{"id":301793,"date":"2009-03-26T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2009-03-26T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/podcast\/%series%\/living-your-faith-on-campus\/"},"modified":"2009-03-26T11:00:00","modified_gmt":"2009-03-26T15:00:00","slug":"living-your-faith-on-campus","status":"publish","type":"podcast","link":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/podcast\/familylife-today\/living-your-faith-on-campus\/","title":{"rendered":"Living Your Faith on Campus"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Can a college student really keep his faith strong while away from home?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":91,"featured_media":294104,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"https:\/\/web.familylifetoday.com\/fl2009-03-26.mp3","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"00:","filesize":"12.33M","filesize_raw":"12925080","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":""},"categories":[2814],"tags":[4705,4299,5053],"podcast_series":[7637],"cwp_profile":[9160],"series":[2101],"class_list":["post-301793","podcast","type-podcast","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-releasing-your-child","tag-college","tag-faith","tag-witness","podcast_series-welcome-to-college","cwp_profile-jonathan-morrow","series-familylife-today"],"acf":[],"episode_featured_image":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1001\/2024\/09\/FLT-Podcast-Cover-2-508x508-3.jpg?w=508","episode_player_image":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1001\/2023\/02\/image-scaled.jpg","download_link":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/podcast-download\/301793\/living-your-faith-on-campus","player_link":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/podcast-player\/301793\/living-your-faith-on-campus","audio_player":null,"episode_data":{"playerMode":"light","subscribeUrls":{"apple_podcasts":{"key":"apple_podcasts","url":"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/familylife-today\/id212174303?mt=2&app=podcast","label":"Apple Podcasts","class":"apple_podcasts","icon":"apple-podcasts.png"},"google_podcasts":{"key":"google_podcasts","url":"","label":"Google Podcasts","class":"google_podcasts","icon":"google-podcasts.png"},"spotify":{"key":"spotify","url":"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/show\/0j5UaKdQOHQCuo1bt0ebEm","label":"Spotify","class":"spotify","icon":"spotify.png"},"youtube":{"key":"youtube","url":"","label":"YouTube","class":"youtube","icon":"youtube.png"}},"rssFeedUrl":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/feed\/podcast\/familylife-today","embedCode":"<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"r6jFdFUfLK\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/podcast\/familylife-today\/living-your-faith-on-campus\/\">Living Your Faith on Campus<\/a><\/blockquote><iframe sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/podcast\/familylife-today\/living-your-faith-on-campus\/embed\/#?secret=r6jFdFUfLK\" width=\"500\" height=\"350\" title=\"&#8220;Living Your Faith on Campus&#8221; &#8212; FamilyLife\u00ae - A Cru Ministry\" data-secret=\"r6jFdFUfLK\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\"><\/iframe><script>\n\/*! This file is auto-generated *\/\n!function(d,l){\"use strict\";l.querySelector&&d.addEventListener&&\"undefined\"!=typeof URL&&(d.wp=d.wp||{},d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage||(d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage=function(e){var t=e.data;if((t||t.secret||t.message||t.value)&&!\/[^a-zA-Z0-9]\/.test(t.secret)){for(var s,r,n,a=l.querySelectorAll('iframe[data-secret=\"'+t.secret+'\"]'),o=l.querySelectorAll('blockquote[data-secret=\"'+t.secret+'\"]'),c=new RegExp(\"^https?:$\",\"i\"),i=0;i<o.length;i++)o[i].style.display=\"none\";for(i=0;i<a.length;i++)s=a[i],e.source===s.contentWindow&&(s.removeAttribute(\"style\"),\"height\"===t.message?(1e3<(r=parseInt(t.value,10))?r=1e3:~~r<200&&(r=200),s.height=r):\"link\"===t.message&&(r=new URL(s.getAttribute(\"src\")),n=new URL(t.value),c.test(n.protocol))&&n.host===r.host&&l.activeElement===s&&(d.top.location.href=t.value))}},d.addEventListener(\"message\",d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage,!1),l.addEventListener(\"DOMContentLoaded\",function(){for(var 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home?","meta_box":{"show_notes":"","transcript_url":"https:\/\/transcript.familylifetoday.com\/fl2009-03-26.pdf","transcript_content":"<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong> Why is it so many high school students who head off to college wind up abandoning their faith?\u00a0 Jonathan Morrow says there's a lot pressing students in a lot of different directions.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Jonathan:<\/strong> We live in a culture that's inundated with images and ideas, and those images, there is a background belief of what students believe about themselves, their own self-image \u2013 am I only worthwhile or worthy if I perform at a certain level and have success, and then all those kinds of things play in to those, and then that's the background, and then you get in a classroom with the professor, and they start pressing you on some issues \u2013 well, the professor said it so I guess he's really smart and does have a Ph.D. behind his name and there you go.\u00a0 That's kind of the feeling that a student has.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong> This is FamilyLife Today for Thursday, March 26th.\u00a0 Our host is the president of FamilyLife, Dennis Rainey, and I'm Bob Lepine.