Bryan College Triangle

It is the stance of this publication that dialogue and transparency between the students, faculty and staff of Bryan College is beneficial.

Triangle has been intentional in the last several months in reserving opinions on college matters, both when this publication has been in support and opposition to various issues. Triangle seeks to serve Bryan College by acting as the forum where the Bryan community talks to itself and the watchdog that acts to preserve the best interests of students, faculty and staff.

Unfortunately, there has been a trend of opacity within certain administrative departments, at least when Triangle has sought to interact on a professional level, seeking to gain information in order to better inform the school’s student, faculty and staff bodies.

Triangle has repeatedly run up against opposition when attempting to interview certain school administrators, and various reasons have been offered. This, we believe, is a disservice to Bryan College.

When an administrator refuses an interview, he is not only refusing to speak to this publication. Triangle is the community forum. Refusing to speak with Triangle is refusing to speak to the Bryan community.

In more than one instance, a college official has also sought to control the information available to Triangle reporters or control the dissemination of information by attempting to flex control over how a story is to be written.

Triangle has made mistakes in the past. This publication has its black eyes. But treating this publication and its staff reporters as incapable of doing journalism is degrading and reflects a disturbing view toward Bryan College students. Because after all, like or hate us, we are students here.

Triangle has repeatedly attempted to make up for past mistakes with certain college officials. It is not the intention or desire of this publication to misrepresent or misquote any source. It is the intention of Triangle and its staff to do our best, at all times and to be in continual service to our readership.

The disregard-bordering-on-malice shown toward this publication by certain school officials over the course of the last few weeks is both disturbing and discouraging. It is our hope to see a Bryan College where students are not assumed to be incapable of understanding the intricacies of school policies and procedures.

It is our hope to see a community where students, faculty and staff are welcome to take part in dialogue over the day’s issues, not hushed, pushed away or discouraged from talking about them.

Bryan College is a private college and is consequently not subject to all state and national freedom of information laws. This does not mean any school official ought to reserve information from students or faculty.

A college that values community ought to invite community involvement and encourage free speech among its students, faculty and staff. This is Triangle’s hope for this college and this community.

We do not wish to paint all of Bryan’s administrators with the same broad brush. Triangle has found faculty chairs to be very open and welcoming in the past, and we appreciate and applaud them, including current faculty chair Col. Ron Pettite.

Triangle has consistently received enthusiastic cooperation from Doug Schott, director of the physical plant, and Tim Hostetler vice president of operations. Triangle has consistently found support and cooperation from Gary Marzello, night watch supervisor.

But it is our belief that increased dialogue and increased willingness to speak to the Bryan College community via Triangle ought to be encouraged in other areas. With increased transparency throughout this school, the ideas and counsel of many may yield effective solutions for complicated problems.

Bryan College is loaded with good people and smart people. We do not seek to cast anyone as otherwise. We only wish to exercise our role as this community’s watchdog and reaffirm the need for transparency and open communication.

The lack of either leads us to ask on behalf of all Bryan community members for improvement.

So we ask.

Jonathan Warner
Columnist

I have been at Bryan for almost four years now. There are many things I have grown to love about my school, but at the end of my time here I am frustrated.

I am tired of the rules that treat me like a child rather than an adult. I am sick of the perspective that says that our “standards” make Bryan a better or holier place.

Many of the rules at Bryan attempt to guard us from the excesses of the world, but they mostly end up creating a forbidden fruit mentality and fostering a synthetic environment. These rules have created a wall of inconsistency in our Christian witness and a barrier of understanding in our personal maturity.

If Jesus came to Bryan and turned the water into wine (John 2), what would we say? “Oh, no Jesus! We can’t have that happen here, that’s not allowed. Don’t you know that drinking leads to sin?” After all, it would be wrong for us to enjoy what creative minds throughout history have concocted into a plethora of fantastic drinks.

What if King David wanted to “dance before the Lord with all his might,” (2 Samuel 6:14) at a Bryan event? “No, David, don’t you know that’s not allowed? We can’t dance because that’s provocative or something like that. We can’t express ourselves in all the ways God intended us to because the Board won’t approve.”

