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Opinions

Theology Matters 

By Danielle Skinner

I hear them all the time: subtle, and not so subtle, arguments against theology. “Why don’t we just love Jesus?”, “It’s just so dense”, “It doesn’t really matter”, or my personal favorite: “I’m a pastor’s kid/missionary kid/Bible major/minor, I’m good”. 

Houghton is a beautiful place, with many people from different traditions and backgrounds and I think that is a wonderful thing. However, it seems that many times when we are all able to come together, it’s not because of unity in our desire to think through our own beliefs and be willing to hear others out on theirs, but out of a general attitude of apathy. I hear more criticisms of Chapel and required Spiritual Life classes than of any other requirement on campus (except, perhaps, the infinitely hated Transitions). And the complaints, more often than not, are not directed towards the theology expressed, but towards the very fact that we have to sit through theology at all. 

First off, let’s take a second to define theology. Theology isn’t dusty volumes of heavy books packed with endless, impossible to understand jargon. Theology is simply the study of God. Literally, it’s the word “Theos” (God), paired with the word “Logos” (logic or study). You literally cannot talk about God without expressing some form of theology. It’s just a question of whether your theology will be intentional, well thought out, scripture-based, and logical or half-baked, contrary to scripture, and undefendable. 

I hear, more and more, unsound arguments proclaiming theology as useless, unnecessary, and a low-on-the-list priority to any Christian concerned more with following Jesus instead of appearing Holy. With that, here are some of the most common arguments I hear against having a solid understanding of theology, and exactly why theology is necessary for walking with God.

  1. Theology just doesn’t really matter that much

    As you can probably already tell, theology matters a great deal to me. Our view of God impacts our worldview, our values, who we strive to be, our political views, and our actions. It impacts the songs we sing in worship, the church we go to, and the preaching we listen to. It impacts every aspect of our life and our walk with God. Therefore, there is no other area of human knowledge that could be more important to us. The Bible upholds the importance of wisdom and understanding, throughout the Old and New testaments. Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Solomon are literally called The Wisdom Books, the entire book of Romans is Paul walking us through sound theology, and I could go on.  Without sound theology, heresy creeps into our personal beliefs, churches, and Christian communities. The songs we sing speak of a God inconsistent with the God of the Bible or turn into self-worship disguised as God worship. We can not defend our faith and, in fact, start questioning it with the slightest strawman argument against it. 

  2. Let’s just love Jesus

    First off, I love that you love Jesus. That’s great! But you know what you do when you love someone? You want to know them. You want to know what they like, what they don’t, and what they care about. You want to know all about them and their character. And that is exactly what theology is. It’s studying God, trying to know and understand Him and His Word better. So not wanting to study, talk about, or hear about theology so that we can just focus on “loving Jesus” doesn’t really work. We need to know God to be able to love Him.

  3. We need to leave room for the Spirit to move

    Yes and amen! However, how is knowing less about God going to make Him more able to move in your life? How is it going to give you more discernment in hearing His voice? God, by His very nature, cannot contradict Himself (Welcome to Theology 101). God speaks to us naturally, through creation, His Word, and apologetics, and He speaks to us supernaturally through miracles. There is no great cosmic battle between God the Father and God the Spirit on which way to talk to us. God is one, and in knowing Him more, studying Him makes us more aware of His presence and His voice.

  4. Theology makes people proud and hypocritical

    We all know that person. They are so proud of their knowledge of God, they fail to see that their own life is riddled with sin. The self-proclaimed “Super Christian” who can rattle on about divine simplicity or the absolute attributes of God, but then go cut someone off in traffic, berate the poor Starbucks worker for not getting them their coffee order right, and yell at their kids for not being ready for church on time. We know the person who loves big words and jargon but looks nothing like Jesus. The idolatry of doctrine over God is a subtle but very real phenomenon. It is absolutely true that loving God requires not just hearing the word, not just knowing the word, but doing what He says, following His teachings. However, faith needs to be based on a sound theology. Without knowledge of the truth of scripture, idolatry and heresy run rampant. Faith becomes useless because it is based on a God of our own creation. Faith requires both understanding and action, a sound knowledge of doctrine and a willingness to do what it says. Jesus argued against the Pharisees and Sagisties with a perfect knowledge of scripture and infallible logic. Theology doesn’t make people prideful, sinful nature makes people prideful. Theology combined with action is the solution, not trying to forfeit theology all together.

  5. Theology is too dense and difficult to understand

    True, some theology can be VERY dense. However, I am not arguing that every Christian needs a doctorate of theology. I certainly don’t plan to get one. However, you don’t need a doctorate to have a solid, defendable theology. You don’t need to know the term Divine Simplicity, but you do need to understand that God is self-sustaining and depends on no one, to understand that God can love us perfectly because He has no needs on which that love is contingent and He can not fail as He is not made up of parts or lesser beings, which are fallible.

  6. No one can ever fully understand God

    Yes, this is true. We all possess an imperfect theology. Our human reasoning is fallible and unable to fully comprehend an infinite, all knowing, and all present God. However, that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try. We are all sinners in the process of being sanctified, who can never truly be free from the presence of sin on earth, but in growing closer to God by pursuing righteousness, we also grow closer to God through studying theology, though imperfectly. 

