Blog Jones

I really, really, really hope it doesn’t snow/sleet like they’re saying it will tomorrow.

UPDATE: It didn’t rain; it was just really, really cold. I’m sure it helped the hot-chocolate salesmen that wandered the stands.

Faculty Body was pretty hilarious. Fireworks were moved to Monday night, after the evening service of the Bible Conference. I’m about to start my last class before our poor-man’s Spring Break. I hope he lets us out early….

I went into the FMA today at about 4:15 to pick up my tickets to the upcoming Living Gallery program for my family and me. I had hopes of securing tickets for Saturday afternoon, either at 4:30 or at 7. Unfortunately, I was running a little late; students were required to get tickets by tonight at 5 or face the penalty of demerits. Predictably, there was a shortage of the tickets I wanted: Only 1 ticket was available at 4:30, 1 ticket at 7, and 3 tickets at 2.

I asked the Programs & Productions Guy if there were any other tickets available for the times I wanted; there were not. ^~OK, let me call and see if should get the 2:00 tickets,^~ I said to P&PG, walking out into the lobby to call my mom. Short answer: Yeah, get the tickets. I take the three steps necessary to return to the ticket tables, and…

^~I know you just didn’t.^~ I stood in mild disbelief. P&PG had not only abandoned the table, but had, in the course of my thirty second phone call, during which I was in plain sight of the ticket table, given two of my tickets to someone else while my back was turned.

^~I’m sorry, what was that?^~ P&PG’s associate, P&P Girl, looked up from the Friday table.

I mumbled something, which I’m proud to say didn’t include any of the derogatory terms for P&PG that I was formulating. I then started for the door; P&PG called after me: ^~Hey, there are some seats opening up for Saturday at 4:30.^~

Well, then. All is forgiven. Another group had exchanged their tickets for a different day, leaving 4 seats together for 4:30pm. I asked for three and handed P&PG my permit slip, which entitled me to a free ticket. ^~How much for the other two?^~

^~Oh, I’m sorry. You have to buy tickets at the ticket window, and they closed at 4.^~

My mild disbelief returned.

^~And we’re not open tomorrow because of Gold Rush Daze,^~ he finished.

^~OK, so can you reserve those tickets for me so I can buy them on Friday?^~

^~No, I’m sorry, we can’t reserve tickets. But there shouldn’t be any problem getting three seats together then.^~

Sure. Helpful guy. One or the other of the P&P team pointed out that I needed to get my ticket today so that I wouldn’t get demerits, but that I could exchange them on Friday for the group of tickets.

So, now I have possession of a ticket that I do not want, and I do not have possession of the three tickets that I do want, which were sitting there unclaimed on the desk. I also now have the hassle of trying to find time to get there; I have classes until 4, which is conveniently the same time the ticket window closes. This means either A) They must be open during my 12 o’clock lunch hour or B) I must miss some portion of class in order to get my tickets.

Let’s get the act together better next year, hmm?

(Program Note: This was written on Friday afternoon)

I don’t know about y’all, but this has been an extremely difficult week for me.

At least four, maybe five tests, and a paper. One of the aforementioned tests was a Bible doctrines verse test: We were supposed to regurgitate every verse we (should have) learned throughout the semester. That’s about a full-page, front and back to memorize, perfectly. Some of the verses are familiar; others are not.

It’s quite difficult.

In fact, it got me thinking: Why do teachers require the verses to be recited word-perfect?

Lest you think that this is just whining, let me give you an example: If, in a verse, a student should write “Christ Jesus” when the verse says “Jesus Christ,” that counts as an error, and the student is penalized.

Now, the differences between two translations of the Bible–or even two of the Greek source texts–include such minor variations as meaningless word reversals. One Greek text might read Jesus Christ; another might say Christ Jesus.

So, the BJU student is required to be more accurate than the Bible itself.

(Why yes, I did get a bad grade on the test. How could you tell?)