Dietrich Bonheoffer, C.S. Lewis, and many of the greatest Christian theological minds of the past centuries were prolific smokers. For many people, past and present, smoking is intimately linked to reflection, fellowship, and their thought process. But oh, I forgot, that’s not allowed either. Heaven forbid that we enjoy something God created. I understand the health concerns, but simple moderation has a powerful way of tempering excess.

It’s not just the actual rules that can be upsetting. It’s the rules of perception, a mentality that echoes across campus. It’s when people at Bryan don’t take time to put themselves in other’s shoes and understand where they are at or why they express themselves the way they do. Instead, a verdict is rendered, the gavel falls, and the witness of the gospel is marred.

This is the part where I would typically try to balance my argument by listing all the things I like about Bryan, but that’s not what this article is about. I do love my school and I will forever have a special place in my heart for the dear faculty and staff that make it so wonderful. However, I hope this article spurs the process of necessary change along.

In case you haven’t figured it out by now, I am trying to make a point.

Yes, rules are a necessary part of a community. I’m not saying that I want people smoking and drinking on campus, but give them the freedom to not have to look over their shoulder when they do it off campus. Because let’s face it, whether you like it or not, they do…all the time.

Dancing needs to happen and lots of it; if only for the bare fact that when students graduate from here and find themselves dancing in a secular environment they don’t look like they just discovered how to walk. I plead guilty. The least the college can do is stand out of the way.

Bryan policy should look to foster an environment of freedom that gives students the chance to make mistakes and thoughtful decisions about how they live. In order for students to truly be prepared for the real world they need to learn how to make responsible choices while they’re at Bryan. Learning to make mature choices is a process, one that doesn’t take a 4-year sabbatical and starts back up after graduation.

Bryan College, please stop acting like these rules make us a holier place. They stifle our God given freedom and individuality and create an artificiality that mares our witness and doesn’t prepare us for the real world. This column is dedicated to whoever is holding these walls (rules) up. The wall is slowly crumbling. Get out of the way if you can’t lend a hand.

By Dhember Viera
Triangle Writer

For those of you who aren’t Harry Potter fans, I need you to imagine a whole new series. When I think about the Harry Potter I read about on some Christian websites, and then I pick up my battered copy of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, I see two entirely different works. One presents the series as manuals of witchcraft that will lead you to hell, but the story contains a lot less darkness than a Christian novel or two. It’s a story about a lonely boy who had to grow up way too fast. A story that stuck the hearts of the kids in this nation because of its honesty and characters that felt so alive.

Where we see truth and beauty, we see God. He is the source of everything good. He breathed man and it was good. He wrote the first, and the ultimate best seller – the one that has saved lives and souls. Ultimately, he is The Word. He chose to write songs, historical facts and letters of advice, and he chose to thread it all together into a narrative with  His people – us -  breathing poems that He writes on the palms of his hands.

Stories are important; they are woven into the fabric of the world. Stories save and break and smash mountains down. And is it any wonder why someone would get so passionate over seven books full of the most fantastic stuff that’s ever been written? Every good story echoes the Good Story. Harry Potter’s similarities to Jesus aren’t even subtle. Without giving the ending of the series away, you’d have to be blind not to notice the parallels between Harry and Jesus. Self-sacrifice is a quality found in the best of heroes, and Harry isn’t lacking it; but unlike Jesus, Harry has flaws. Harry’s like us.

Why Harry Potter?

Bravery and selflessness, the classic arcs of heroic development, bouncing back to connect to our own lives. Humor, tragedy and characters so three-dimensional, so real, that you swear they’re your own friends. If we should ever have to choose between what is right and what is easy, Albus Dumbledore is there to tell us that there’s only one way to go: “It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live.” Because “The truth is a beautiful and terrible thing, and should therefore be treated with great caution,” and because “one can never have enough socks.” There are so many nuggets of truth between these pages that have been pitifully ignored.

Because racism is battled so clearly in these books, and family means so much. Because outcasts are never as black as they’re painted. Because of the cozy nights staying up and too much homework, because of feasts, because of magical creatures. Because “Mr. and Mrs. Dursley of Number Four, Privet Drive, were proud to say they were perfectly normal, thank you very much” – because “All was well.” Because good versus evil. Because loyalty. Because courage. Because death. Because life. Because love. Because I believe that if you’re a human being, made in the image of God, there is something between those pages for you. That’s why Harry Potter.