\u00a0 What can parents to do help make sure that when the culture and the professors are trying to press their students away from the faith, the students can stand strong?\u00a0 We'll talk about that today.\u00a0 Stay tuned.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tAnd welcome to FamilyLife Today, thanks for joining us.\u00a0 I've got to tell you, when you get a book like the one I'm sitting here looking at, which is called \"Welcome to College,\" and then you flip it over, and you see the author, it says, \"The author spent his college years at a large state school,\" it doesn't say which one.\u00a0 I'm thinking it must be a school with a lousy football team, don't you think?\u00a0 I mean, otherwise, he would step up and say \u2026\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Dennis:<\/strong> You know, I hadn't had that thought.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong> \"I went to this particular college.\"\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Dennis:<\/strong> \"A large state school.\"\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong> He's trying to \u2013 he wants you to get the picture, but he's trying to deny his association with whatever this \"large state school\" is.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Dennis:<\/strong> Or he lives in enemy territory where it could be dangerous to his health, Bob.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong> Well, that could be, I didn't think about that.\u00a0 He wants to be able to speak on other college campuses.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Dennis:<\/strong> Let's find out, once and for all, what the truth is on this.\u00a0 Jonathan Morrow joins us on FamilyLife Today.\u00a0 Jonathan, welcome to the broadcast.\u00a0 Okay, what is it, Jonathan, what's the state school?\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Jonathan:<\/strong> Well, the state school is Middle Tennessee State University, the Blue Raiders, but they did take out Maryland this year, the University of Maryland, so I'm just saying.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong> So why did you decide to list it as \"a large state school?\"\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Jonathan:<\/strong> So that everyone could identify with it.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong> You didn't want anybody to feel like, \"Oh, well, if it's Tennessee \u2013 it's different where I go, right?\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Jonathan:<\/strong> True, very true.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Dennis:<\/strong> Well, it could have also been \u2013 how far is Murfreesboro from the Big Orange T, in Tennessee?\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Jonathan:<\/strong> About two and a half hours, two and a half hours.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong> So you did want to deny any association with them, didn't you?\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Jonathan:<\/strong> Actually, yes, unless that's your biggest fan base and, no, if it's not the case.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t[laughter] \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong> A true politician.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Dennis:<\/strong> Well, Jonathan has written a book called \"Welcome to College, a Christ-Followers Guide for the Journey.\"\u00a0 He is a pastor, he and his wife have been married for seven years.\u00a0 They have two children, and he has worked not only as a college student but also with college students, has been a student of them to find out how to best prepare them to go to college, and I have to ask you this question off the top \u2013 how would you rate Christian young people today?\u00a0 That's the young people coming out of the youth groups of America arriving on the college campus.\u00a0 On a letter grade, Jonathan, how prepared are they for being a Christ-follower on the campus?\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Jonathan:<\/strong> I would have to say, probably, if I was honest, a C on a good day.\u00a0 Pockets \u2026\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong> Pretty average, is that \u2026?\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Jonathan:<\/strong> Pretty average, a D in a lot of cases, and then some As and Bs depending upon where they come from, but the church, I think, honestly, is not preparing students for what they are going to encounter.\u00a0 They haven't been given a compelling vision for \u2026\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Dennis:<\/strong> What about parents?\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Jonathan:<\/strong> Parents?\u00a0 I don't know that they're being equipped, either, to equip the students with what they need to do to get there.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong> Well, you know, you have seen the statistics that kids coming out of youth groups going off to college two years later \u2013 they're not going to church, they're not going to youth anything, they're not going to Christian meetings on the campus.\u00a0 They are pretty much caught up in what everybody else is caught up.\u00a0 I mean, this is the majority of the church kids are chucking it all.\u00a0 What's going on?\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Jonathan:<\/strong> Yes, 60 to 90 percent depending upon which survey you look at, and they are leaving the church, and I think you can boil it down to about two causes, and the first cause is that they are relationally disconnected.