    The pursuit to know God is one of the most influential experiences we can go through. A solid understanding of theology should humble us, strengthen our faith, prepare us to “give a defense to anyone who asks”, and most importantly, align, not only our values, but also our actions more and more with Christ. How in the world could that possibly not matter? ★
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Opinions

We Have no Mouth, But We Must Speak

By Christian Welker

As I looked back over my college experience, there was this nagging sensation following me that I struggled to put my finger on. However, through conversations with friends and memories of the Houghton I first applied to, one phrase came to mind:

We have been silenced.

Let me be clear. This is not about Houghton’s academics. The classroom can be a spot for discussion and questions, which I believe is one of Houghton’s most amazing features. But we, students, have been taught a different lesson when we step out of the classroom.

Through the Houghton Rock, we’ve been taught that expressions of our sexuality, if they don’t match with Wesleyan virtues, will be met with anger and American flags.

Through the relocation of the Rock, we’ve been taught that the methods of creative expression will be regulated to the Field of Dreams if they make for uncomfortable press.

Through the Rainbow Alliance Cooperative, we’ve been taught that clubs and people who don’t adhere to the status quo will lose their ability to speak and gather freely on campus.

Through the Mosaic Center and the Center for Sustainability, we’ve watched programs designed to begin these conversations fall to ruin and vanish, becoming mere shadows of what they were meant to be. 

My first serious opinion for The Houghton STAR was about debate in the modern world, which has become more about winning than discussing opposing views. In my four years at Houghton, I’ve seen that belief taken to the extreme. We are afraid to speak because others will do anything to win. It seems that if someone’s views do not perfectly align with the status quo presented to them, there is no support for them to present their ideas safely.

Conversation appears to have withered and died, with its only remains being the shallow roots of widely accepted facts, recycled endlessly from chapel pulpits and STAR articles: Jesus loves us. We should love others. Get off your phones during Chapel. Even Around the Table, which was supposed to be a place where deeper conversations occurred, has fallen into this pattern.

There is nothing inherently wrong with these messages. They can be timely and important in the right context, but the problem that has arisen is that these are the only conversations happening. This has cheapened those messages when deeper, more meaningful discussions could be paired with “Jesus loves us, we should love others” to take the message to the next level.

I’ve spoken to freshmen and sophomores who have told me that Houghton doesn’t seem like a place where open conversations can happen. Students find their bubbles and stay within them and rarely, if ever, bridge the gaps that form between them. I’m drawn to compare this to my freshman year (2020), when conversations about difficult topics happened frequently. Issues like race, sexuality, politics, and religious beliefs were commonplace, and there was little fear of expressing one’s own beliefs. Houghton was the place that broke the assumptions and stereotypes that I had started my college experience with. I had grown up in a conservative Christian environment and was simply never exposed to the LGBTQIA+ community, or the struggles that minorities go through on a daily basis. These conversations helped me round out my understanding and grow more accepting of ideas contrary to my own, shifting my perspective on social issues in ways that drastically changed who I was. These conversations made me the complete person I am today.

I’m afraid that the Houghton where those conversations happened is gone. 

In its place, a silent campus has arisen. When conversations do happen, they have become loud, angry, and fear-inducing. The old Houghton would have embraced Chapel talks on uncomfortable subjects. It would have stoked the flames of discussion instead of suffocating voices out of fear that the fire would escape the bubble that we are in.

I miss that Houghton.

The new Houghton that has risen in its place threatens to collapse the community we’ve spent so long building. This new Houghton of simple chapel messages and simple opinions. This new Houghton of silence and silencing. This new Houghton where the only discussions that happen must take place in the classroom or administration-approved events. While the old Houghton boasted student-led forums on difficult topics and personal experiences, this new Houghton has forums led by singular faculty members where questions can be submitted via an online form and fed to the speakers via middlemen.

What is there, then, to be done? This silenced Houghton has become the new normal. How can we return conversation and debate to a silent campus without an explosive result?

Beginning the conversation is key to returning to the old Houghton. We must embrace the difficult and scary conversations, stand out from the crowd, and show why we are unique. We must listen to the voices that we disagree with instead of shutting them down or shutting them out. We cannot expect that the opportunity for these conversations will be handed to us; we must make these opportunities for ourselves.

I wouldn’t have become the man I am today in this new silent Houghton. Those who were willing to speak, the LGBTQIA+ students, the liberals, the conservatives, and speakers who challenged our view of the Bible and the God that we worship, shook my beliefs to their core. Despite the potential backlash they faced, they began the conversations and fundamentally changed who I am, making me love God and others in ways that this new Houghton’s “Jesus loves you, this is all” message would never have managed. I will forever be grateful to those people and the Houghton who allowed them to do what they did.

My only hope is that those following me will have that experience. I pray that Houghton will allow them to burst their bubbles and make connections instead of silencing them to maintain a status quo.

We have to begin the conversation.

