Billy Coffey
Billy Coffey

Leaving Faith

May 14, 2009  

One of my student workers here at the college is a very bright, very personable young lady. Also very Christian.

At seventeen and already a rising junior, she is a credit to her parents, who raised her to believe in God and love Jesus and work hard for the betterment of the world. And even more credit goes to her parents for her previous twelve years of education. She was homeschooled.

(A note to all of those parents out there who are homeschooling their children: keep it up. Because many of the top students here never went to public school. Never went to private school, either. Their school was the kitchen table or an upstairs study.)

All that said, college life has had its share of surprises. It’s hard work and long nights and very strange people, many of whom have no use for all things religious. Ironically, the biggest surprise thus far has come by way of her religion classes.

Christian Scripture (New Testament) 102 appeared to be an easy A for her and a class that would require little in the way of studying. She had, after all, spent most of her life reading the Bible and acquainting herself with the doctrines and theology of the Christian faith. I did warn her to be wary of what she was getting herself into. “A college class about the New Testament isn’t going to be what you think it is,” I said.

She listened and nodded and smiled, and then ignored my advice. Much like my children.

In she stormed after the first day of class, throwing her books onto the table by the door and kicking a chair for good measure.

“Problems?” I asked.

“That class sucks,” she said. “S-U-C-K-S.”

Told ya, I thought, but said nothing. I merely nodded sympathetically and sat down beside her instead. Because young people do not want to hear the words “Told ya” by someone older. It makes them feel bad. Still…

“Told ya,” I said.

“If you were going to take a class about the New Testament,” she asked, “what would you expect the professor to cover?”

“I don’t know,” I answered. “The early church, I guess. Paul and the apostles. Jesus—”

“—Yes!” she shouted. “Jesus. You know, CHRIST!”

“I’ve heard of Him,” I offered.

“Well, not to the stupid professor!” she huffed. “Look.”

She handed me her class syllabus. Early church? Check. Paul? Check. Apostles? Check. Jesus?

Jesus?

“I don’t see Jesus,” I said.

“She doesn’t see Jesus, either. Can you believe that? An entire semester about the New Testament, and she’s not going to mention Jesus at all!”

“Did you ask her why?” She shot me a look for an answer. “What’d she say?”

“She said, ‘Jesus wasn’t integral to the New Testament, and I’ve found Him to be a divisive figure in the classroom.’”

“Jesus wasn’t integral to the New Testament?” I asked.

Another look.

“Divisive, huh?”

“Divisive,” she said. “And you know what’s worse? She’s not just a professor. She’s the college chaplain.”

I nodded. That sounded about right.

The worst thing, she said, was that the class was strictly lecture-oriented. No discussion. And the prospect of sitting in that classroom having to keep her mouth shut was more than she could bear. She was dropping the class, she said. But she was adding a class about faith in life, taught by the same professor.

“This one is all discussion,” she beamed. “I don’t have to keep quiet.”

And she hasn’t. Not for the entire semester.

Things reached the boiling point last week, when the professor professed that she hadn’t quite reached the point in her life where she fully accepted the existence of God. She still has many questions, she said.

“So the chaplain of the college isn’t sure if she believes in God or not?” I asked.

“Nope,” my employee said. “And she’s more than the chaplain. She pastors a church in town, too.”

So we have a college chaplain, who also happens to be the pastor of a church, telling her students that Jesus isn’t really important to the overall meaning of the New Testament and that she doesn’t know if God is real or not. Higher education. Can’t beat it.

For a final exam, the class has to make what is called an “ethical will.” Instead of possessions, the students are supposed to write about what traits they would leave behind to friends and loved ones.

I just read my employee’s will. She left her love to her mother, her strength to her father, her hope to her brother, and her kindness to her sister.

And she left her faith to her professor.

She’s a little nervous about what grade she’ll get. I’m not. Because whatever her professor gives her, God gave her an A.

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Comments

  • Steph

    WoW! God gave her an A+ I think!

  • Anne L.B.

    Ironically, Paul was about as anti-Jesus a professor as they come. Along with your employee, I’ll hold out hope for the “chaplain” to receive faith.

    (I’ll be shaking my head over this one for a long time.)

  • April

    That’s the craziest thing I’ve ever heard, Billy? Jesus not being an important part of the New Testament and her professor being the college chaplain and a professor!!! I can definitely say that God gave her an A+ and countless gold stars for a job WELL-DONE!

  • katdish

    Freaking awesome! I could go on a long tirade here, but who has that kind of time?