Now… Why Not?

At the core of the fantasy book genre, runs magic. This applies to such beloved works as The Lord of the Rings and Narnia, and it isn’t as if magic is a simply evil force in either world. Gandalf has the same title as Harry, and uses his magic all over the place. Peter, Susan, and Lucy are given magical presents from Father Christmas in the Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe.

Harry Potter’s main plot point is, “a boy goes to wizard school.” This probably would have still produced some hype, but the cherry on the icing was the fact that JK Rowling didn’t stop at “wizard” but threw in words like “witch”, “warlock”, and school subjects, besides the pure fantasy classes like broom riding and charms (where one learns to do things like enchant pineapples to tap dance), like the more shifty “divination” and, say, “ancient runes”. Things a kid could go over and pick up a book on. Yes, the way I could walk over to the mythology section after watching Marvel’s Thor and start praying to the Norse gods.

You may have seen the Headlines: JK ROWLING IS A WITCH! JK has said herself that she doesn’t believe in magic. That, I think, might be some of the problem. Since she doesn’t believe in magic, I’m guessing that she doesn’t have any problem picking up some of these names and applying them to her fantastical, phoenix and dragon wand-waving group. Rowling is an extremely, extremely detailed author, and will utilize historical names and suspicions with a twist – witches have always been rumored to ride brooms? She gives us a sport where people ride on racing brooms like the Comet 260, and gives us a history book about its origin (which is all completely made up) – laughing off any historical relevance this might have had with her humorous retellings. Even when concepts aren’t jokes or comic relief, they’re not meant to be taken from our world. She does this in other, innocent areas, too, like the creatures in her stories. Hippogriffs? What are those? They’re from ancient legend, like dragons, and have been researched down to the last speck.

This isn’t to say I commend her for doing this; she perhaps should have taken these real-life forces more seriously. But if she never meant these things to be taken seriously within her made up world, maybe we should calm down about the series just slightly. JK Rowling has also said she has never met anyone who has said they want to be a witch after reading her work. That’s not what Harry Potter is. It doesn’t take you by the hand and say, “Look, here’s a bunch of magic. Wouldn’t it be cool to learn it? Why don’t you go and do that in real life?” Like any good fantasy story, like Narnia or Lord of the Rings, it pulls you in saying, “Look at this world I’ve made, where the laws of nature are different, where all-too-human emotion is pushed to the breaking point by situations that happen outside our sphere of living, where good and evil shine through so much the brighter, so much the clearer”

It’s true, though, the more power something has for good, the more power it could have for evil. Harry Potter can be misused – if you wander off and start applying any fantasy to real life, often things will get seriously messed up.

For example, there’s this thing called the Internet that all the kids are on (Have you been hearing about this? Apparently it’s supposed to be awesome) that is horrible and life ruining. Actually, I think we should all shun those that use Wi-Fi. Do you know how many terrible issues there are on here, teaching kids how to use it right, working through the principles, practicing good judgment and discerning what it’s wonderful to build on and what parts of it weren’t meant to be invested in,  that would be silly!

Some say the Harry Potter books are too gory or scary, and frankly, that’s a little ridiculous. Read through the Old Testament and tell me if everything you find there is rated PG. That might seem like an invalid argument because it’s showing us how we are not to live, but Harry Potter is doing just that, as well. Light will never shine without some darkness.

There is a worry that, in Harry Potter, the line between good and evil is blurred, when both sides use magic. Is this a legitimate concern? Not as much as you might think. Harry has moments of arrogance, and pays little attention to school rules, but he gets called out on this. When Harry and his friends go all-out and start a mini rebellion at Hogwarts, it is because the school has been corrupted by people who are too comfortable with the safe world they think they inhabit. Too comfortable to realize that they must be ready, because evil is coming and they must be prepared to fight. Not every act of mischief is repaid, and no character escapes flaws, fights, and the effects of the human condition, but that is what makes these stories so successful. The characters are absolutely, one hundred percent human.

The Harry Potter series, as I have said, has many excellent themes. They’re not just played out in an intriguing, well-mapped, and endearing setting that you could read about for hours and still be surprised and enchanted by. They’re not just peopled by characters that live, breathe, break and mend your heart. I’ve listed a lot of the best themes, but allow me to go into a little more detail here.

