College -- Rise and Fall of Faith

[Originally written 03/07/2007, edited with conclusion on 02/15/2008]

Years ago, when I was graduating from high school, some of my fellow post-college friends told us that our faith in college would either flourish or fall. At the time that felt like a shock and a surge, I keep telling myself, I must make preparations and plans so that I do not fall.

Funny it must have been to God. No man will walk the journey of Christ without falling at least half a dozen times. And most of them will have struggled with various difficulties throughout the journey. One fall cannot destroy us, lest we decide to stay down in despair and in fear. No my brothers and sisters, college may have and probably will be the place that many will trip and fall, it is also a place for many to stand back up and to rise to holiness. And we are only human, we all have faults, no one will journey unchallenged. Even Jesus was tempted in the desert, and through His Lenten journey, Jesus showed us how it is to be done! I can only say from my own experience that if one takes the attitude that college will make or break a Christian -- and to hold the attitude that one may never recover from that -- is despairing and pessimist indeed. We must not forget that our lives are ultimately in the hands of God, and only by following Jesus will we know the way. And let's not forget that the Spirit is our teacher on the way when we are weary and doubtful. God is with us always! His incarnate word was named Emmanuel -- no other religion exists today speaks of the love of God so great -- as to become one and to live among us, and to give of Himself to us -- our very sinful state!

No, my friend, one does not fall and stay down, albeit that our college campus today is extremely voided for God. In philosophy classes, any arguments to do with God is dismissed either as naive, unsupported, discriminatory, or irrelevant. And often, many teaches the way of pleasure or maximized benefits as the criteria in examining moral, ethics, and other lively principles. Textbooks are constructed using weak pieces of the so-called "conservative" position and stronger pieces of the so-called "liberal" position. And these classes are often offered to freshman students as requirements in fine arts and social studies.

In freshman year, I took a rhetoric course titled, "Everything is an Argument", and now I begin to really see that purpose some of these ethics and philosophy classes are really just an argument that awaits to be analyzed and digested -- and not everything can be taken at a face value. But I do not think our average freshman will be prepared for the bombardment of "logistic", "tolerant", "legal" arguments that some of our professors puts up in these classes.

Classes tailored to educate students to be liberal is one thing, the whole experience of without parents and without supervision -- and the kind of activities thereof, drinking, sex, drugs, discrimination, list goes on -- becomes much more like the ordinary run-of-the-mill events one hears from friends and people across the hall. Yes, the outlook of it seems gloom, but it's not all doom I must say.

Unlike my friend, I believe that it is this attitude of oh if I fall, then I'm gone, might as well do this and that, oh, since I've fall so far, might as well try that. Such attitude is what 'causes further degrading of ones will to continue on the journey of faith, along side with the external factors of teenage-hood, leaving-home, new environment, etc. I know it is hard sometimes, seeing all the environmental factors, but we must not forget the attitude we hold also speaks very much of how much action we will undertake. And of course, the Man upstairs is always watching over us. So the outlook isn't all that bad -- in my opinion.

But what do we do when we fall?

Stand back up and keep moving! Maybe there are times when you fall, you don't know where you are and which way to go any more, and that is when you seek the guidance of the Spirit. There's more struggle than just the usual sex, drug, and alcohol lurking around -- loneliness, sickness, grades, vocation, friendship, boyfriends, girlfriends -- tons of them, small things like roommate may even make or break someone's semester -- and possible academic career!

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But most importantly of all, stand back up and move along. Do you want your faith life to go into Ashes? Because from Ashes we were made, and on the Last Day -- from Ashes we shall rise.

TMH