\u00a0 The previous generation, they are not connecting with mentors at all, and they're not connecting with their parents, and they're not connecting with other older significant relationships where they can speak life into them.\u00a0 They're not getting that, and so they find whoever the group is that accepts them, and then they become part of it regardless of values or interests or anything else.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Dennis:<\/strong> So they get mentored, but they get mentored by their peers.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Jonathan:<\/strong> Yes.\u00a0 And so they just find themselves a part of this group.\u00a0 And then the second reason is, is we haven't taught students how to think \u2013 not that they can't think or won't think, but we haven't taught them how to think, and so they'll find themselves \u2013 they don't know what they believe or why about Christianity or hardly anything else.\u00a0 You could talk about politics or anything else like that, there really isn't a lot of ability to articulate what's going on and why they think the way they do.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong> Did you grow up in a Christian home?\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Jonathan:<\/strong> No \u2013 a broadly Christian home.\u00a0 I came to Christ when I was a junior in high school, and so it was a broadly Christian home in that sense, but I wasn't given a Christian worldview growing up.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong> So when you got on the campus at Middle Tennessee State University, what did you say it was \u2013 the Red Raiders?\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Jonathan:<\/strong> The Blue Raiders.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong> The Blue Raiders.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Jonathan:<\/strong> Yes.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong> You got on the campus there \u2026\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Dennis:<\/strong> Red's too close to orange.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Jonathan:<\/strong> There are some distinctions.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong> You were barely a couple of years old in your faith.\u00a0 Did you find yourself swallowed up or did you find yourself standing firm?\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Jonathan:<\/strong> You know, I found myself standing firm by God's grace, because right when I got there, I got plugged into a group of fellow leaders and other students who really encouraged me, and then there was the campus director of Campus Crusade for Christ, and he really took me under his wing and really mentored me and showed me how to live and survive and thrive in college.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong> So at least the first part of this, the connection with an older mentor, was what preserved things for you.\u00a0 You still didn't know how to think Christianly, though, did you?\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Jonathan:<\/strong> No.\u00a0 That was a very early journey, and so what I found was is I started scrambling.\u00a0 I was, like, surely there are answers to these questions I'm hearing in class.\u00a0 I mean, somebody's got to have something out here, and so that began my journey and, honestly, in seed form what became part of the book was a lot of the things that I tracked down for answers, \"Okay, why is the Bible reliable?\"\u00a0 Or \"Is this a bunch of fairy tales,\" or \"What should I think about dating and sexuality and things like that?\"\u00a0 I didn't have a lot of firm categories or whys on those.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Dennis:<\/strong> Jonathan, I want to be careful here at this point of assuming our audience knows what you mean when you say, \"Think Christianly.\"\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Jonathan:<\/strong> Yes.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Dennis:<\/strong> Because I think there's a lot of Christian trappings in the youth groups of America, in the pews of America, but there may not be a lot of Christianly thinking in terms of holistically looking at their lives.\u00a0 Explain what you mean.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Jonathan:<\/strong> Yeah, what I mean by that is what Jesus talked about in Luke 10:27 where \"we love God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength,\" and \"we're transformed by the renewing of our mind,\" in Romans 12.\u00a0 And so the idea is approaching all of life with a biblical worldview, basically seeing reality as God defines it, and in living in that reality 166 hours a week, which is, beyond that, two hours on a Sunday morning in Christianity, which I think, unfortunately, most of us struggle to not live in \u2013 just that Sunday morning Christianity.\u00a0 And so a Christian worldview is really just living out how God defines reality in day-to-day.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Dennis:<\/strong> I don't know exactly how good a job we really did of preparing our kids with a Christian worldview before they went to college, but I do recall in those high school years when we would go to movies, we would analyze the movie according to its worldview.\u00a0 We would talk about, \"What's the underlying theme behind what the producer is creating here?\"\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Jonathan:<\/strong> That's great.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong> And your children loved that part of the movie.