Pensees: Why I like BJU

Why I like BJU

I have a very specific reason for the timing of this post. In a few days, my wife and I will be wined and dined at Clearwater Christian College and, to date, my favorite school to recommend has been Bob Jones University. That could radically change in just a week or so (insert scheming smiley face here). It’s not that I’m fickle. It’s just that I don’t buy into institutional loyalty. Schools, in my mind, are businesses. I pick and choose them according to how they meet our needs. I rarely boycott a business, and I respect the great variety of preferences among individuals about these things. That is why our church does not officially recommend any school. However, I have my own favorites. Bob Jones is one of them.

I am often amused when people ask me what college I would recommend. I have no idea what they expect me to say, but one thing certain: they do not expect me to say Bob Jones University! It shows on their faces every time! I think that this is because of two reasons: either they do not understand me or they do not understand BJU.

I so often criticize fundamentalism that some think that I must also be a BJU-hater. After all, isn’t Bob Jones University the bastion of fundamentalism? The fact of the matter is that Bob Jones University is a bastion of fundamentalism and though it has represented some of the worst elements of fundamentalism in its long and storied history, it has also symbolized and become home to the very best of fundamentalism, the part of fundamentalism I love. Its unapologetic, consistent, dogged determination to excel while proclaiming its original core convictions of the faith in an era when few schools, if any, are anything like what they were when they first began is a wonderful testimony of God’s grace on a much maligned ministry.

Now, I have no ulterior motive for recommending Bob Jones University. I have some operatives on the campus who work for me and I have asked them to check the file “Long list of candidates for honorary doctorates” to see if I’m on it. I have been told that my name does not appear there, or even in the “Super-long list of candidates for Honorary Doctorate” file. In fact, it is possible that I will get a call from the Bob Jones University Public Relations Damage Control Department offering me a free vacation if I delete my recommendation from cyberspace as soon as possible. (It’s worth a try anyway).

So, I can’t win for losing. Neither friend nor foe is going to appreciate my recommendation. But I must blog.

In the interest of full disclosure, I should admit that I was born on the campus of Bob Jones University. My grandmother, Bonnie Bixby, was honored a couple of years ago for having more descendants attend the University than any other person in the history of the school. I speculate that the number was over fifty back then. So, I have some ties with the University. Don’t worry, though. I have been scanned, frisked, and x-rayed numerous times and, contrary to rumor, no micro-chip was inserted into me at birth in order to program mindless loyalty.

In fact, I went to another college. While I was there, the late Bob Jones, Jr. was a guest on the campus and I was assigned to be his personal attendant. It was a wonderful time, and a real honor. Obviously, the Bixby name was known to him by virtue of the fact that Bixbys crawled all over the campus, not to mention the fact that Bob, Jr. had an astounding ability to remember names. But Bixbys made up a large population of the school way back when and since there were 3 Bobs and 3 Bonnies and he knew that we loved the school so much that it was highly possible that several of us would be named after him, he took a wild stab in the dark (knowing I couldn’t possibly be Bonnie) and said, “Hello, Bob.” Got it right the first time. But, like I said, that’s not because he knew me personally. It’s just that 23 million Bixbys had gone through his school.

(Come to think of it, I think a building should be named after them. Not because they were rich donors. Nope. They’re all dirt poor. But they sure can have babies, and most of them go to BJU! Okay, maybe getting a building named after us is a bit presumptuous. Leave it to me to be too ambitious. And I didn’t even go to college there! But maybe a bush or a flower pot? Something anyway. When I renew my subscription to the free catalogue, I’m going to send in that suggestion.)

Well, as I was saying, Dr. Bob Jr. and I got to spend a lot of time together that week and all was going smoothly until he dropped the bomb. The Chancellor asked me why I had deserted good family tradition and resorted to the Bible College. Now, I had gotten to know Dr. Bob, Jr. before when he had visited the mission field and I was feeling pretty comfortable with him that week, so I felt fairly confident that he would enjoy the first explanation that came to my mind. So I blurted out, “Dr. Bob! Don’t you remember? The first time I showed up on campus I was buck naked! There’s no way I’d go back. I’m afraid people would recognize me.”