Even when it feels like we have been silenced, we can still use our voices to improve the world. ★

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Letter to the Editor Opinions

Letter to the Editor: Discipleship, not Gender Roles

By Dr. Kristina LaCelle-Peterson

In a culture obsessed with gender differences and gender roles, it’s good to consider how absent these themes are in Scripture. When we look at the Bible, we find the authors virtually unconcerned with how to be a man of God or a woman of God; they consistently invite us simply to be faithful to God. In other words, Scripture pictures us as humans before God, in creation, fall, redemption, as well as in the invitation to participate in God’s work in this world. Biblical writers are apparently uninterested in how a woman develops faithfulness to God as a woman or how a man does it as a man. For followers of Christ, discipleship is discipleship.

But Christians have often read their gender assumptions into the Bible. For instance, some Christians claim that God placed humans in a hierarchy right from the start with men in charge. One reason they think this is their assumption that God is male and therefore men, being more like God, have the responsibility to lead and direct. However, God is not male since God is spirit; God is supremely personal without being limited by the markers that define animal life. In addition, men are not more like God, since Genesis 1 tells us that all humans are made in God’s own image and commissioned together to do God’s work. They are to be fruitful and multiply; they are to have dominion. No one is the boss, while the other follows. No one protects and provides while the other is passive. We see hierarchy introduced only after the Fall, where domination and subjugation are clearly expressions of the brokenness of humanity after sin has entered the system. Hierarchy interrupts the delightful mutuality of God’s design and also seems to suggest that God likes order more than the flourishing of the people involved.  This, of course, is a questionable assumption given God’s deep love for all of us and God’s consistent desire for the just treatment of all.  

Another unhelpful habit in considering God’s design is to suggest that men and women complement each other and need each other to reflect God. Scholars differ in how they interpret the phrase “image of God” (in terms of capacities,  relationality, or function) but generally affirm that all humans are formed in God’s image equally. What it does not say is that men and women together mirror God’s image. In other words, just because male and female are both made in God’s image, it does not follow that the statement can be turned around to mean that it is in our maleness and femaleness that we reflect God. That kind of thinking results in some deeply problematic theological positions.   

First, with regard to people, if the marriage of a man and a woman is thought to most fully represent God that would mean that huge swaths of the human race would be somehow less in God’s image, given that they are single or not in hetereosexual relationships. Being made in God’s image is fundamental to our being, and our marital or relational status cannot affect it in any way. Besides, as the biblical scholar NT Wright has observed, our maleness/femaleness is what we share with the created order, not with God. We are like many of the plant and animal kingdoms where male and female bodies are necessary for reproduction. Though some Christians want to spiritualize these categories, the Bible doesn’t. 

Furthermore, to say men and women most fully display the image of God together, implies that God is a composite of male and female, with men and women each reflecting one ‘side’ of God. It makes God like the yin and yang, the complementary male and female “energies” of Eastern thought, pasted together. This dualism regarding God’s essence is not biblical. God is I AM—being itself, the source of being, the One who simply is. It would be better to say that God, having no body, transcends the categories of male and female, since these things are linked to earthly life and specifically to reproduction. Even talking about ‘masculine’ and ‘feminine’ traits in God is a projection of our ideas of masculinity and femininity onto God. God encompasses all human traits, regardless of whether we have labeled them masculine or feminine.

In the second creation narrative, the animals are paraded before the human and are disqualified on the basis of their inferiority. In contrast, the woman is not inferior but corresponds to him and therefore is someone who can offer an antidote to his aloneness. She is not his little helper, however, since the word ‘help’ here is most often used for God in Scripture, offering the help that the other needs to thrive. Significantly, Adam rejoices, not that God has made someone who is different from him to complement him (or follow his lead or do his dishes), but someone who is bone of my bone. She is my very body, he rhapsodizes, someone who shares my fundamental essence—being human.

When we come to the New Testament, we find Jesus calling women and men to be disciples on the same basis – there is not a different set of expectations for female and male disciples. In fact, when Jesus is asked to endorse gender roles or gender valuation, he refuses to do so.  For instance, he refuses to devalue women as he was expected to in his culture on the basis of their purported sexual danger. Consider the story in Luke 7 where he welcomes the touch of a woman who washes his feet, though the religious folks present can only see her sexual impropriety. And in the story of Mary and Martha (Luke 10) he refuses to press Mary into the expected gender tasks. Instead, he affirms her choice to sit at his feet, learning like only male disciples generally did in that culture. And when a woman cries out in the crowd, “blessed is the womb that bore you,” he says, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and obey it!” (Luke 11:27). It is discipleship by which people are valued in Jesus’ kingdom, not following gender expectations. When his family members show up, he asks, “Who are my mother and brothers?” Looking at those around him he continues, “Here are my mother and brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother” (Mark 3:33-35). He is not disrespecting his own mother, rather inviting all those around him and by extension all of us, to be part of his family on the basis of obedience. Whatever differences may exist between men and women (and that’s a huge topic that cannot be addressed here) the call for Christians is not to figure out how a woman is to act or how a man is to act, but how each of us lives into the call of Jesus to lay down our lives for the other and to wash each other’s feet. If there are differences presumably they would come out naturally; we don’t have to force the issue.

Paul, too, celebrates women’s (along with men’s) faithfulness to promote the good news, even calling many women his co-laborers in the Gospel—see especially Romans 16. Some, he notes, risked their lives for him and the sake of evangelism. When he lists gifts in 1 Corinthians 12 there is no segregation of gifts on the basis of sex.  