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Dennis:<\/strong> Oh, they said, \"Dad, thank you, thank you for, in the middle of that movie, groaning.\"\u00a0 They were so embarrassed by me.\u00a0 But here is what I was hoping to create, and Barbara as well \u2013 she calls it \"critical thinking.\"\u00a0 That's not being a person who is critical, as in negative.\u00a0 It's a person who doesn't just buy it because somebody said it on the Internet or has a Ph.D. in front of his name in a class.\u00a0 And a lot of these young people who go to college, if they're not careful, they're going to be swept away by a professor who challenges their faith, and they're going to think, \"Well, it must not be right, because that guy doesn't think it's right.\"\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Jonathan:<\/strong> Exactly, and you started having those conversations with your children along the way, and so they actually thought, \"Well, Mom and Dad have actually thought about these things, and so maybe their first default setting when they walk into the classroom is, \"Well, okay, maybe I shouldn't just chuck this right away.\u00a0 There are probably some good reasons for it.\u00a0 Let me think through and walk through this a little bit\" as opposed to \"Well, the professor said it, so I guess he's really smart and does have a Ph.D. behind his name and, there you go, and so I guess my parents didn't know any better.\"\u00a0 That's kind of the feeling that a student has.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong> Your book addresses \u2013 you've got 42 chapters in here, so you address a lot of different subjects in the book.\u00a0 One of the things that you take head-on is the issue of tolerance, which is \u2013 if there is a dominant motif on the college campus, it's the idea that we should accept everybody's opinion uncritically, and you can believe what you want to believe, and I can believe \u2013 we can all have our own truth.\u00a0 How does a student represent generosity, charity, and grace without falling into the trap, the tolerance trap that says, \"contradictory statements can both be true?\"\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Jonathan:<\/strong> Right, the old definition of tolerance used to be \"We disagree, and I extend to you the right to be wrong, and I respect you.\"\u00a0 Now it means, \"All views have to be equally right,\" and even disagreeing is intolerant.\u00a0 And so a student walks into that, and they must think about, \"Okay, well, I need to understand.\"\u00a0 That's the first thing.\u00a0 \"I need to understand this other person and where they're coming from.\"\u00a0 And that happens by asking questions, you know, I don't need to read a book on Buddhism, I need to ask my friend what he believes about Buddhism and what that means in his life, and then we can talk about, well, okay.\" \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tSo understanding is the first part.\u00a0 But then respecting them, not raising your voice, asking good questions, but also saying, \"These are important questions.\u00a0 Let's talk about this.\"\u00a0 And so, honestly, having a conversation about it, that takes patience, and it also takes some confidence from having explored what you believe and why a little bit.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong> Well, it takes humility, because you might learn something from somebody who holds a different perspective.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Jonathan:<\/strong> True.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong> But I think a lot of parents will hear you say that and think, \"Here is what I'm afraid of.\u00a0 I'm afraid if I send my son off to school to encounter somebody, and this person is a Muslim, and he says, 'Well, I'd like to learn more about your Muslim faith, and I'd like to understand it better.'\"\u00a0 What happens if six months later my son goes, \"You know, this makes sense.\u00a0 Maybe I should abandon my Christianity and become a Muslim.\"\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Jonathan:<\/strong> Yeah, and that's a possibility, but one thing I would say \u2013 we live in the Information Age, and a middle-schooler can get on the Internet and find out pretty much anything they want to know about any religion and any arguments for that religion.\u00a0 So hiding them from it is not going to help.\u00a0 The question is \u2013 how can we best prepare them, and if we have those conversations along the way, growing up, where we can critically look at \u2013 okay, what do we believe, what do different people believe, why are there differences, where are they, and then that's a great conversation.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tAnd so I think what \u2013 you know, as a parent, what my advice from parents \u2013 I give this in a very limited sense since I'm too young to be giving advice to parents because I've just got two little kids right now \u2026\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Dennis:<\/strong> No, but let me just say to you \u2013 if you've been a student of what's happening on the college campus \u2026\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong> Yeah, we need to hear from you.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Dennis:<\/strong> Parents do need someone who is thinking critically about what's happening with Christian youth today and why they are forsaking their faith.