  • Candace Jean July 16

    Oh. My. This is so scary that our education has come to this. Hopefully this wise young lady will be able to impart some wisdom to the chaplain before all is said and done. Thank you – AGAIN!

  • Marni

    Please update us and let us know what her grade is. But God loves her answer, so who cares what the professor thinks…

    I had a young friend die a few years back (he was 6). He had been sick for a long time and was in the hospital a lot. When he died, his parents (who weren’t believers) asked the Christian chaplain to pray at his funeral. She asked what kind of prayer, and they told her, “a Christian one because we believe our son is in Heaven). The funeral comes and there were hundreds of people there. the chaplain gets up and prays something like this:

    Thank you, God, for Mountain Dew, tator tots, Skittles, Pokemon, red balloons and family. Amen.

    She listed the things that were important to our little friend, sat down and was done. I was stunned. Here was carte blanche to glorify and share Jesus, and she thanked God for soda and candy.

    I understand not busting a sermon on people just because you have an audience, but come on…

    My daughter starts college in the Fall. I’ve warned her about what she will hear. This only reinforces my desire to ramp up my prayer life over her and her beliefs.

  • Blessed Mom of 8

    Ok, did I miss something?

    You are a professor?

    Either way,wow! :)

    I’m sickened and yet not surprised by this young woman’s experience!

    God is going to use her faith to speak volumes to many and her grade doesn’t really matter. Her Master has already given her an A!

    Hugs and blessings,
    Jill

  • Kris

    as a home school mom of 2, i love hearing those stories. i hope one day to hear the same from my boys….

    kw

  • jasonS

    AHHHHHHHH!!!! The spiral of that story is shocking! The sad thing is that professor’s story is probably more common than we like to admit. When you said she was a pastor, my mouth literally dropped open.

    I understand faith and also having doubts, but why would you be a pastor/chaplain if you don’t have any reality to draw from? Very strange to me.

  • Nick the Geek

    I love when people are so interested in being relevant that they forget why they want to be relevant. Students are a questioning bunch and so you need to be open to the hard questions. You need to be willing to say “I don’t know” because they know when you are BSing them.

    This is relevance gone horribly horribly wrong.

  • Nitewrit

    Billy,

    Wolves in sheep clothing. Perhaps your students has done a bit of shearing.

    Larry E.

  • Sockrma18

    Wow. Sounds like a great lesson for all of us. People are sometimes not who they profess to be (even pastors!) and all we can do is keep our eyes looking up and know that HE IS WHO HE SAYS HE IS. I sure hope that kiddo gets an A+. :0)

  • Wendy

    Am I the only one here who feels like their brain is going to explode over this one? Why? Why? Why?! I guess I was pretty sheltered at my Christian college. Good for that young lady! I hope she rubbed off on that professor.

  • bman

    Interesting… I took a Mythology class in college and we went over the “two” Christian creation stories. One where God created the Earth (Genesis), and the other that “fixed” the Jesus issue (John).

    I was in a World Religions class, my teacher was a Buddhist and we still talked about Jesus…

    Why a class about the New Testament if you’re not ready to hear an earload about Jesus. Divisive… sheesh.

  • Helen

    Wow. I feel really bad for the Church she pastors. My pastor has helped to strengthen my faith many times. But how can she give what she doesn’t have? I am glad that your student wants to leave her faith to that professor. I hope that the professor sees the loving heart that does that, and gives her an excellent grade. Not even so much for your student’s sake, as for her professor’s.

  • Denise

    I am more amazed at the strength of this young woman than I am of the quality of religion courses in the university. Seventeen, a rising junior and a faith stronger than many adults who have walked much longer down life’s path.

    I am saddened to hear that this professor, this clergywoman is able to classify Christ as irrelevant to the New Testament. How can the basis for all that it is not be integral! I am horrified to hear that she is able to teach and preach a faith that she doesn’t fully believe in. What empty words she must speak!

    I pray that the words of this young woman’s ethical will take flight from the page into the heart of this professor/chaplain and challenge her to risk it all and believe fully, without doubt.

    Wow!
    Shalom,
    Denise

  • lynnrush

    OMG. That’s just NUTS! Holy moly.

  • Lyla Lindquist

    Billy, great story. Thanks for being somebody who she could count on to say “Told ya.” I remember these classes in college myself, way long ago, only I took them eyes wide open and on purpose to be a bit of a burr under a wayward prof’s saddle. My roommates and I would pray in the classroom (when class was not in session) and I learned how to recite the material as presented on exams “You would say . . .” and then lend another perspective “. . . but I believe otherwise and here’s why . . .”

    I love the opportunity she had to send this message, respectfully and in keeping with the assignment, to her prof/chaplain/pastor/lost one as she did.

