SISSIES!

Who would believe this could happen? Like the little boy on the street, pleading with Shoeless Joe Jackson who was accused of being part of a group of Chicago White Sox, the team that threw the 1919 World Series, we want to demand, "Say it ain't so, Joe." 

But, it is so, and therein lies a tale of two generations.

THE IVY LEAGUE

What's hard to believe, but true, is that the students of the law schools of Harvard, Columbia, and Georgetown Universities have demanded and been granted delays in taking their final examinations. 

Not only that, but also the students demanded and got the right to set the time for taking their exams, depending on their own personal preference, anytime between December 20, 2014 and January 15, 2015. (From a professor's standpoint, this would be a logistical inconvenience, being at the beck and call of who knows how many students taking their final exams at who knows how many different times and on how many different days.)

YOU AIN'T HEARD NOTHIN YET

It gets worse. The administration not only granted the students' demands for postponement, but also hired a trained professional to be on campus to help the students deal with their feelings and the administration made it mandatory for faculty members to set their office hours to do the same. 

What has given these future barristers, solicitors, and lawmakers the vapors? They're having fainting spells over the Michael Brown and Eric Garner grand jury decisions to the extent that they're unable to carry on with a stiff upper lip in view of such unpleasant news. They have found that their emotional state is out of control, at least not under control enough to take an exam. They even complained (in print no less) that their universities did not "feel their pain."

BACKTRACK IN TIME

I was a junior in college the Friday afternoon that President Kennedy was gunned down in Dallas on November 22, 1963. The next day was Saturday, and on that Saturday, as on every other Saturday that semester, I had two morning classes--Texas History (a good course with a good teacher) and Sociology (boring). We were tough back then, we had classes Monday-Saturday.

Did the administration cancel those classes? No. They didn't cancel any classes that Saturday at Texas Tech. So I went to Texas History and Sociology. Granted, the classes were subdued, but no one's emotions were out of control and I didn't see any student in those crying, emotional, fainting, or traumatized in any way. 

We were scheduled to take a midterm exam that Saturday in Texas History. That would be one of only two grades on which our semester grade would be based,  but the professor told us we could take it on the next Tuesday if we desired or that day, but HE, not we, set the Tuesday time. He didn't allow the postponement because we couldn't handle what was happening.

The decision of a grand jury in Missouri or New York hardly compares with the assassination of an American President. So, there we were, in class, both large classes, exactly where we were supposed to be at the times we were to be there. 

GO EARN A LIVING!

We weren't the only ones who were where we were supposed to be. On Monday, the day of the nationally televised funeral of President Kennedy, my father went to work, as did millions of other Americans. No one I knew was so traumatized he or she couldn't function. They did what they were hired to do by their companies.

September 11

Of more recent vintage, did we cancel the classes where I was teaching on Tuesday September 11, 2001? It was the teacher's choice, not that of the students. I didn't cancel my class; we met as usual and the scholars took a quiz as usual. But, again, the attack on September 11, hardly compares with a grand jury decision, even two of them. 

QUESTIONS

The trauma of the Ivy Leaguers brings questions--is this the kind of lawyer you'd want defending you in court, a lawyer who's so emotionally traumatized by what he considers bad news that he/she can't function in real life? In the real world, those law students will have to comply with court deadlines regardless of how they feel when the deadline arrives. We all have deadlines into which our "feelings" do not enter.

In real life outside the groves of academe`, courts and employers don't set deadlines to be missed because missing a deadline can cause loss of revenue and termination of employment. In the real world, an employer will not give one hoot and one holler about an employee's personal "traumas." He won't hire a counselor to help an employee deal with them. 

CONSISTENT?

I wonder if any students demanded a cancellation of exams or classes when the decisions of the juries in the cases of O. J. Simpson and Casey Anthony came down. I didn't hear of any. Did you?

A TOUGH FIELD TO PLOW

All this to bring us to the point. Being a disciple of Jesus Christ, that is, following Him, isn't for sissies. When Jesus talked about '''counting the cost," He was warning us that, although salvation is free with no conditions other than faith alone in Christ alone, discipleship is costly. He said the same thing when He talked about "taking the plow and not looking back," and "forsaking father and mother." 

Following Christ in discipleship costs us friends and relatives, sometimes employment, certainly it costs us the respect of the world, our comfort, and it ofttimes demands apologies from us to the world for offending its political correctness, and may place us in sensitivity sessions. 

Discipleship cost eleven out of twelve of the Apostles their lives. Today, around the world, openly following Christ extracts penalties of beatings, fines, and incarceration. 

CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS?

On a personal level, I know two believers who refused to be baptized because--are you ready for this?--they didn't want to get their hair wet. Getting one's hair wet was too big a cost for them to pay. When we talk about "counting the cost," getting one's hair wet somehow never entered my mind until I met those two sissies. 

No, discipleship isn't for Christian tea-sippers. Discipleship is a growing and robust relationship with the Lord as He leads us through His Word, and goes with us through the tough choices and rough and tumble obedience of discipleship. There is no Tempur-Pedic Mattress that comes with following Christ. 

LOOK ON THE WALL

Next time you need a lawyer, check his degree. If it's from Harvard, Columbia, or Georgetown, run. You're in the office of a sissy.
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Dr. Mike Halsey is the chancellor of Grace Biblical Seminary, a Bible teacher at the Hangar Bible Fellowship, and the author of Truthspeak, available on Amazon.com. A copy of his book, Microbes in the Bloodstream of the Church, is also available as an E-book on Amazon.com. If you would like to a receive a copy of his weekly Bible studies and other articles of biblical teaching and application, you can do so by writing sue.bove@gmail.com and requesting, "The Hangar Bible Fellowship Journal."

If you would like to contribute to his ministry according to the principle of II Corinthians 9:7, you may do so by making your check out to Hangar Bible Fellowship and mailing it to 65 Teal Ct., Locust Grove, GA 30248. All donations are tax deductible.

Come visit the Hangar some Sunday at 10 AM at the above address. You'll be glad you did.

Other recommended grace-oriented websites are:

notbyworks.org
literaltruth.org
gracebiblicalseminary.org
duluthbible.org
clarityministries.org

Also:

Biblical Ministries, Inc.
C/O Dr. Richard Grubbs
P. O. Box 64582
Lubbock, TX 79464-4582