He laughed and told me that was the best excuse for not going to BJU that he had ever heard. I don’t know if others have used their birth on campus to excuse their disloyalty, but it worked for me that day. (The Jones have a great sense of humor. Years later Dr. Bob, III asked me to tell that story in chapel and I acquiesced only after he promised me that I could take a few minutes longer with my sermon. I have not been invited back and I am persuaded that it is only because so many students got upset that I went 2 minutes and 34 seconds into their lunch time. Next time, I’ll just tell the story and forget preaching. That will meet chapel standards for most schools.)

Anyway, friends, that is the official reason I did not go to Bob Jones University. However, I strongly recommend that others consider the school for reasons forthcoming. And I would encourage even those who were born on campus to go back. The mockery subsides, I’m told, after about a year. But, having dodged it, I feel sharp pangs of regret that I was not manly enough to endure such a short season of suffering for what would have proven to be a lifetime of blessings. (Apparently, few babies are born on campus anymore. It seems that the only nakedness tolerated is in the art gallery. Not even babies can make their entry into the world on the campus unless they are fully clothed, or at the very least appropriately garnered with a well-placed loin cloth. Since that is a bit complicated and requires laser surgery, most mothers are opting for off-campus deliveries though terribly disappointed that their babies will not be able to breath BJU air immediately open arrival. I think the solution is easy, but still my suggestion that babies be delivered in the art gallery has been ignored.)

Okay, here’s why I like Bob Jones University with little comment or explanation and in random order:

1. Bob Jones University is truly a fundamentalist school. It is not perfect (and I have my complaints), but I believe that BJU will continue to be a leader in fundamentalism and it, better than others, will be able to navigate the changing times.
2. I like the discipline that is imposed. I am a firm believer in imposed discipline. I am unabashedly in favor of schools with high standards of conduct and dress for their students, and Bob Jones University is at the top of the list. I hate legalism, and I think rules and regulations need to be as limited as possible within the context of a local church, but in an institution of learning, go for it. Life is tough. Ministry is warfare. In an era when too many children are growing up without discipline, the rigid rules are healthy. I really do think that BJU is losing the legalism that used to mark its graduates while rightfully retaining the appropriate strictness that is in keeping with its school mission.
3. At BJU excellence is a habit. If you don’t know what I mean, go visit.
4. BJU is professional and dignified in its relationship to local churches. When parties split, it stays above the fray and embraces both “sides.” Our church was born out of controversy and most Bible colleges (including my alma mater) have pretended that we don’t exist, thereby “taking sides” so to speak. BJU doesn’t “take sides.” It stays out of petty problems and ministers to both groups. I appreciate this. Bob Jones University is the only school to have made any effort to recruit our young people, visit our church, and minister to our people. They do the same for the other party. That’s classy.
5. BJU has the ability and the will power to change in spite of a fiercely loyal constituency that sometimes interprets change as compromise. It is a school that is constantly changing, modifying, and evolving. Yet, they stand rock immovable for the faith that they have always cherished.
6. BJU has a dedicated and sacrificial faculty who truly believe that their vocation is a ministry. Many have denied themselves huge salaries to be part of the ministry team.
7. I like BJU Seminary because its graduates have the potential to be grounded in the fundamentals, but not indoctrinated in peripherals. I am a little more suspicious of seminaries that make the distinctive of their church the one note that they hammer into their students. For example, BJU Seminary will not make rabid dispensationalists or covenantalists out of its graduates. In stead, they will be given the foundations for both and the graduate will be free to make up his own mind in these matters. I personally think that is good. Seminary is not about indoctrination. It’s about education.
8. Outstanding academics. Few attain BJU’s level. And — this puts them in another class above most — they have academic options galore.
9. Finally, I recommend Bob Jones University because somewhere on campus (probably in the dish pit) there is going to be a flower pot with our name on it.

No place is the perfect place for everybody. In our church we have graduates from Wheaton, Moody, Northland, Maranatha, secular universities, and more… Some times God has special reasons for why we should go to a certain place. There’s no doubt in my mind why I needed to go to Northland.

I am often asked how I was enriched by my alma mater (for indeed I was). I have three answers, and they are names:
1. Jennie Layne (my wife)
2. Les Ollila
3. Doug McLachlan

The impact of these three on my life is inestimable. No other school had these three people.