History paper and God

It has been almost a month since I have last posted. There is good reason for such a leave of absence. I have been up to my ears in papers and assignments, even over my spring break. I have another such paper due on Monday that I will begin after writing this. This will be short but I wanted to give all my readers an update.

This last week I have experienced a feeling that I have not had since the Marine Corps. Because of my insane workload (5 papers written, all in the last two weeks)... I am bordering on the brink of exhaustion, physically and mentally. 

The due dates of the papers pay little regard to my tired state and continue to creep up on me. This week was no different, but the assignment was. I had my final and most important history paper due on Thursday. I had other assignments due earlier in the week and so I only began researching the history paper on Wednesday morning. I finished my research on Thursday morning at 3 am, slept for 4 hours, and began writing at 7. As I sat in the security officers' office 15 mins after waking up, I realized that I had absolutely no desire, nor strength to analyze or write the paper. I had no more of my own strength  to run on. 

I stopped trying to write, stopped trying to think, stopped trying to analyze the copious pages of notes I had taken. I recognized that I was in my most pathetic condition. I was about to become very frustrated, and I was about to quit. 

Just then my mom popped up on skype, and I explained to her in typical guy fashion (short thought blurbs) the dire straits I was in. She wasted no time; the response was immediate. It was also straight out of Scripture. "Even youths shall faint and be weary,and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint." Isaiah 40: 30-31

Though I was "weary" and "exhausted," my heart was suddenly filled with gladness at the promise of faithfulness given by our Lord. My frustration turned to joy at the opportunity that God had brought about to prove His faithfulness towards me.

Before I finish the story, I must add a disclaimer. Isaiah does say that "they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint." But the Lord, through Isaiah, is not making a promise that the situation will get better. He is only making a promise that He will give "those who wait upon the Lord" the strength to get through the situation. 

The Lord did give me strength, and by His hand alone I was able to finished my paper. Not only did I finish it, but by my estimation, I composed my best history paper yet. My arguments went deeper than I had ever been able to before, and were better supported than previous ones made. To put the cherry on top, I finished with 3 minutes left before another class that I had to get to. :) 

As I was walking away from the aforementioned class, I was well aware of my exhaustion. My body ached and my joints creaked, but my heart was filled with wonder. I raised my hands to the heavens and poured out the gratitude of my heart to the Lord. As I choked back actual tears of joy I thanked the God that brought Israel out of Egypt, the God who helped David slay Goliath, the God who sent His only Son to die for sinners....  the very same God that loved me enough to get me through a history paper. 

The tales of Martyn at Patrick Henry College might not contain the euphoric high of parasailing; it might not contain the emotion of Hollywood's latest tear jerker; it probably doesn't have the adventure to it that some of my stories from Africa does. But it is my hope that they the contain one simple truth about the Christian life. Namely that life and our experiences are not about us, they are about Christ. They are about Him, to whom all glory and honor is due. 

In our Savior, 

Martyn

Erskine College...

As a few readers may know, Erskine College, in Due West, SC, has been deeply mired in controversy as of late. A brief summary of the situation: Erskine College is a small college (aprox. 600 students) that is owned by an evangelical denomination, the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church (ARP). The denomination has not always been conservative but recent years have seen the church as a whole, drift counter-culture towards the conservative side of the evangelical movement. An example of the conservative stance: the denomination presently affirms both the inerrancy and infallibility of Scripture and rigidly adheres to the Westminster Confession of Faith.  Apparently, therein lies a major difference between the denomination and the denomination owned college and seminary.

There has been a growing concern on the part of some students and several faculty members about the departure of key Christian teaching, a teaching that integrates the principles of the reformed Christian faith with reason. Many students have expressed concern in regard to this departure, some going so far as to assert a fear of voicing reformed Christian principles in the classroom. These students have testified to having their faith attacked and their Biblical standards torn down by the very professors that are entrusted to educate them with a Christian worldview. Consequently, a number of students began the Students for a Faithful Erskine (SAFE) and composed a letter requesting action from the highest leadership of the ARP, the Synod.

The situation could easily be construed as isolated incidents happening to students who live in rebellion of the system. However, this is not the case. Examples of students who attest to the lack of Christian teaching are found in the student president of the Society of Physics Students and Judicial Council Vice-Chairman (Hudson Smith), a member of the Student Christian Association cabinet and Hands for Hope President (Ashley Waldmeyer), a Student Life Assistant [basically a dorm prefect] and Student Life Committee chair and editor of the Erskine Mirror (Joshua Grimm), and finally the student president of the Erskine chapter of Young Conservatives (Kathleen Smith). Many, if not all of the students displaying concern are not poor students, nor unpopular participants in college life. They are upstanding young people who have been placed in leadership roles, both by peers as well as college administrators. Surely this cannot be the work of miscreants.

The ARP Synod responded to the requests of SAFE and certain faculty members and last year opened an investigation into the conduct and teaching of the faculty and college as a whole. The investigation panel was comprised of highly esteemed lawyers, various church ruling elders and other upstanding church members who met specific requirements. It was not dictated as a witch-hunt nor judgment day reckoning but rather with unswerving commitment to establishing the truth of the matter.

They recently concluded their investigation and held a series of hearings where they reviewed, with the Erskine College Board of Trustees present, the findings of the investigations. Interviews were made of the board members and the conclusion was made to remove from office 14 of the 33 member of the Board of Trustees. In their place, an interim board comprised of other church leaders, pastors and elders, would begin restructuring the college and instituting the changes recommended by the ARP Synod.

That was the plan, until some alumni composed a deposition that they supplied to the South Carolina courts. They alleged an overstepping of authority on the part of the ARP synod and several other claims. The courts enacted a temporary injunction against the ARP Synod for a period of 10 days, during which time the judge would consider the supplied arguments. (The Synod also filed a deposition asserting its right to act according to its status as owners and governors of Erskine.)

The legal action taken by the alumni flies in the face of Biblical teaching. 1 Corinthians 6 begins with this thought:

“When one of you has a grievance against another, does he dare go to law before the unrighteous instead of the saints? Or do you know that the saints will judge the word? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to try trivial cases? Do you not know that we are to judge angels? How much more, then, matters pertaining to this life! So if you have such cases, why do you lay them before those who have no standing in the church? I say this to your shame. Can it be that there is no one among you wise enough to settle a dispute between brothers, but brother goes to law against brother, and that before unbelievers? To have lawsuits at all with one another is already a defeat for you. Why not rather suffer wrong? Why not rather be defrauded? But you yourselves wrong and defraud- even your own brothers!”

The scriptures could not be more painfully clear. There is a place for legal action, as evidenced in other passages regarding church discipline. However, that place is within the confines of the church, furthermore, within the fellowship and love of the body of Christ. The action taken by the alumni demonstrates a deeper issue than the direction that Erskine College will travel in the future; it demonstrates an unwillingness to submit to church authority, an inability to recognize the leadership God has set in place, and a heart that desires to incorporate more of the secular world in the Christian faith.

If the court rules in the favor of the Erskine alumni, all hope is not lost. Nothing happens outside of the good, pleasing, and perfect will of our Father in Heaven. Ultimately, the course of Erskine is in the hands of a higher judge, an omnipotent Judge, the Judge who gives the responsibility of justice to men. While it may be difficult to view presently, there is indeed hope for the situation.  Faculty members who have taken a stand for the inerrancy of Scripture may find their positions untenable, but this could just be the beginning of a beautiful new chapter in their lives. Romans 8: 28 says, “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”