    Be sure to tell her we’re all cheering her on.

  • Sarah Salter

    This sounds like my freshman year at Methodist College. I was able to get into two 100-level religion courses. In one, I learned what Carl Sagan believes about The Cosmos and why that’s more correct than what the Bible says. In the other, I learned that the Bible is a myth and not to be taken literally. In addition to that, I had a screenwriting prof who was atheist, my adviser who was a hybrid of Buddhist and Jewish, and a Philosophy prof who swore that he was directly descended from a blue tick hound. And my roommate was Mormon. Seriously. I’m not kidding.

    And people wonder why I’m so weird!?!

  • The Things We Carried

    UNBELIEVABLE and yet, I believe you. I love what she left in her will. Her parents must be very blessed by the fruit they are seeing in their daughter’s life for the years they have poured in to her.
    How does a chaplain not believe in God? What?!

  • Julie

    Great post, Billy. I loved this story.

    I am a home school mom. I just finished my 17th year. Thank you for the encouraging words.. Some days you just need to hear stories like this!

    You have blessed me today,
    Julie

  • Glynn

    My oldest — now 29 — started college in 1998. He took a class in New Testament taught by a self-descibed Mennonite, who said that it was doubtful that Paul wrote any of the epistles. Our son told us the same thing, and I told him his Mennonite professor was no Mennonite, and could he explain why would anybody study the New Testament epistles if they were an obvious fraud. He asked his professor that question — and found the professor did not have an answer.

    My 29-year-old son is active in his church, helping lead young people, working in the nursery. I don’t know what happened to the professor.

  • Allelluiabelle

    Hi Billy,

    Great post! Yes, she definitely scores A+ and more in His eyes and is on the highest honor roll for Him.

    Blessings,
    Alleluiabelle

  • Denise

    Yes, I believe God gave her an A.

  • Chatty Kelly

    That was a sad story about the state of our world. But I loved the ending! She deserves an A+++!

  • Joanne Sher

    Unbelievable, and what an incredible young lady. Frightening. Thank you for sharing, dear friend.

  • Jennifer

    My guess is that there’s a part of the professor who wants to believe. After all, God has “set eternity in our hearts.”

    The prof may belong to the camp that I resided in before I began to pray this prayer: “Lord I do believe. Help my unbelief.”

    Professor McDoubt has a cross-shaped hole in her heart, whether she likes it or not. And God has the goods to fill it.

    Sounds like the Master Carpenter is using a 17-year-old as one of His tools. “A child will lead them …”

  • Andra M.

    No matter what the grade (as others have noted, God certainly did), I pray she touched the professor in a positive way, and her questions about God’s existence will be answered.

  • Lianne

    !!!!!

    That is all I can say.

    Well, that, and your friend is one bold gal. I am proud of/for her. I hope she opens that professor/chaplain/pastor’s eyes.

    Crazy.

  • Annie

    I have to say I admire the chaplain for admitting her doubt. How many of us would do that, especially in front of our congregation or a situation where we know the admittance would not be ignored?
    Because I do not know this person’s background, her experiences or why she feels this way, I would be very interested to take one of her classes to ask her why she doubts.
    In my college days, I took a class which studied the Bible and looked at it as a book, not a religious testament. The professor also did not teach any belief system about it. I was hesitate to take the class at first. However, I ended up finding it quite fascinating! It did not persuade me to give up what I learned through Catholicism. In fact, my faith grew deeper because of it but it forced me to rethink some things.
    I feel sometimes our views are so deep we aren’t willing to hear another person. Yes, I feel Jesus should be taught. He is the New Testament. However, I cannot condemn this chaplain. I am sure if given a chance and an ear, she would give some insight as to why she is in the place she is. And how wonderful if that conversation took place, where the student could share why she is in the place she is.
    We all need each other and sometimes voicing an opinion out loud is a cry for guidance and help. I will pray for this chaplain that she finds someone who can provide an open heart. I will pray for this student that her paper may open up some hope for this chaplain.

  • God will lead you

    Teaching the New Testament without Jesus, is like trying to be married without relationship. Great story!

  • Warren Baldwin

    Woooooooooowwwww. A great AND sad story. I’ve been to 3 colleges – all of them faith-based, so the professors were all believers.

    I now teach for a junior college. Some students are surprised that at a state school my class is faith-based. Most actually appreciate it.

    Higher education requires a degree, not a faith. That is a cold-water shock to many kids leaving their home and small church to venture into the world of university study. We lose a lot of kids there.

    God bless this kid. I wish more young people had her convictions and strength!

  • Beth E.