Good and Evil: this runs through all seven books, with Lord Voldemort as a very clear and evil presence, and various characters as secondary villains, all quite dastardly, being battled by Harry, Ron, Hermione, Dumbledore, McGonagall, and a team of people who still care. Comeuppance is doled out in the Deathly Hallows, though I’m not going to spoil it by telling you to whom, or how much.

Love: For the most part, the romance is good and healthy. Love, especially familial love, is an important and protective thing throughout this Harry Potter series. Without giving spoilers, I can’t say too much, but I’ll let you know that one of the main villains is the way he is because he was born out of a fake, formulated relationship induced by love potion (which is shown very obviously to have no comparison to real love). Dumbledore, the wise, Gandalf-type character, says, “Do not pity the dead, Harry. Pity the living, and, above all, those who live without love.” Love is said to be the only protection against lust for power.

Death: Especially in the last books, death is examined and we are taught that, while it is devastating and terrible, it is not something to fear overmuch. We see that it is not the ultimate terror, empty, cruel, twisted life can be worse. This is one thing the villain, Voldemort, fails to see, as he seeks immortality and values his own existence as the highest thing in the universe.

Racism and Bigotry: Voldemort has a lot of parallels to Hitler. Again, I don’t want to give a lot away, but I will say that this issue is brought up in the second book and is part of the good vs. evil plot the whole way through thereafter, developing fantastically. Made-up concepts are substituted for racial discrimination, but the message remains, and outcasts who are shunned for less-than-honorable reasons are examined through the eyes of children, who are far less prone to see colors or peoples’ outsides than adults are.

Friendship: It carries us along on an adventure of proven and re-proven loyalty, and is always there in the dark. It goes through its ups and its downs, as real relationships do, but some things are meant to last, and this is one of them.

Family: Harry has lost his parents. It is revealed in book one that he wants nothing more than to meet his mom and dad again, and throughout the series, family is explored with a rather wholesome air. It is something to be desired. Harry’s best friends come from very different families. One is an only child, and one comes from a clan of seven children guided by two loving parents, who, despite being rather poor, are always ready to welcome Harry in and give him a haven. Throughout the seven books, several father figures watch over Harry, teaching him and giving him good advice and love.

These themes and others put focus on things that are noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, excellent, praiseworthy and, best of all, things that are true.

By Annalise Williams
Guest Writer

Hipster Christianese emphasizes trendiness over holiness

Recently I got an email that opened with the hook, “Want to move forward in becoming a Global Christian?” What is a “Global Christian”? Someone with all the Christian movements on their newsfeed, with the t-shirts, the computer stickers, and the conference experiences; someone who has seen dozens of movie clips about starving children in Africa and who has the Voice of the Martyrs devotional on their bookshelf; someone who knows the estimations of how many sex slaves pass through the Atlanta airport; someone who only purchases Fair Trade coffee; someone who knows all the latest International Justice Mission stats and success stories?

It is easy to become so social in our “global” concerns that we forget our call. We are to be the light and the salt, to carry the revelation of Christ to the local world, and to invest our time and selves in the local church. Without fulfilling this primary call, we cannot fulfill the call to support and love those further away from us. It’s easier to send our resources to the inner city outreach or to an overseas rescue mission than it is to commit to the local body of believers who obviously struggle with the childish things of faithfulness and commitment and grace in spite of grouchiness — to commit to the people who annoy us and so pollute our sense of holiness. It’s easy to be a self-satisfied Christian from the role of a distant benefactor. It’s hard to be a self-satisfied Christian while gathering together with other Christ-followers who, like ourselves, are not Christ.

Once we disconnect from the immediacy of a situation, we lose the potency that localization requires. Everything becomes a cerebral problem and the possibility of action diminishes to sending something or knowing facts. Yes, we love with our minds but our minds (with their built-in credit-card-swipe solutions) are not strong enough love. Long-distance actions usually don’t require the forgiveness or long-suffering patience and grace that, as iron sharpens iron, molds us more closely to the image of Christ.