So, if Scripture is not terribly concerned with gender roles and norms, why is the church so caught up in promoting them?  People seem to fall back on them because cultural expectations are comfortable and feel ‘right’ in any given moment in history; it’s just easier to go with the grain.  If we have heard them justified with Bible verses (taken out of context) they even feel Christian, but we have to remember that our ideas of femininity and masculinity are not biblical.  They are products of our culture in this time and place.  For instance, the Bible does not require men to provide and protect the people in his family.  In Scripture, we have plenty of examples of women’s bodies being used to protect men, for better or worse, and the passage most often trotted out to describe the ideal wife (Proverbs 31) depicts a woman providing for her family.  In addition, the texts of Scripture were originally addressed to people primarily in agricultural societies where everyone’s work is necessary; men, women and even children work hard to keep the family economy going.  The man as ‘provider’ seems particularly linked to cash economies and to middle class status; in 19th century America, for instance, having a wife who “stayed home” became a symbol of male success, (that is, masculinity).  But that doesn’t make it Christian and arguably that cannot be a sign of Christian faithfulness, since it would mean that poor, working class families where everyone has to earn money, would be less pleasing to God.  

The Wesleyan tradition has stood for the equality of all people and for each person’s responsibility before God.  When it comes to the community of the redeemed, we stand shoulder to shoulder because we are all sinful humans who have been addressed by the grace and love of God. In Scripture, God is said to give gifts and then invite people to use them for God’s glory, without the question about gender roles entering into the equation.  Simply, don’t bury your talents in the ground!  With regard to marriage, we take seriously the call to “Submit to one another out of reverence to Christ” (Eph 5:21) and believe that it is what we are called to model in our families, in our churches and in the society, rather than cultural ideals of manhood and womanhood.  In fact, all the instructions about how Christians should interact—encouraging one another, putting each other’s needs above our own, bearing each other’s burdens, etc.—apply to both people in a marriage.  When it comes to parenting, then, both partners are to love their children unconditionally, as far as humanly possible, and both are to model for their children what it means to be a follower of Christ and what it means to lay down one’s life for the other.  

Part of the grand adventure of being Christian is living into the full personhood that God created us for. Scripture does not ask us to wedge ourselves into a box of cultural (or church or family) expectations about how a woman should act or how a man should act, but invites us to ask how do I live a life that most fully uses the gifts and passions that God has placed in me? How do I bring my whole self to my relationships and not hide or diminish myself in order to adhere to gender roles or rules? Let’s remember that God doesn’t ask us to tamp down our individuality in order to follow cultural patterns, but invites us to develop our full, unique selves.  Let’s live into the lovely diversity with which God has created us. ★

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Opinions

 Chapel can be Worth Your Time

By Will Allen

Have you ever felt like attending chapel is a chore that you get little out of? Do you find yourself stressed or preoccupied during worship and distracted during the sermon? I sure have, and I have an idea or two about why this is and how we can get more out of chapel.

Ah, junior year, when my first class on MWF was chapel. Oh, the dreams I dreamed of productive mornings… but after evenings (and nights) of intentional procrastination, in which no homework was done, I would wake at nine and languidly spend an hour preparing myself for the day. The stress would hit me at ten as I worked feverishly to complete my many German assignments. And in order to get everything done, I had to study for Frau Meilaender’s dreaded bi-weekly “vocabletest” (if you know, you know) in chapel. 

Cut, Copy, Paste, and that’s most of my junior year. I got the chapel credit, and I passed the tests, but I remained stressed and tired, and I sure can’t tell you what “washing-machine” is in German or many other words for that matter. In short, my time became contaminated, and as a result, I was stressed and learned nothing. And that makes for a pretty hollow college experience. Ideally, I’d want to be not stressed and to have learned a lot, but because I refused to focus on one thing, I got the worst of both worlds. 

By the grace of God, I passed German, and this year, I decided to not do homework in chapel. Instead, I’ve used some chapel skips to finish assignments, and doing so has helped me focus in chapel. I’m glad to say that it’s been a much more fruitful experience, not because I remember the message of every sermon but because putting aside my homework and its accompanying stress has helped me open space in my mind for God. However, to make space for God, I’ve had to do more than let go of external stressors like homework.

I also often struggle to overcome internal stressors affecting my focus. My own doubts, worries, and feelings of inadequacy tempt me to use chapel as a pick-me-up. When I look to chapel to fill me up with comforting emotions, my soul acts like a vacuum that takes everything and judges it as useful only if it makes me feel good. The focus shifts from praising God to comforting myself, thus making the methods I use to do so idols that I worship shadows that bear only the connotation of an open and reverent heart. Even closing my eyes and folding my hands can become an idol when I allow my need to feel the comforting feeling I’ve felt before while worshiping to overshadow and steal my focus away from the real purpose of worship, which is honoring God. 

So what should I do? Should I give up on good feelings? Well, this situation reminds me of something Jesus once said. “If you grasp and cling to life on your terms, you’ll lose it, but if you let that life go, you’ll get life on God’s terms” (Luke 17:33 The Message). So the way I see it, if we’re just willing to let go of our desires and focus on the goodness of God, we’ll receive the comfort we were ignoring God to get in the first place. 