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Jonathan:<\/strong> You know, so for example, a great \u2013 there's going to be Discovery Channel, History Channel stuff, banned books of the Bible, and all these kinds of things, and so why not watch that together as a family, and take a book like \"Reinventing Jesus\" by Dr. Dan Wallace and others, and talk about, well, where did the books of the Bible come from?\u00a0 Are these alternative Christianities out there?\u00a0 These aren't things to fear, because I guarantee you, as soon as they hit college campus, they're going to hear about all these missing Gospels and lost Gospels, you don't have the true story about Jesus \u2013 that's going to be par for the course.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Dennis:<\/strong> But what am I going to do as a parent?\u00a0 I can just hear a parent saying it right now\u2013 they're going to raise issues that I don't know how to answer.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong> Yeah, some Ph.D. in a college classroom is going to say, \"Now, we know that Genesis was written by four different people.\u00a0 You have your J document, and your E document, and they are all melded together\" \u2013 and the parent goes \u2026\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Dennis:<\/strong> \"Wow, he just undermined my faith.\"\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong> Yeah, yeah, how does a mom or a dad help coach a student in the midst of something like that?\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Jonathan:<\/strong> That's the beauty of the body of Christ, because we don't have to have it all together.\u00a0 What we can do is we have resources, and there are Christians who have very thoughtful answers about these things, and resources, and that's one of the things I try to do with this book is at the end of every chapter, every short chapter, give five or six resources and the websites so that people could get equipped on, \"Okay, where are good answers?\"\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tAnd there are good answers, and there are thoughtful Christians who can help students and parents navigate through these things, and you don't have to have a Ph.D. to do it.\u00a0 It's just a matter of, honestly, taking advantage of the other people in the body of Christ who have spent their lives thinking about these issues and trying to help equip students to answer those questions about Genesis or science and evolution and questions about that or \u2013 the problem of evil \u2013 different \u2013 Jesus is and everything else in between.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Dennis:<\/strong> Your book was fascinating for me to just browse my way through, and it really is a comprehensive look at the issues young people are going to face.\u00a0 There are issues of alcohol and modesty and young ladies, sex, and relationships and your own health and dealing with science.\u00a0 If you could only take one chapter \u2013 this is really, really tough, Jonathan.\u00a0 If you could only take one chapter in here, and you've got a high school senior who is about to graduate, you're going to say, \"Read this chapter and talk about it with your Mom and Dad.\"\u00a0 What chapter would it be?\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Jonathan:<\/strong> Wow \u2026\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Dennis:<\/strong> This is tough.\u00a0 It's got how many chapters?\u00a0 40?\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Jonathan:<\/strong> Forty-two \u2013 42 short chapters.\u00a0 You know, I think what I'd have to say is the second chapter.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong> I knew it, I knew that's what he'd pick \u2013 Chapter 2.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Jonathan:<\/strong> Yeah, the \"think Christianly\" chapter because everything is going to flow out of this, it's a mindset, it's a way of approaching life, it's a vision for life that \u2013 \"I'm not going to live a fragmented life relationally, intellectually, vocationally, at work, whatever I decide to do,\" and if I catch a vision for that, then I can take the other things, and I can fit them together like puzzle pieces, if you will, into a worldview that I'm going to start these deeply held beliefs that I have, that I'll be able to drill down and say you know what?\u00a0 These are core values and core beliefs.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tGod is real, He's active, I can know Him through His Word and through what He's made, and I can think about these things.\u00a0 I don't have to be afraid of the truth out there that somebody has found out Christianity is false and forgot to tell me.\u00a0 I mean, I don't have to be fearful of that, and so I can walk in to college with, hopefully, the idea that there is this vision for a Christian worldview.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong> Well, somebody whose blog is called \"ThinkChristianly\" you know he'd pick Chapter 2, wouldn't you?\u00a0 I mean, come on.\u00a0 That's where he's going to go.\u00a0 And if you can get the idea that the Bible does inform and does speak to and does help us understand all of these issues, then when you face the issues, you may not know the answer, but you know where to go, don't you?\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Jonathan:<\/strong> Right, and that's \u2013 honestly, it gives great confidence to people, and that's the idea of a body of Christ.\u00a0 Together, we have it all in that sense, because there are other people who I need to lean on for all sorts of areas, and like, for example, the ministry you guys do here with FamilyLife Today has been huge, even in our \u2013 my wife's and my marriage and our family, and that's a part of the body of Christ ministering to me.