|
I Survived BoJo
For my freshman
year of high school, my parents sent me to Bob Jones Academy,
located on the enfortressed campus of Bob Jones University in
Greenville, South Carolina. I was housed in a dorm room with
three college-age boys. This led to my being verbally abused,
physically threatened, hazed, and generally mistreated by my
bigger and older roomies. I can't imagine why any school --
even the wingnuts at BoJo -- would think this housing
arrangement was a good idea.
Since I couldn't get along with my roommates, who hazed me
religiously (pun intended) because of our age and size differences,
then naturally there must be something wrong with me. So I was treated by hall monitors, the
dorm supervisor, and various upper classmen as incorrigible, a
mental case, and/or spiritually challenged.
|
I was a victim of
soicumstance! |
I managed to complete 2 years in that
hellhole (pun intended -- hey folks, it's like shooting fish in a
barrel), went on to graduate salutatorian from a college
prep school, and continued my education through college to the
post-graduate level.
Meanwhile, two of my roommates were
expelled for serious violations of the school's
anal-retentive regulations.
At that immature age, I had never
seen Christian people use religion, Bible doctrine, and positions of
authority to threaten, to intimidate, and to terrorize. BoJo
introduced me to the spiritual principles of "griping will not be
tolerated" and "no doubt the problem lies with
you." I
grew up fast.
Thanks to BoJo's oppressive, life-sucking fanaticism, I left there an agnostic and remain one to this day. (See:
Why I Am an Agnostic by Robert Ingersoll)
|
But Don't Take My Word For It
One of the few
things I have in common with Billy Graham...
"Born near Charlotte, North Carolina, in 1918, Billy
Graham first attended Bob Jones College, but he found both the
climate
and Dr. Bob's strict rule intolerable."
--
Christianity Today
Pastor & BoJo
Alumnus Uses the C-Word...
"All the markings of a cult"
--
Brent's Blog
Another Pastor and BoJo Escapee...
"That institutuion rivals anything
out of Mao's China."
--
Bob Vincent
Retired U. S. Senator Ernest Hollings called the school...
"a national
embarrassment"
...and he called its
administrators
"jackasses"
|
|
My Idea of Religion
As told by
Alan Watts
A zen buddhist priest was attending a
dinner party one evening. The guests were all seated on the
floor around a low rectangular table. On the table in front
of each guest was a small hibachi grill filled with hot
coals. The diners were grilling their own servings of meat and
vegetables, which they took from bowls on the table.
Several geishas were serving the
guests. The priest noticed that one of the geishas behaved as
if she might have had some zen training. He decided to test
her and called her over.
The geisha knelt across the table from
the priest and bowed. The priest bowed in return, and said:
"I would like to give you a gift." Using his chopsticks, he
reached into the hibachi, picked up a hot coal, and offered it
to the geisha.
She hesitated for a moment, but rather
than give offense she decided to accept it. She
pulled the sleeves of her kimono down over her hands, grabbed
the coal, ran into the kitchen, and dropped it into a pan of
water. Her hands were not hurt, but the beautiful kimono was ruined.
The geisha went back
to the table and knelt across from the priest. She bowed
to the priest. He bowed in return. Then she said: "I
would also like to give
you a gift ."
"I would be honored," the priest
replied.
She picked up a pair of chopsticks,
removed a hot coal from the priest's grill, and offered it to
him. The priest reached into his robe and took out a
cigarette. As he leaned forward to light his smoke he said,
"Thank you. That is exactly what I wanted." |
|