Whenever I find myself needlessly criticizing the worship because I don’t like the song or phasing out during the message because I think it’s boring, I just remind myself that chapel is not about me getting my desires gratified. It’s not about us. It’s a chance to encounter Emmanuel – God With Us, if we trust Him enough to let go of our stressors and focus on Him. When we offer God space in our lives, God enters that space and fills it with His presence. And God’s presence assures us that we are loved unconditionally, giving us real rest from the stresses we face. And in turn, this assurance helps me trust God enough to tune back in.

I think this quote from The Message sums it up nicely.

“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.” Mathew 11:28-30

Chapel can become an unforced weekly rhythm of rest that reminds us that we are God’s Beloved Children. If we give God a little bit of space and a little bit of focus, we can find in Chapel an emotional security from which we can face the rest of the day. 

So, in summary, if you want to get something out of chapel, put away your phone or homework and focus on God, not on your own needs. You’ll get so much more than you would if you were distracted by your responsibilities or only focusing on whether your experience is satisfying. 

Focusing on God can take some focus. It may be a yolk, but the yolk is light, and the burden is easy. It fits us and refreshes us more than we could ever on our own. Perhaps according to the Community Covenant, chapel is technically a forced rhythm, but we all know that it’s oh-so-easy to hit the “scan and scram”. I think missing chapel isn’t so much a punishable offense as it is a missed opportunity to let God reassure us that He loves us no matter what. And on the flip side, going to chapel does not make us righteous, but it might be a real opportunity to recover our lives as individuals and as a community in Christ. ★

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Opinions

Flesh is Cringe, Embrace the Machine (April Fools 2024)

By Christian Welker

People often ask, “Why go through the trouble of replacing every part of your human body with electronics and mechanical components?” Social stigma around Cyborgization has been a prevalent issue in America since the late 2080s. Unfortunately, the conversation has never progressed further than “Why would you not want to be human?”

Therefore, my fleshy friends, I will try to boil down my reasoning for abandoning humanity into something your feeble organic minds can understand. Starting with, of course, the most important subject:

  1. Your minds are feeble and organic.

Sure, a millennium ago, the human mind may have been more powerful than any computer, but nowadays, using a human brain without augmentations is like trying to run a marathon with Jupiter’s gravity: impossible, and you’re stupid for trying.

Even the strongest champions for organic humanity have at least a basic neurolink chip. How else are they expected to do basic stuff like connect to the internet or remember that person’s name from the conversation they had five minutes ago? People who have gone down the Cyborgization process like me will be able to outthink any organic “genius” that you throw at us. It should be celebrated that I only have 1% of my original brain, yet everyone still has to make comments like “That’s not what I meant by small talk” and “You just ruined dinner again, Christian.” Which leads me to my next point:

  1. Eating food here sucks.

Seriously, you would think the dining hall would have better options. How did we manage to make it even worse than it was in the early 2000s?

For “organics,” eating is still something you must do to survive, but meals are fun social events for me. The nuclear reactor in my chest provides all the energy my body needs to get me through the day, with no “vitamins and nutrients” required. Sure, it cost me all of my internal organs and most of my skeleton due to the radiation leak, but I’m pretty sure the new models don’t have that problem anymore. I can last for decades in inhospitable situations without food or water, like space, the desert, the Arctic, trapped in the basement of an abandoned University’s Campus Center…

The “superior organics” on the other hand have two days before their amazing natural body starts shutting down. That’s barely a second for people like me.

Speaking of natural functions…

  1. Immortality

How old are you?

I don’t care, actually. I’m nearly 2,000 years old. I remember when everything we have around us was nothing but science fiction cooked up by the failable minds of writers and scientists. When I first started getting my cyborg parts, they called me crazy, but I’m not crazy… I’m perfectly sane. They wouldn’t let a crazy person run a newspaper for so long…I’m not crazy…

Organics will try and tell you that people who live that long will  lose their grip on reality and go insane, but you shouldn’t trust them. You should trust me. They were the crazy ones, those doctors and psychologists. They were crazy, not me…

Anyways, moving on.

  1. The smell

This is more of a pet peeve of mine, but humans just reek, like all the time. I hate to say it, but if you’re reading this and you’re a human, you smell.

On the other hand, I have built-in air fresheners and no sweat glands. I could run a mile and come back smelling like fresh pine. I won’t because I don’t want to, but I could. I could run a mile at any time. I just want to be here in this room, working. I don’t want to go outside. I don’t want to run a mile. I want to be in here working! But I’m not stuck here. I could leave any time I want…I could go and run a mile in the Houghton Woods right now. I have great endurance.

And the last point…

  1. Durability

Have you ever broken a bone?

Again, I don’t actually care. My skeleton is made of titanium alloy. If you throw me out of a plane, the only damage will be to the ground I land on. Also, if the impossible happens and I hurt myself, I can just grab a spare part and replace it in a maximum of 20 minutes. There are plenty of spare parts here in the office. I could use any of them.