\u00a0 And then these are areas where I'm trying to help students, and so knowing that there are answers out there \u2013 I think for a long time people have felt isolated and alone \u2013 \"I'm the only one who has ever had this doubt or this question,\" and that's just simply not true.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Dennis:<\/strong> You know, I know we're talking about college here, Jonathan, but I've got one last question before I add a summary of what we've talked about here.\u00a0 It's been puzzling to me most of this interview, and, again, I know we're talking about college, but you've just taken me back to my college days, and it's something that I've noticed about you.\u00a0 Do you want to know what that is?\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Jonathan:<\/strong> What is it?\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Dennis:<\/strong> What do you have written on the palm of your hand?\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Jonathan:<\/strong> I've got a couple of things I didn't want to forget.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong> You've got crib notes for this interview?\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Jonathan:<\/strong> Yes.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t[laughter] \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong> Did you learn that in college?\u00a0 Did you do the same thing going to take a test there?\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Jonathan:<\/strong> No, no, not at all.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong> Could just check it out.\u00a0 So what's on the palm?\u00a0 Read what it says, come on.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Jonathan:<\/strong> Actually, I already gave it to you.\u00a0 \"You were not alone.\"\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong> We asked the right questions?\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Jonathan:<\/strong> You did.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Dennis:<\/strong> Jonathan, you've written a whole book.\u00a0 You don't need to cheat.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong> He's got to have the crib notes.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t[laughter] \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Jonathan:<\/strong> It's not so much cheating as make sure I emphasize one point, hey, because there's a whole bunch in that book.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Dennis:<\/strong> Here's the thing, Jonathan, here is what's really unfair about what I just did to you, if you could see how I prepare to do radio when Bob interviews me or whatever.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong> He would have to have 20 hands.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Dennis:<\/strong> One of my books, I've got it spread out on our coffee table here so I won't forget \u2026\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong> Put it away.\u00a0 You should have this in your head.\u00a0 You wrote the book.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Dennis:<\/strong> I do want to say three things about preparing a young person to go to college.\u00a0 Number one, as parents \u2013 and this is revisiting something we've talked about all the way through here \u2013 help your child think critically about what they're hearing, what they're seeing, their entertainment, their music, think critically about the message.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tSecondly, help them as they go think about finding a mentor.\u00a0 For me, I went to college two times.\u00a0 First, to junior college \u2013 spiritually, I had virtually no mentors.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong> Let me clear this up for our listeners.\u00a0 You went to two different colleges.\u00a0 You didn't go to college two times.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Dennis:<\/strong> Well, I did.\u00a0 I did go to college two times.\u00a0 I went to a junior college for two years, and I went to the University of Arkansas for two years.\u00a0 And so I went to college two times.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong> And it was two different experiences for you?\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Dennis:<\/strong> It was two different experiences.\u00a0 I had no mentor for the first two years, and I did have a mentor, a spiritual mentor, for the second two years.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tAnyway, and the third thing that we need to send our young people to college around is send them with a mission.\u00a0 Don't just let them go to college.\u00a0 It's not just about the education, it's not just about the fun they're going to have.\u00a0 It's about a spiritual mission that they need to be on because they're followers of Jesus Christ, and personally I think every college student is one of two people \u2013 he is either a mission field in need of someone coming to him, or he's a missionary.\u00a0 He's on a mission himself, building an unseen kingdom.\u00a0 And, as parents, if we begin to think critically as we send our kids, if we begin to help them think about getting a mentor, and if we send them on a mission, I think it's going to make all the difference in the world.