Defending Community Standards

Posted by admin on Jun 29, 2005 in Issues & Ideas | 0 comments

Community Standards aren’t bad enough to have kept us from choosing Trinity Western University, so why can’t we grow up and accept them for what they are: valuable guidelines that enhance the quality of life on this campus? If you want a place that allows you to drink, club, dance, smoke, or live with the opposite sex, take your pick of any other university across North America. No one is making you stay – and if you’ve chosen not to like it here, we really wouldn’t mind if you left.

As hard as student accountability is, it needs to take place. Essentially, rules or standards aren’t the real issue – it’s all about attitude. We need to call each other on our bad attitudes; they have no place in a Christ-centred life. It’s about who we serve, not what we have to do. Respect for authority and responsibility for our actions are key components, not only in Christian society, but in every society. Can we humble ourselves to accept that? TWU standards were not created to punish or enslave us, to wreck our fun and make us miserable;
they’re intended to uphold biblical principles and protect our quality of life.

Why do we try to be so much like the world? Apparently, we’re still terrified of being uncool . . . and, having a mature, Christ-like attitude toward authority and consequences is clearly not cool. Instead of being in the world, but not of it, it seems that we continue to imitate the world as much as possible, desperately trying to make sure no one ever discovers we’re Christians! How have we come to that?

I’m proud of TWU’s effort to be distinct, facing up to the challenge of being the only Christian university in Canada. I’m not proud of the fact that so many students are trying their best to undermine TWU’s efforts and reputation. We have the power to make or break this school, and it seems that we’re doing our best to break it. We need more students working to make this a better place with better attitudes, wider perspectives, and more understanding. These people and attitudes exist, but positive peer pressure is lacking. We need to start standing up for what we say we believe. Can we sacrifice the world we try so hard to emulate and instead take up the challenge of living authentic Christian lives?