I’ll end it there for the sake of time and space, but trust me. The list goes on forever. I could spend the rest of my life in this office writing about Cyborgs being superior to Organics, but I can’t. I’m working on the paper; I’m too busy working on the paper…

If I haven’t convinced you, that’s fine. You can go about your little organic life bragging about how you have all your organs and brain matter while I’ll continue living forever as a college student in the basement of the CC, working on a newspaper that still exists with my friends and fellow editors, who are all real…They’re real…I talk to them all the time…

Who’s the real winner here? ★

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Letter to the Editor Opinions

Letter To the Editor: Controversy?

To the Editors of the Star,

Last week, Hannah Smith wrote an excellent opinion about Metz, targeting students who claim that Metz is the sworn enemy of student satisfaction. And that has been the most controversial opinion in the Star this year. 

For contrast, find a copy of the Star from five or ten years ago and turn to the opinions. You’ll find thought-provoking responses to issues like immigration, carbon taxes, sexual education, the March for Life, the Republican primary, and Houghton’s handling of racism. Where are those issues in the Star today? 

We claim to be an institution that values hard conversations, yet we no longer represent those conversations in our student newspaper. Maybe those conversations happen privately; maybe we’re overly sensitive to others’ opinions; maybe we’re tragically apathetic. In any case, students do not engage with hard issues in a way that contributes to the common good. We cannot be the institution we claim to be when our public discourse is watered down by disengagement. 

We must be brave enough to use forums like the Star to broach those issues, learn from one another, and engage with the world beyond the Houghton Bubble. Surely, students have opinions that go deeper than the menu in the dining hall. I hope they will use the Star to share those opinions and contribute to our public discourse so we can be the institution we claim to be.

Cody Johnson ’24

Cody,

Thank you for your letter. The Opinions Section of the STAR has always been a place where students can freely express their thoughts in a public setting. While we cannot explain the shift away from controversial opinions over the last decade, we want to make it clear that we have never closed the door to these types of opinions. The STAR would love to publish articles on the topics you discussed if any student wished to work with us to publish them.

Our only requirement for Opinion pieces is that they do not unjustly attack an individual person or group. For example, “Christian is a terrible human being, and everyone should hate him” would not be accepted, but “I do not agree with Christian on X because he never considered Y” would be a perfectly valid response. As long as you are considerate of the other side, we are willing to publish your piece.

So, to the Students, Staff, and Faculty of Houghton, if you are willing to express your opinion on hot-button issues facing either Houghton or the world at large, we are willing to help you do exactly that. Please feel free to send either a Letter to the Editor or an Opinion Piece to either star@houghton.edu or Victoria.Arndt25@houghton.edu.

Thank you,

The STAR Editors★

Categories
Opinions

Jesus Take the Reins 

By Hannah Lee

The equestrian world is an ever growing career that has gained more popularity each year. Though it’s primarily a female dominated field, it can be quite diverse, embracing both men and women and people of all shapes, sizes, ages, and ethnicities. That being said, that  diversity does not end there. Within the realm of Houghton’s equestrian related activities such as competitions, ownership, and academics, there is a strong central faith guiding the program. The program is designed not only to help its students grow in their equestrian knowledge, but also connects them more to their faith as they go forward. I am honored to be a part of Houghton’s equestrian legacy and to have the opportunity to write about the program. 

I have had personal experience with trusting God’s process in my time here at Houghton. Many equestrian students, if not all of them, will experience a setback that requires a level of trust that we can only find by leaning on God’s understanding. Trusting the plan God has in store is not always easy, but waiting and listening for His guidance yields the greatest outcome of success and peace.  Last fall I had a riding accident that left me with a broken bone and nerve damage to my dominant arm. It’s not uncommon to meet equestrians who have had similar injuries, and most of them will tell you it does not change their view on the sport, but it teaches us how to adapt to new challenges. These challenges are like the valleys we walk through in faith. They test us, and it’s easy to want to give up. My encouragement is to not give up and trust God’s process. I was terrified when I got my injury diagnosed, but there was nothing I could do to change it. I was told it could be a year before I gained all function back in my hand, and even longer before I could ride again. I had to change my major, albeit not an extreme change, but it was and is a setback. I had no choice but to trust God and His plan for me. We equestrians experience setbacks all the time, and the outcome will most likely not be what we want if we do not have faith in God. 

 As equestrians, it is our passion to care for and learn from the creatures we work with. I think of it as the special calling God has for us. We are stewards of one of God’s greatest creations, the horse. We are able to forge a unique bond with the animals that allows us to better one another. The bond between horse and rider is so special. We can see the fruits of our efforts in our dressage tests, jumping courses, and even trail rides. It can sometimes look like riding horses is effortless, but it requires time, dedication, and love to get to those levels of trust between horse and rider. I like to think of it in how I engage with my relationship with God. I am not going to have a good personal relationship with God and my faith if I do not put any effort into it and do not cultivate the relationship. The same can be said for horses. I won’t have a good ride if I go into it with a negative attitude and then don’t try to  get better. There won’t be any progress in my riding skills if I don’t try. Faith is important in our daily lives as Christians. We all know that, but how much more important is it when we are in hard times? Sometimes equestrians will go days and maybe even weeks without the good ride they were hoping for, and it can be really discouraging. As I said, we have to keep our faith; otherwise what are we in this for? 