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong> I think if a parent had a book like \"Welcome to College,\" during a student's senior year, you know, if there are \u2026\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Dennis:<\/strong> You know, that's a great idea, because there's almost enough for a full year \u2013 42 chapters.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong> You could go through a chapter a week with your student and get them ready, get them thinking, get them interacting over the issues that they're going to be bombarded with when they head to the college campus.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Dennis:<\/strong> And if you can't remember everything that's in the book, just pull out a pen \u2026\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong> And write it on your hand.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Dennis:<\/strong> And write it on the palm of your hand.\u00a0 You might be author of the book.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<strong>Bob:<\/strong> We have copies of the book, \"Welcome to College,\" in our FamilyLife Resource Center.\u00a0 You can go to our website, FamilyLifeToday.com, and the information about the book is available there.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tOne other thing we've gotten \u2013 I don't know if you've seen this, Jonathan, but this is a CD and the DVD that comes with \u2013 what is this, about a 30-page full-color booklet \u2013 the CD features some of the top songs in contemporary Christian music by groups like Relient K and Stellar Kart, Sanctus Real, Hawk Nelson, Josh Rubin, others.\u00a0 The DVD has a bunch of special features for students, and when you order this to give to a high school senior for graduation, we're going to send along a gift for you as well.\u00a0 It's a CD where Dennis and Barbara Rainey talk about what we need to be doing as parents over the next several months to make sure that we have prepared our sons and daughters not just for college but for life.\u00a0 Do they have the basic skill set that they're going to need as they head into life?\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tSo you get the CD to give as a graduation gift, and we'll send along the bonus CD for parents to listen to as well.\u00a0 All the details are on the website, FamilyLifeToday.com, great graduation gift to give to a high school senior.\u00a0 Again, it's FamilyLifeToday.com where you'll find the information or if you want to call 1-800-FLTODAY, 1-800-358-6329, that's 1-800-F-as-in-family, L-as-in-life, and then the word TODAY.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tSpeaking of DVDs, we have sent out quite a few DVDs over the last several weeks, \"The Jesus Film\" on DVD, which features not only the story of the life of Jesus, the most-viewed motion picture of all time, but it also includes the \"Story of Jesus for Children\" as a special feature on the DVD.\u00a0 It's about an hour long, and it's great for younger kids to learn about the life of Jesus.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tWe've been sending these DVDs to those folks who request them when they make a donation this month of any amount to support the ministry of FamilyLife Today, and we so appreciate those of you who have gotten in touch with us either on the Internet or by phone to say \"We want to support what you're doing.\"\u00a0 We appreciate your financial support of the ministry so much. \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tIf you'd like to receive \"The Jesus Film\" on DVD, all you have to do is go online at FamilyLifeToday.com and make a donation of any amount.\u00a0 Request the DVD by writing \"JesusDVD\" in the keycode box on the donation form, or call 1-800-FLTODAY, 1-800-358-6329.\u00a0 When you make your donation over the phone, you can request \"The Jesus Film\" on DVD and, again, we'll send it off to you.\u00a0 And we do appreciate your financial support of this ministry.\u00a0 You are keeping us on this station and on other stations all around the country, and we want to say thank you for that.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tNow, tomorrow we're going to be back to talk more with Jonathan Morrow about some of the conversations that will take place during a college student's career on the campus and how parents can get them prepared for some of those conversations \u2013 that all happens tomorrow.\u00a0 I hope you can be back with us.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tI want to thank our engineer today, Keith Lynch, and our entire broadcast production team.\u00a0 On behalf of our host, Dennis Rainey, I'm Bob Lepine.\u00a0 We'll see you back tomorrow for another edition of FamilyLife Today.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tFamilyLife Today is a production of FamilyLife of Little Rock, Arkansas \u2013 help for today; hope for tomorrow.\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tWe are so happy to provide these transcripts to you.\u00a0 However, there is a cost to transcribe, create, and produce them for our website.\u00a0 If you\u2019ve benefited from the broadcast transcripts, would you consider <a href=\"http:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/site\/c.dnJHKLNnFoG\/b.3782043\/k.384D\/Support_Us.htm\">donating today<\/a> to help defray the costs?\u00a0 \n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\tCopyright \u00a9 FamilyLife.\u00a0 All rights reserved.\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\t\t<p>\n\t\t\t\t<a href=\"http:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/\">www.FamilyLife.com<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 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