A friend of mine has a problem with the concept of verse tests in general: His opinion is that such tests encourage taking verses out of context in spiritual arguments. These tests, he believes, condition the student to use verses that support his or her case without considering the surrounding verses.

And he might just have a point.

I was on the IT Forums yesterday (a private, heavily moderated forum accessible only to BJU students) and I discovered a list of BJU bloggers, including several I hadn’t seen before. Some appear to be students, others appear to be grads, and a couple look like they’re missionaries. The new ones have been added to my BJU Bloggers list on the sidebar.

Here’s something interesting: Some guy named “broomfield_jay” at democrats.com has his shorts in a wad over the fact that BJU Press puts Christian doctrine in its textbooks. Specifically, this article refers to a pre-calculus text, describing it as “sick” and as a “KKK handbook.”

Here’s one of the examples he cites:

“Carl Friedrich Gauss first proved the fundamental theorem of algebra. There are many fundamental theorems: of arithmetic, calculus, and so on. These are so ‘fundamental’ that many other theorems are derived from them. In the Bible, there are also fundamentals, without which Christianity would not exist—the deity of Christ, His substitutionary atonement, and the inspiration of the Bible, to name a few.”

And here’s his take on the book as a whole:

An objective review of this “text” would warn that it not only wastes students time, but will also leave them behind studenst [SIC] using more competent texts. Modern texts are concise and have real-world math applications involving economics, biology, and physics. Leave the Bible to the department that teaches sociology or better yet, mythology.

Will a text that drops Christian doctrine in at every opportunity leave its students behind the students of secular textbooks? I somehow doubt it.

Of course, my Christian high school used the secular Saxon math curriculum, if that’s any indicator of text quality.

In any case, broomfield_jay is over-reacting. As long as the book teaches the fundamentals of pre-calculus to its students, there’s no problem with it dropping in Christian doctrine, especially when you consider that the book is written specifically for Christian schools. And unless the story problems involve getting the dimensions of a burning cross, the KKK comment was out of line.

Susannah Meadows interviews Stephen Jones at MSNBC.com. Key Quote:

Are you less strict than your father?
Hard to say. If we’re talking about stuff that’s clearly in scripture, I wouldn’t be less anything. Rules, order are part of the educational value. Even if you have to dress up to come to class, that’s teaching something. We maybe could get to the day when we don’t wear ties in the morning, but I’m not sure.

“And the peasants rejoiced.”

Here’s a contradiction found on The State newspaper website.

So which is it? Change, or no change?

I was trying to get back to my homework after lunch today when my RSS reader greeted me with the headline “Pres. of Bob Jones Univ. to retire in May.”

(This is the disadvantage to me only having MWF classes and staying home on the other days; I miss out stuff like this.)

A quick trip to the BJU Website confirms the story, and adds that Dr. Bob Wood, 29-year COO of the university and occasional chapel speaker, is also stepping down, as is a Dr. Philip Smith with whom I’m less familiar.

All three will be retiring at graduation this year.

Scott Buchanan over at To Give An Answer has more.

Whenever an organization changes chief officers, things change. It will be interesting to see how the younger man’s vision for the university guides it. What policies will change? What programs will be emphasized? How interesting will chapel be?

We’ll soon see. Anyway, grace and glory to our new retirees, and best of luck to our new president, who reportedly is changing the school’s name to Stephen Jones University. No doubt you’ll need it.

They say that first impressions are everything; scientists even tell us that students’ impressions of a teacher after “five seconds of soundless videotape… matched those given by his own students after a full semester of classes.”

So, today, my first day of classes, could conceivably set the tone for the whole semester. If that’s the case, this semester will be pretty good.

The rest of this post contains my initial thoughts about this semester.

Have you ever had a day where the weather seemed to perfectly match your mood?

The weather today in Greenville: Heavy rains, thunderstorms, and tornado warnings.

Today is not one of those days.

I’ve got six classes tomorrow, plus an evening evangelistic service. I will be at school for approximately twelve straight hours.

Tomorrow may be one of those days.