Many have followed the wide path to destruction, but some have chosen the narrow gate that leads to life.
Recently, pro-Palestinian protests fueled in part by virulent anti-Semitism have erupted on several Ivy League and other “elite” campuses, creating a toxic environment that one professor described as reminiscent of 1938.
How different the scene was on Wednesday evening at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia, where students gathered both indoors and outdoors to praise Jesus Christ, enjoy worship music and hear God’s word.
What a night! Our students gathered on the Academic Lawn and in the Prayer Chapel to close out the semester with an unforgettable evening of praise and worship.https://t.co/idfX2gyp5k
— Liberty University (@LibertyU) April 25, 2024
According to a report by Liberty’s Office of Communications and Public Engagement, the special end-of-semester gathering was part of Campus Community, a weekly event involving Bible teaching and worship. This semester’s events have featured readings from the apostle John’s three letters.
Chancellor Jonathan Falwell, who noted the different atmospheres of worship and protest developing on U.S. campuses, urged students to renew their commitment to Christ every day.
“This is a choice that we have to make,” he said. “But understand it’s not a choice that we have to make once, but one we have to make every single day.
“Every day when we wake up and put our feet on the ground, we have to decide that on this day, no matter what I face, no matter what I come up against, no matter what situations I may have to navigate, I’m going to honor God, I’m going to serve Christ, I’m going to run after Him.”
Wednesday’s event also featured uplifting musical performances.
As Jesus taught us, the wide and easy path of worldly hatred leads to destruction. But the more difficult choice to love one another offers us a narrow gate to life. (Matthew 7:13-14)
Liberty students, faculty, administrators and other worshippers chose the narrow gate.
On Ivy League campuses, however, protesters have marked out the worldly path.
At Columbia University, for instance, one rabbi warned Jewish students to leave campus for their own safety.
A “violent” situation, menacing toward Jewish students, also has unfolded at Yale University.
And few authorities seem to know what to do about it. At Harvard University, pro-Palestinian protesters have encountered more resistance from the sprinkler system than from school administrators.
Meanwhile, last month, Liberty alleged harsh and discriminatory treatment from the Department of Education, according to Fox News.
Should colleges encourage more of what happened at Liberty?
That stands to reason, of course. After all, the Biden administration has terrorized faithful Christians while coddling the world’s most privileged protesters.
Ironically, those venerable Ivy League hotbeds of hatred have Christian origins. Harvard, for instance — the first institution of higher learning established in Colonial America — began in 1636 as a divinity school.
In a 2016 appearance on “The Joe Rogan Experience” podcast, Canadian psychologist Jordan Peterson, a former Harvard professor who earned internet fame as a conservative intellectual, advised the host to keep his kids away from the elite universities.
“Send them to trade school,” Peterson said.
“Wow, a guy who used to teach at Harvard just said, ‘Send them to trade school,’” Rogan replied.
“I think the universities — I think you can make a reasonable case that the universities do more harm than good now,” Peterson explained.
With regard to the elite universities, Peterson has proved prophetic. In fact, one could scarcely imagine an experience better calculated to destroy young minds than a modern Ivy League education.
In hindsight, however, we should retroactively amend his sage warning.
“Send them to trade school,” Peterson might have said. “Or send them to a place like Liberty University that has chosen the hard and narrow gate.”
