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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (March 24, 1997)
The Battalion Opinion Page 9 Monday • March 24, 1997 Bearing the cross ruth transcends flawed messengers Resurrection Week challenges A&M arkness comes in many colors. But it always comes — n to the invincible. every human life re are always mo- nts of isolated dark- swhere there are no ire arguments, no re justifications, no m paths to take, and way around ttie hurt :ause those who lis- ihave gone away. Today, the students of asfcs A&M usher in a week which nev- ailsto bring conflict, confusion and ic moments—Resurrection Week. Christians set this week aside to earn at the world, hoping to con- !t sinners and, at the same time, of- the hope of the Gospel. Non-Christians see this week as opportunity to prove that God not and could not exist. Despite the polarity between the ) groups, truth is an absolute entity ich will present itself in due time. Conventional wisdom will always jintto an evolved creation, rather i a seven-day miracle. It also will eal flaws and contradictions of an r-translated, multi-authored look, not to mention the time-tested ■votion of leading world religions (■rich point away from Christianity. u Above all, any educated individ- Jcan see the obvious frailty of the lowers of Christ. I Looking at some Christians’ Induct, it becomes painfully ob- rtltfcus that Jesus of Nazareth was rejjust a man — a far cry from the holy, loving God he claimed to be. Some Christians often forget at they too are sinners. Even the ini Bible said, “For all have sinned and Blen short of the glory of God.” ■tomans 3.23) § Consider the attitude of Christian Iteachers like Tom Short, who come j to campus just to stir emotions, g Short stands in front of Sul Ross, & quoting verse after verse from the 0 :lble while he encourages animosity With the other side of his mouth. hopleiike him cannot claim to fol- 1 ^someone who was supposed to ^ ^perfect. ,e Short and the Christians like him . ^sinners as well. m The Satan they preach against is ibleto speak to them just as much as ^ ’fcan speak to anyone. ^ 0I With this in mind, the truth of Iristian fallibility seems obvious fen among Christians. Jesus himself told the religious seders of his day to “throw the h histone,” as long as they were inocent of sin. The leaders did 'Otanswer Jesus’ question but lowly walked away, leaving | a j accused woman in the ost where they threw her. Obviously, Christians P Wiot successfully ! jrve a perfect God 9 ith imperfect ends. LhYivy Hu'ly ®Jrve, Short and hristians P ike must i^ 1 eve God’s orp 056 ** Spite their Opinion Editor Alex Walters Senior journalism major sins and cormpted, hu man hearts. Only a holy, wonder ful God can work mira cles with tools such as anger, competitiveness, prideful knowledge and confrontation. “Stump-preachers” al ways breed argument in stead of conviction. After the screaming match is over, the audience will only take away anger and mocking laughter. This laughter will linger into the darkest hours of the night, when no one is around to share the joke, a joke that develops into a thought, a thought that leads to a quiet question without an answer. And there, in the dark place, there is no one to be impressed with knowledge, a quick wit or conventional wisdom. The only other person in that dark place isn’t worth much. His hair is matted with blood, his face wet with spit, his hands ripped open and his feet bound in humiliation. His name is Jesus, and He will wait in the darkness, because His children are worth everything to him—from the imperfect messen ger to the laughing skeptic. >o vf/ s? a I n mankind’s sor did background, there are a few truly watershed events. One such oc casion has influ enced world culture so much, that it has become the accept ed focal point on the timeline of history. The collage of Texas A&M programs this week, labeled Resurrection Week, should not be dismissed as a religious ritu al, but used as a resource to form an opinion on the most significant occurrence since the dawn of civilization. • There, the gauntlet has been thrown. Resurrection Week can be seen as a week-long seminar on an important religion (although to use the word religion would be a fallacy since religion is man’s attempt to reach God, and Christianity is God’s at tempt to reach man). Resweek is not handed down by an educational committee. It is a produc tion by a significant number of students. To understand what makes a large minori ty of the campus tick, an examination of Chris tianity is essential. Russell Klawit- ter, head of Resweek this year and se nior agri- Columnist Joshua Hill Sophomore English major cultural systems man agement major and , said he hopes Resweek will educate people on the power of the resur rection over sin and why Christ died. “He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life,” Klawitter said, quoting 1 John 5:12. “My hope is that peo ple will understand what we’re blabbering about.” There are two groups of people, especially, who have a cultural obligation to check out