    What an amazing young woman. And the professor??? I’m speechless…

    Awesome post!

  • Tea With Tiffany

    Wow, eye opening. Yes, an A it is.

    And for you, Billy. Thank you for A writing too.

  • Tamela’s Place

    and God’s grade is what counts!!!!
    We homeschooled our children and i know that if they had decided to attend college they would be just as frustrated with the biblical teachings.. Doesn’t surprise me though! sad! but i think her paper will speak volumes to her professor/chaplain/pastor :)

  • sherri

    I’d love to know what grade her professor gave her. Love it when someone takes a brave stand.

    *I linked your site to mine today. But spared you the “girly” award!

  • Lori

    Your young worker is a light in a dark place.
    Your blogs always make me smile–I love smiling and think about my faith in relation to my daily life.
    Keep up the God Work!
    Lori

  • Alison

    Hi-
    I am a friend of Jill’s and found your blog through hers.

    I’ve gotta say, nothing about this story is surprising.

  • Tracy

    What a great and powerful leader in the Kingdom of God! There are so many faith-filled and passionate young people out there, that I have no doubt there is a giant turning of the tide coming!

    As for the professor, sadly, this does not surprise me. And one day too, she will know the Truth – I hope when she does, it will not be to late…

  • Luke

    “I nodded. That sounded about right.”

    [nodding along as well]

    Sad, but true. May God continue to bless and lead her. And may He use her passion and love to shine to others.

    ~Luke

  • RCUBEs

    I hope that her faith gets rubbed on her professor, even before her time comes….

  • Brenda

    Sadly shocking about the professor, but how awesome and encouraging about this girl! I’m very hopeful that God will use her to make a huge impact on her professor and that she will indeed receive faith in Jesus.

  • Heart2Heart

    Billy,

    Hopefully you can share with this person the amount of wonderful support she has gained from your fellow bloggers about her standing up for her faith.

    She will be a like Carrie Prejean who forfeited her crown for a greater one that will last eternally and not just a year.

    You know God has got to be smiling down at this precious soul and saying, “Well done!”

    Love and Hugs ~ Kat

  • Pam at beyondjustmom

    I can totally relate to that story. I first experienced the Bible being attacked academically in college, and it really threw me. But in the end, it definitely made my faith stronger because I had to question, wrestle, and better understand my point of view. It sounds like your friend has grown through this too.

  • christy rose

    Studying the New Testament without mentioning Jesus? I do not even know how that would be possible considering that He is the New Testament. Every aspect of every word points to Him! That is amazing that they would even try to make that work. Some people never cease to amaze me.

    Your employee’s frustration is completely understandable and I give her an A+ too!

  • Debbie

    Amen to this. I’ve only recently become so aware of how difficult it can be for young Christians going off to college. I have been going through “The Truth Project” by Dr. Dell Tackett of Focus on the Family. They are now coming out with a study that is geared specifically for young people going off to college. It helps to equip them in dealing with college professors who might ridicule them for their faith.

    This is the first time I’ve visited your blog. I found you through Jill’s blog after you won the tea. Congrats!

  • Rosslyn Elliott

    Hey Billy,

    This is one of my favorites.

    Even when I was getting my Ph. D., I knew I probably didn’t want to be an academic because of the virulent prejudice against Christians in many English departments.

    I’m so glad that this young woman has the background to defend her faith and not be ashamed.

  • twofinches

    BIlly

    All very good reasons to bring up our children strong in God.

    I have homeschooled my sons for 6 years but now they want band and track and field and diversity. We made the decision to enroll them in a private Christian school next year. But if I even get a whiff of someone teaching that Jesus is irrelevant, its back to the kitchen table. Seriously!

  • Annie

    I have already posted a comment but have been thinking about this story since I read it. And it occurred to me, someone else, well known in the Christian community also had doubts-Mother Teresa.

  • Joell

    Well, first, to your student employee, I say, ROCK ON! A very hearty two thumbs up!

    Second, I had a VERY similar experience when I was attending a Baptist affiliated all girls college in NC back in the late 80s. The only D I made in college was in a Religion class. Me. The daughter of a pastor. It was INSANE. I sat there each day that sememster (lecture style class also) listening to this man malign everything I had known to be true my whole life. What’s more, he stated that the Bible was a only a historical book and Jesus was simply a historical figure of said book…The book I trusted to be God-breathed truth. It was so distressing. I’ve never forgotten that Freud-looking, clog-wearing character who sat on the corner of his desk each day that semester smirking over the top of his Lennon glasses daring me to contradict him. It still gets me all stirred up, but it also strengthened my faith.