As G. K. Chesterton points out, specificity is the beauty of love, for love is choosing. The man loves the one woman, and this is sacred. We can’t ethereally love the catholic church in the same way that we love the local body because love is an action, borne out in many particular actions. We bring food to the widow down the street, visit the neighbor in the hospital, pray with the friend who has a migraine. We can indeed pray for individual men and women who are far away, but this is still a local kind of love because it is directed specifically. Love cannot be delocalized.

Removing the immediate situation removes the burden of the necessity of effectiveness from us. If we simply support another ministry to the neglect of our own ministry, we do not feel as responsible. “They” — the organization — determined how the money was spent and where and why. We just provided it. Our responsibility is diminished.

This reminds me of Christ’s indictment in Matthew 15: “But you say, ‘Whoever shall say to his father or mother, “Anything of mine you might have been helped by has been given to God,” he is not to honor his father or his mother.’ And thus you invalidate the word of God” (v 5-6 NASB). Christ was addressing a situation where people who should have been placed in a position of respect and honor were being ignored, pushed out by more “spiritual” concerns. I fear, my friends, that many of us, too, have allowed the culturally impressive to dictate our support. Just as we are called to care for our parents, so also we are called to minister to and within the body of local believers. This assumes an authority we do not have to direct our resources as we please.

There are no “Global Christians;” only local servants of Christ. Those God calls from one place to another are still called to serve in a specific way in a specific place, even if they are only called to that place for a time. They become local Christians in a new locale, not some detached benefactor.

So let’s be where we are called to be — in the physical place where God put us, living church with the body of believers in the same place. Yes, we should support the rest of the church in other parts of the world with prayer and finances, but this is an aspect of being a faithful, local believer. Just as it is ridiculous to define ourselves as the Tithing Christians or the Praying Christians or the Bible-reading Christians, so it is foolish to define ourselves by something that is simply one single aspect of the immediate, constant call to be knitted to the fellow believers who are physically near us. In following this command, we lose the superiority of choosing who is worthy of our attention and our resources that comes with “globalization” and must humbly love the people God has placed in our path. We’re not supposed to be slick, trendy, global. We’re the aliens, remember? We’re the bond-servants of the despised and crucified King who washed the feet of the disciples who constantly argued around him. This is the service to which we are called.

If I had to leave Bryan and do something important with my life, what would be the last words I would want my peers to remember from me?

Should I spend my last words talking about chapel skips, some funky dinners, a list of the funniest pranks, all of my least favorite rules, or is there something else that matters above all?

At Bryan, we are sinners. Just like every church I’ve attended, every camp I’ve seen, and like every other Christian I’ve met, we are sinners. Each year, I learn more and more how many sinners there are in the body of Christ.

Bryan hasn’t been any different. Our relationships still fail. We still lie to each other and our professors. We don’t trust the school not to lie, mislead or stay silent on important issues. We lust. We hurt ourselves. We hurt each other. We drink. Above all, we let our righteousness stand in the way of God’s.

We know that we are sinners; I don’t feel the need to reemphasize this point. What matters is that since you know I am a sinner, we may as well stop hiding it. I know that you are a sinner, so we may as well accept the humiliation of standing naked before God and man.

When we are trying so hard to help other people who are hurting, we stay so unwilling to be helped ourselves though our worlds are secretly falling apart. As honored as we feel when our best friend trusts us with his darkest secrets, we somehow believe inside that it would be an overwhelming tragedy if he were burdened with our needs.

Can we stop pretending we are anything different? Can we get past our desire to hide our flaws and focus more on sharing what Christ died to save? When Saul transformed into Paul, do we believe his sins were somehow hidden away? Instead, he wrote publically about them so that we could praise Jesus who forgave such a despicable person.

When the author of James commanded us to confess our sins, did he put any recommendations on whom we should hide our souls from?

I won’t pretend that our sin won’t ruin our reputation. I won’t promise that every person we tell will be as forgiving as God. I can’t even reassure you that I won’t foolishly judge you for our sins.

I promise that God is glorified.

As a campus, we sin, and there is no better time than now to repent. As a campus, we can tell each other about the marvelous work God is doing through our failures.

My name is Timothy Baldi, and I am a sinner graduating from Bryan College. My name is Timothy Baldi, and my sins reveal the glory of God.

By Tim Baldi
Copyeditor