My greatest concern for BJU, a school which I love, is that they would be more willing to humbly confess wrong. The racial attitudes and actions of their former years (yes, they did have "Whites Only" signs above several drinking fountains/restrooms) have never been completely acknowledged as they ought to have been, let alone confessed. These kinds of things have been dismissed with the fact that this was consistent with the southern culture of that day, which is true, but not an excuse. The same thing with the biblical teaching that existed against interracial dating. Just confess that horrible exegesis led to unbiblical teaching. The same about the accreditation issue. The position was taken that accreditation goes against biblical principles, presenting terrible compromise in its demand to bring in an outside organization to approve one's mission statement when an institution should never answer to anyone but God. The suggestions by faculty to seek TRACS accreditation were continaully shelved on the basis that it was an evangelical organization and would be a clear demonstration of compromise. Same with scholarships. The acceptance of scholarship money was decreed as the demon that robs students of the invaluable lessons they need to learn about trust in God alone; and not only teaches them to trust in man and money, but also puts them in positions to "dip their hands in the coffers of the heathen." With TRACS, students will have government scholarships available to them as well as the Life Scholarships that they have been receiving, which are completely funded by the lottery. I am not against any of these changes, but I am deeply concerned over the deviation from positions that were once underpinned with such strong "biblical" rhetoric, and then spun in such a way as to avoid confession. It ultimately undermines the credibility of the Word with students and the credibility of every important thing that is said. The "I wonder what else is going to change in the Bible this year" kind of jokes are prolific among the students. I feel very sad for the well-meaning, but blindly loyal graduates who have taken up the "biblical" banner of these issues, even taking hits for their stance, only to find the positions aren't so biblical afterall. I feel sad for godly organizations that were met with condemnation for doing the very things that BJU is now choosing to do, taking hits from the University constituency for things such as their acceptance of scholarships, music standards, rules, accreditation, etc. All institutions face change with time, so nobody would be questioning the changes if BJU had not presented their positions as such "uncompromising declarations of biblical truth." They have lost a loyalty among their constituents that they once had, and graduates are being awakened to the fact that all truth and biblical positioning does not flow from this one "bastion of fundamentalism." There has been an ungodly kind of worship of the institution that has made God small and man big, so this consequence is good for the Cause of Christ and for the overall health of fundamentalism. All of this, however, along with the dwindling of the "support only BJU" churches, has elevated the marketing concerns at BJ to an all-time high. It is driving much of what they do. The most recent change we are now seeing and hearing is the presentation of a broader and more pragmatic approach to separation issues, and not surprisingly, it's being presented without any confession of position adjustment. No matter how one chooses to look at it, this is all political spinning, and it's done well. There has also been some envelope pushing with the music, and a recent choir tour brought a stream of pastoral complaints. This is the fallout of being extra biblical and presenting issues as "black and white," and they are dealing with the monstors they've created.