Christianity*thoroughly. The first group is the com pletely ignorant. This is the group which learned about Christianity from secondary sources. They see it on television, read about scandals and religious fights in newspapers and learn in school about the Crusades, the Inquisition and the inter-reli gious wars. To them, the world scope of Christianity is vile enough to justify its rejection. Unfortunately, most of these people don’t know what they are rejecting. They don’t know who Jesus is, they think Judaism and Christianity are separate faiths and they don’t under stand the whole “sacrifice for salvation” concept. Rejecting Christianity before having a full understanding of it is a rejection of spiritual and in tellectual integrity. The second body of individ uals who need to take advan tage of Resweek are the “Cultural Christians.” This is a group of peo ple who grew up in a church or around a lot of Christian influ ences. Somehow they conclude that they are Christians. 1 / / <cr" L ( At Beach Reach ‘97, a Christian outreach program, students on spring break were asked if they had considered Christianity. A common response was: “I go to church.” Others were: “I’m a pretty good person,” “My parents are Christians,” and even “I go to Baylor.” As these students were told, none of these factors has any thing to do with Christianity. As Jesus told a Pharisee, “Unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” The first birth is a traumatic event for the individual com ing out, and life for him has completely changed. Likewise, the birth into the kingdom of God is a one-time, life-chang ing event. Sadly, Christianity is still somewhat “in,” attracting a great number of false fronts, people and organizations that practice lip-service Christianity. If students claim to be Chris tians and take full responsibility for the driver’s seats in their lives, something is wrong. That seat belongs to God. For those “Christians” who don’t have a clue, Resweek is a great opportunity to Jearn about things with which they are ignorant or unfamiliar. For the Christians who have a clue but aren’t doing anything, Resweek should be a wakeup call, driving them to take some sort of positive action. When a Christian is “born again,” he should do the same thing that a baby does — name ly, grow up and get involved. The challenge is here, the time is this week. Information on Resweek can be found at the web site: http: / /http, tamu.edu/ -resweek. Schedules of events will be posted everywhere, and the mes sage is presented through drama, music and dynamic speakers. Students may disagree with the given material, but the ed ucational experience will not be boring. Students must learn what they are rejecting or embracing, and Resur rection Week is an opportunity to teach them. tte kbch /' i f H l.dM iversi Mail Student leaves pleasant memories An article ran recently in the Battalion, concerning the recent death of Mary Jane Malone. For those who never knew Mary Jane, the article probably seemed appropriate, but those who shared in the joy of her ex istence know that her life merits more than just the factual detail of the car accident, and it takes more than just six sentences to describe what a treasure she was to all who knew her. Mary Jane Malone was a ju nior English major from Shreve port, LA. She was a member of Kappa Alpha Theta sorority and the Conference on Student Gov ernment. Stating that Mary Jane was an active individual is not sufficient for the amazing amount of energy she had. Mary Jane put her heart and soul into everything she did whether it be for an organization or just living life. She never did anything half heartedly. Just seeing Mary Jane’s smil ing face as she bounced across campus would brighten any one’s day. She overflowed with creativity, and her humor and spontaneity could keep anyone laughing for hours. She always found the good in others and loved them for it. Mary Jane Malone loved life and lived it to it’s fullest. She left a color ful impression on the hearts and lives of all her family and friends. Though her death was with out a doubt an unexpected tragedy, the joy of her life must not be overshadowed by the pain of her death. So, please, don’t remember the accident, remember Mary Jane. Ashley Perricone Class of’00 West Campus bus stop needs repair Every time it rains, the bus stop at Wehner becomes a huge mud pit. I, and countless others, have ruined many pairs of shoes trying to get from the bus to the concrete. Could somebody (the Uni versity) please use some of our General Use Fee, to throw some concrete or build a sidewalk. R Neela Class of ’98 The Battalion encourages letters to the ed itor. Letters must be 300 words or fewer and include the author’s name, class, and phone number. The opinion editor reserves the right to edit letters for length, style, and accuracy. Letters may be submitted in person at 013 Reed Mc Donald with a valid student ID. Letters may also be mailed to: The Battalion - Mail Call 013 Reed McDonald Texas A&M University College Station, TX 77843-1111 Campus Mail: 1111 Fax: (409) 845-2647 E-mail: Batt@tamvml.tamu.edu
