Back on campus

So it's been five years since I've been on a public university campus. Some random musings are to follow.

First thing that I've noticed, everybody has a laptop. When I was at University of North Texas, laptops were very rare and maybe one person out of 100 brought a laptop to class.

Second thing, girls don't wear clothes anymore. I've seen some skirts that must disappear when the wearer of the skirt sits down.

Third thing, everybody has cellphones. When I was at UNT cell phones were just beginning to become popular and it was before minute plans. Now, I can't count how many times I thought two individuals were having a conversation with each other and they were actually both talking on the respective cell phones. In between classes people are walking around everywhere talking on their cell phones. ... I am glad that I don't have a cell phone.

Fourth and the main point of this post. OU is in a Southern Baptist State, everyone knows what Baptists think because, supposedly, everyone is a baptist. So there is an incredible religious presence at OU. The first day I went to class I saw people standing on the corner passing out tracts. Then this previous Monday I saw someone preaching to a crowd of people while he was standing on a chair. There is a big presence of the Atheists & Agnostics (a student organization) also.

Now, first with the preacher I saw standing on a chair. Before school started I was warned about lunatics who would harass you and preach how everyone is going to hell. (Which reminds me of two extremes in Christianity, relativism, and legalism - but I'll post more on this later.) The guy I saw was singing a song about how Sooners (the mascot for OU, or the Oklahoma Sooners) were going to go to hell for eternity. Now, I realize that Jesus spend more time preaching on hell and judgment than He did on heaven. It's important for people to realize that God is just. But when I later returned by this preacher I noticed he was sitting on a chair and having dialogue with these students. The posture that this preacher had was of enjoyment and self-righteousness. He appeared to enjoy being the center of the students who were somewhat mocking him. He was basically making a spectacle of himself. I did not understand what he was trying to accomplish. There were preachers like this at UNT and they were always trying to cause problems. This fella - at OU - just seemed to be like he was out for the attention and notoriety. None of the students cared what he had to say - they were spectators at a train wreck. Just like many people slow down to look at automobile accidents, these students were here to mock Christianity. It was sad, it's important to go to where people are at to preach the gospel, but sometimes people preach the gospel to become self-righteous, but I must remember what Paul said - at least the gospel (hopefully) was being preached.

Now, about the atheists and agnostics, what do they have in common? An atheist doesn't believe in any type of supernatural deity. Whereas agnostics claim that they don't know if one exists or not. So the two are completely different categories, just as different as a polytheist and a monotheist. An agnostic may be the only belief in which an argument is not required to be one, for an agnostic can always claim "I don't know." As an agnostic once told me it's a "chicken" position, you don't claim anything one way or another. The atheist claims that there is no deity, so regardless of whether one worships one or not, the atheist must present arguments as to why God does not exist. I think that the agnostic position is the default position, yet if the atheist's arguments are correct, then the agnostic ought to convert to atheism. So it seems as if these two positions are not in harmony after all... unless they are united in their rejection of Christianity.