.  We hurt when 9/11 takes lives.  We want to help oppressed peoples be free and have basic needs met.  We want to see slavery and sex trafficking abolished.  If we are here by a meaningless cause for no purpose at all, then life has no meaning and persons have no value, and none of these issues even matter.

Life is hard to live with a worldview that doesn’t allow you to live in it consistently – that you have to break in order to abide by it.  You don’t have to not live by a Christian worldview in order to live it.

Last night at a campus dorm we witnessed a collision of worldviews and spiritual forces.  A group of students had received permission to hold a 24 hour worship/prayer event in a dorm.  A lot of work went into setting up sound equipment, lights, pictures, prayer areas, food, etc.  The atmosphere was well done.

About 2 hours into the event, a student whom I guess was with the dorm council, stormed into the area and announced loudly and rudely that it was being shut down.  This started a conversation with more of the council which lasted for over an hour.  Their position was that in their understanding the event they approved was not the event which was happening.  Complaints had apparently been received which contended that it was not an ‘inclusive’ event and that students were being pressured to ‘convert’.  So the council said that the event was ‘too Christian’ and not inclusive of all religions.  So, while no student was turned away - anyone could be a part or hang around to check things out and several students did just that - and no one was pressured or even invited to convert, the crux was that an event where Jesus was being worshipped, could not be tolerated.  The authorities could not risk for a non-Christian to be offended in anyway.

So a collision occurred between a worldview that says Jesus is truth and one that says ‘our truth is that there is no truth’.   There was also a very evident spiritual  force at work with one student who exhibited anger and beligerance and even hatred.  Very evident when only  music was being played and sung and students were quietly praying.

On the front lines anything ‘Christian’ cannot be tolerated and the blindness of the other worldview is displayed.  While obviously drunk students were entering/leaving the dorm and using all sorts of colorful language and, assumingly, engaged in various sorts of activites in their rooms, it was not okay for students to be singing about Jesus or praying for the dorm they were in at an event in a common area.

It is the worldview that says ‘I have a right not to be offended.”

This event was admittedly very Christian and may not have been the most effective way to move dorm students towards Jesus, but it was also certainly not deterimental to students well-being and even interfering with their pusuits of the evening.  And so in the middle of a labor-intensive event, a group of students made another group of students tear down and pack up in a hurry so that no one would be offended.

Our last ‘normal’ meeting of the semester was last night - Encouragement Night!  It has become somewhat of a tradition at Challenge and displays one of the distinctives of our ministry.  Its all about the heart.

On this night we take 2 or so minutes for each person in the room and others encourage them with how they have seen character or heart attitudes displayed (or gained) in the person’s life and actions. It is really an amazing night as we get to hear how God has used students and how they have been growing spiritually and blessing others.  It also gives us a chance to help students who have a difficult time receiving or giving encouragement.

Now this is not the only time in the year that Challenge students encourage one another and build each other up - it goes on all the time, but it is a time to specifically focus on giving a good word and cheering students’  hearts.

 An anxious heart weighs a man down,
but a kind word cheers him up.  Prov. 12:25

It is also fun to hear the creativeness which some people have in giving encouragement.  We don’t always get that privilege when it goes on just person to person.  People’s hearts are also displayed when they share and so we know each other more deeply as a result.

Sometimes in student ministry you get an opportunity to serve at a moment’s notice.  Last weekend we were able to host 5 guys from a ministry in Nebraska who had come to Denver for a big concert.  We found out the details the night they were going to stay with us.  So all 5 holed up in our basement Friday night after the Friday Night Thing.  We had a great time around the late breakfast table on Saturday.

A reminder to stay alert at all times comes from this man.  Sounds like he enjoyed freedom and rescue over Easter.

Arizona’s state missionary used to tell us “We are all one step from stupid.”  I can sure use this reminder.  It is so easy to be wrapped up in busyness of what we should be doing, that we lose a situational awareness.  Its not hard to find or remember examples of this.

1 Peter 5:   ⁸Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. ⁹Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.

In cruising this morning, I came across a great site for biblical training.  For anyone wanting to learn basics or gain seminary level teaching - its all right here.  The applications for remote places are incredible.  I love things like this where vision has born tremendous fruit and become highly applicable and effective.