Bob Jones University

While I had good professors at BJU, the only permissible theology that was allowed to be taught was dispensationalism, which I believed in whole-heartedly at the time, even though I could never quite square it with Scripture. Pity the poor lad who came from a reform background. Pity the rest of us for not being given the opportunity to learn what reform theology was.

There are so many good Christian colleges out there that will challenge you to think about the Scriptures honestly and with integrity, that you don't really need to waste four years at BJU. If you desire to be indoctrinated, and come from a dispensational background, then you may do fine, rules and hypocrisy not withstanding. If you want to be stunted in your spiritual growth and educational pursuits, then by all means, go to BJU.

But if you want to learn in an environment that is faithful to orthodox understandings of the Scripture while also giving you an opportunity to understand other traditions within historic Christianity, then go somewhere else.

BJU will hurt you spiritually. It took several years to overcome the harmful effects of what we affectionately called "Jonestown." While I can appreciate what they are attempting to do, they are going about it in the wrong way. They have long since lost the founder's vision of what a truly Christian university can be and have morphed into a separtistic, high culture, ecclesiastical enclave that caters to independent, dispensational Baptists to the exclusion of all other Bible-believing Christians. For those poor souls who actually buy into the beliefs and practices of BJU, they will forever be ostracized from normal Christian living, and lose all ability to influence their culture for Christ. I find it interesting to note that Bob Jones IV has escaped from his upbringing, having earned a Ph.D. from Notre Dame. I couldn't go to Dallas Theological Seminary but Bob Jones IV could go to Notre Dame. Fascinating.