The Opportunity
I have seen some students emerge from Christian colleges with a passion to live for Jesus Christ. I have seen others come away from their learning experience discouraged and disillusioned about their faith.
As a result of this, when given an opportunity to read Already Compromised on the condition that I do a review of the book, I jumped at the chance.
The Problem
The book begins with a bunch of statistics. These are intended to provide the basis for the remainder of the discussion. If you are not one who enjoys statistics (I am in this camp), press on, the effort will be worth it.
The statistics show that many Christian colleges have begun the process of compromise on critical issues of Christian belief. Further, they show that leaders of these institutions are not always in agreement with faculty with regard to these issues. In response to the statistics, I have to quote Sam Gamgee from the Lord of the Rings, “There’s an eye-opener, and no mistake.” The statistics will cause you to sit up and take notice.
The authors make a good case that many colleges and universities that claim to be Christian are on a trajectory that will result in the spiritual decline that the Ivy League schools experienced in previous generations. When faculty and leadership of a school abandon a firm commitment to the inspiration and authority of Scripture, when that school seeks to compromise with a naturalistic worldview, when academic credibility is valued above Scriptural authority, compromise will result.
Consider this quote from Chapter 2:
The Central issue is this: as Christian leaders it is time to face the issue of just how committed we will be to the authority of Scripture. It is also time to answer to the Church for this problem. It is time to realize that it is possible to hurt young minds. With vigilance we must work to put our young people in classes taught by professors who are committed believers, who even though they might require students to think and develop their own faith, will not compromise Christian truth and exchange it for a liberalism or unbelief that breaks faith instead of building it.”
One of the best tests of belief in the inspiration and authority of the Bible is how the opening chapters of Genesis are understood and taught. Too many of the seminaries and graduate schools which are training Bible teachers have allowed a flawed view of science to distort their understanding of these foundational chapters.
The Solution
The solution begins by understanding why the Church’s influence has been reduced and then take steps to reversing the trend. The authors outline three reasons why we have lost our influence.
- We have abdicated our position in the battle for the mind
- We have twisted the message of the Gospel to make it unattractive
- We have morphed the Christian message into one of personal preference and happiness
Parents, church leaders and Christian educators need to step up and begin the process of training children at an early age how to think within a Christian world view. Children need to be trained to know their Bibles and how Scripture speaks to the issues they face in the world today. Believers of all ages should be taught how to defend their faith when challenged by anti-Christian world views.
Parents have the additional responsibility of seeking out educational institutions that will build rather than destroy the faith of their children. We, as parents, need to spend the time to understand not only the stated philosophy of the school, but how well the instructors within the school follow that philosophy.
The Book
I recommend this book for any Christian parent, not only those who are actively considering colleges for their child. Church leaders, especially those who are making decisions with regard to children and youth ministries would also benefit.
There is much to chew on in this book and I plan on reading it again.
If you would like to purchase the book, there are live links above. Also, additional useful information can be found at www.creationcolleges.org.
A list of the colleges interviewed for this book can be found by clicking here.
Check out the Christian Post Article about this book.
For the record, there were no stipulations as to what I could or should write in review of this book. The book was given to me with only one condition; that was to write a review of the book on this blog. This post is the fulfillment of that one condition.