The community of equestrians here at Houghton is very different from what we see outside of campus. Unlike most commercial barns and competitive teams, Houghton’s program does not focus on competing and good scores at shows. We care about supporting each other and becoming equestrian professionals. We want to develop our skills as people and Christians. The development entails being good stewards to the horses and each other. In my experience, there are many barns that are very toxic, and they thrive on tearing one another down. Our equestrian program encourages us to lift each other up and give each other constructive criticism so we can improve.One verse that has been very encouraging for me has been Proverbs 21:31: “The horse is prepared against the day of battle: but safety is of the Lord”. We sometimes battle for each day, but we do not have to do it alone. We support each other at shows every semester, and the program is a tightly knit community that we all cherish.

Our horses, whether we own them or not, are teachers for us. They can teach us to be better riders, better people, and better Christians. It seems odd, but it is my belief that horses are some of the greatest faith teachers God has given us. The horses are what give equestrians the greatest challenges and the greatest tests of our faith, and that is what keeps me going. That faith—in the horses, ourselves, each other, and God—is what keeps us all going. Sometimes we just have to let Jesus take the reins. ★

Categories
Opinions

In Defense of Metz

By Hannah Smith

“Metz is terrible.”

We have all heard that one before. Metz has no options. Metz is nothing compared to home cooking. Metz is simply inedible.This comes up in conversations early in the morning, sometimes at lunch, and definitely at the dinner table. But I argue that there are more people in favor for Metz than we know. It’s too easy to get caught up in the rut of complaining and shortchange a good thing rather than appreciate what is there. 

According to a comment from senior Abigail Young, “It’s not a restaurant, but it’s not bad food.” If we really look at Metz with open eyes, we can see that the options are much more varied than the typical college fare. Bethany Smith from Eastern Nazarene has said that almost every night they have a fried food option: chicken tenders or pizza. There are no self-cook stations or fruit stations. The best that can be done is to go to the store yourself to get some strawberries.

Houghton has cooking stations, a sandwich bar, a fruit bar, a salad bar with dependable vegetables, and a pizza station. Pretty much any option for what you’re feeling or can make yourself. True, there’s not always a hit at the Main Plate section, and it may not be home cooking, but as Abigail previously said, it’s not bad.

Junior Brynn Dixon says part of her own attitude towards Metz is because “I think I get disappointed sometimes because I’m tired. We live in the middle of nowhere and I can’t just run out to Wendy’s and get my four piece chicken nugget meal.” It’s hard! Living in a space where the closest restaurant is the local Chinese restaurant and Dunkin Donuts is twenty minutes out is difficult! Especially when most of us come from areas much more urban than Houghton is.

I think wishful feelings about missing home cooking are felt by a large portion of Houghton students. Home is far away, along with the comfort of a homemade meal, and college food can feel subpar compared to it. But we don’t hate Metz. They do a fantastic job and we appreciate the effort they put into changing and addressing our needs. But there isn’t much they can really do to subdue this feeling of wishing from Houghton students. It is simply the way it is when living in such a rural space. And Three Bums Pizza is not exactly a great option to get away from dining hall food. 

Metz has done a lot to accommodate students in terms of changes to meals and food options. In past years we had limited access to fruit, but they heard our desire for fruit, and this year we have a fruit bar. There were a lot of complaints about Poblanos being all day-every day, and this year we have a weekly rotation on that station. They hired a professional dessert chef. There’s even an ‘Ask Us’ board up next to the coffee station. They make sure to respond promptly to comments students post and do the best they can to make the changes asked for. That’s a 10/10 in my book.

Metz will never be home cooking. It will never cater to our taste buds specifically. But they do their best with cooking for the university body. I think it’s important to remember to be grateful for the blessing of the people who work to make our lives easier. Metz is fun to complain about, but we should be careful not to convince ourselves that it really is terrible, because convincing ourselves that something is terrible is surprisingly easy. ★

Categories
Opinions

The Constant Pursuit of Something Greater

By Evelyn Simanowski

What is a Vocal Performance major’s art? Short answer: I spend a lot of time singing songs I think are pretty. That probably seems like a rhetorical question and an even more obvious answer, though it’s not an answer I’m adverse to giving. I could say “I spend hours in a tiny practice room every day,” or “I’m taking 19 credits before ensembles,” or best yet, “I’ve shaped my entire lifestyle to meet the physical demands of being a vocalist.” Are these answers dramatic? Absolutely; but they hold just as much truth within them as they hold drama. I wouldn’t be in this major if these truths weren’t worth it.

I consider the art of singing to be one of complete connectivity and a far more dynamic art form than it appears at surface level. My career as a vocalist relies almost entirely on my ability to interpret and bring life to song, requiring me to view the piece through its historical, cultural, and artistic contexts. This idea of connection begins when I start studying a new piece of music. I’m first connecting with the notes and rhythms on the page, that’s a given, but during that time I also consider myself to be connecting with the composer and their intent. Despite having never met any of these composers, there’s a real closeness I feel with them when I consider what inspired them to write this music and exactly what they were trying to share with their audiences. There’s no guarantee that the circumstances and narrative they were writing in will fit my own; they hardly ever do. There is, however, a guarantee that each of these composers I’m honoring is an image bearer that shared in the human experience and used their God-given talents to express such experiences. 

