Yes, ladies and gentlemen, its that time of year again - when Houghton is most frequently portrayed as a christian liberal arts school and least frequently exemplifies it.
Yep, its that last chance that the admissions office has to convince prospectives not to take the blue pill and not attend Houghton before the red pill is shoved down their throats. Similar to being released from the matrix, the real thing is not nearly as pleasant as the fake.
No, the meals are never as enticing, the movies and concerts only happen when other prospective students are on campus and people aren't nearly as accommodating as they are when you firmly clasp that all revealing blue folder in your arms.
No, that presidential signature on your letter from Houghton isn't actually from the president, the chapels aren't always that entertaining and you can certainly bet that the picture in the Houghton brochure that contains several multi-cultural students happily enjoying each others company isn't real. In fact, Houghton is almost as far from that truth as possible, being about 98.5% non-black.
Yes, come to houghton - we have all these things that you'll never see again. As long as we have your money, that's all that matters. Why do we do it? If you ask, you'll get the three year old "because everybody else does it," the answer that has had parents rolling their eyes for decades. Likewise, I'm sure God does the same with us - assuming of course that he's not pulling the Matrix over our eyes with this world we're in.
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I'm not sure what you mean by "God does the same with us". Care to expound, for my sake?
"God does the same with us"
I was implying that he rolls his eyes at our childish excuses the same way that a parent would upon hearing the "everyone else is doing it" from their child
Let's try this again... although I feel like its going to go to Ken for approval and get lost again. :)
One of the most challenging jobs I had while at Houghton was being a tour guide. It wasn't hard intellectually or physically, and it was far from time consuming. Yet, for one to two hours you are only allowed to present the "good side" of Houghton. We are supposed to ignore all flaws, no matter how big they are. Matters got stickier when the parents saw through the glaze and asked the real questions, the ones that require you to make a decision between honesty and presenting the "pseudo-Houghton". My inability to lie brought about some amusing moments. Well that and my friend running up to me during a tour and telling me that God hated him. That was amusing too.
Houghton has some great qualities that other schools don't have. I feel that I can say that after transferring in from another school. But I'm concerned that one of the reasons people transfer out of Houghton is because of the false picture we paint. Yes, we should say the good things, as long as they are true, but we should be honest about our flaws as well. One would think that a complete picture is more honoring to God then a facade that we choose to live behind just to drag people in.
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