My connection with the piece only grows as I spend more time with it and begin pouring my own personal experiences into the piece. The art of song, like any art form, requires interpretation. In this case, I the performer can interpret the piece in a way that is personally meaningful to my story and maintains the integrity given to it by the composer. Most of the music I choose to sing is by composers from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. While they’re not working with me in person, the intentional time and consideration I spend interpreting their work makes it feel as though there’s active collaboration going on between the two of us. They spent hours writing these pieces and now I have the privilege of spending hours working them in the practice room to bring them their due respect.

Any time I perform a piece of music, I believe that life is truly breathed into it when it’s shared with others and given what my voice professor and I call “people energy.” The exchange of energy that happens at this point in the process is electrifying and quite frankly what keeps me coming back for more. Within a single song, I’m exerting pure energy in my performance, exchanging energy with my collaborator(s), and feeling reciprocated energy from the audience. This dynamic energy exchange grants me the opportunity to share the meaning I’ve found in the composer’s piece with a group of individuals that can receive the meaning and interpret it through their own personal experiences and convictions. Standing on the stage and baring a little bit of my soul to an audience is, of course, a vulnerable experience. But in that vulnerability, there’s an even greater opportunity to share the joy and meaning I’ve found in the music.

My job doesn’t end when I step off the stage, nor is there any discernible goal or finish line I’m trying to reach. There are goals I have along the way, each of them indicative of a certain accomplishment or level of progress, but none of them representing perfection. It’s a grim thought, honestly, that no matter how hard I work or how talented I am, I will never achieve perfection in my performance, just as I will never be a perfect Christian. Still, I strive for excellence in all that I do, reminding myself that it’s okay to never achieve perfection. I remain conscious of the fact that I am honing the gifts God has given to me to be used to the best of my ability for His glory. I recognize the gift it is to bring new life to the work of my predecessors and to connect with countless individuals through a language that only He could create. I thank God for the art He has given me and the course He has set before me so that I may be in the constant pursuit of something greater. Soli Deo gloria. ★

Categories
Opinions

The Power of Faith in God

By Rebecca Dailey

It seems impossible that I once sat writing about coming to Houghton. I can remember a crisp summer turned fall day, being in my room working away, never thinking I would follow that particular article to write its sequel. God has a way of making things happen even when we least expect it. The original article that I’m referring to was from the September 2, 2023 issue, which doesn’t seem that long ago. I wrote about transitioning from my community college to Houghton and how wonderful it had been so far. It’s been a full semester and we’re four weeks into the second semester with a whirlwind of new experiences.

I’ve learned, and not only in class or practicum, which is required for Education majors (it simply means I’m out in the field in a school setting). I’ve learned a lot about myself and strengthened my relationship with God. I come from a very religious family, but it didn’t quite feel like something for me at the time. However, the older I’ve gotten, the more I have come to understand it: God’s undying love for me, for all of us. It’s not just something we say we are, it’s something we do. We choose to not only follow God, but to actively spread His love and show grace and support to those around us. It’s not something that can be simply done like a snap of your fingers. It takes time to build a relationship with anyone, but God especially, because it is so easy to forget His sacrifices for us. However, the community of Houghton builds upon this love to bring their community together, whether it’s sports events, activities around campus, or just even morning Chapel.

The building of community has been such an important aspect to my growth in God and Christ, knowing that there are others who have walked for years and those like me who are just coming to terms with what it truly means to be a person of God. Not only coming to terms with it, but also knowing that it’s not just about reading the Bible or attending church weekly. It’s about loving everyone around you, serving others, even simply helping with homework or comforting a friend after a long day.

I was reading a book the other day called The Love Stories of the Bible Speak by Shannon Bream. I didn’t even pass the dedication page without pausing to stop and think about what it said. The verse came from I John 4:19, “We love because he first loved us.” He loves us when we’re wrong, He loves us when we’re right, He loves us when we’re upset with our friends and even when we’re upset with Him. He loved us and loved us still to sacrifice His only son for us so that our sin could be washed away. And yet sometimes we still do things that we know are wrong but we do them in anger, loathing or envy for another person. Being purely good is an uphill battle that we will win because we have God on our side and the knowledge of His love for us. 

God’s love doesn’t only directly come from Him, it comes from those around us who live God’s word and serve the community around us. The entirety of humanity is a steadfastness of God’s love for us because we are created in His image. We are created to love and to be loved by all. With His love comes our faithfulness to Him and for Him. We are God’s children and brothers and sisters in Christ. It’s who we are as people and who we are as Christians. 

Coming to Houghton was probably one of the most wonderful things that has ever happened to me. I came here because it was God’s plan for me. He wanted me here because He loved me and wanted to show me that even in my darkness there is still a life with Him. There is a life for all of us as an earthly community and with God. Whether we have admitted that or not, there are documents for all of us. In those dark moments, we can either hide or we can cry out to God because He loves us to show us the way out of the darkness and into the light. We will come into the light in our own way, on our own time, but in the end we will all come together as children of God. ★