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WHATEVER
HAPPENED TO OUR BIBLE COLLEGES? PART III -
Philip P. Eapen |
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Author's webpage:
http://philip.eapen.googlepages.com
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It was past bed time. The lights in the
dormitories of a conference center in the Indian capital
had been switched off. Seminarians from various Bible
colleges in the country men and women were in bed after
a long day’s meetings.
Suddenly, the night was rent with cries and howls from
the women’s dormitory. Those who heard it sat up in
their beds. Some rushed off in the direction of the
noise. People could hear sounds of a woman’s cry.
Someone was getting attacked. What had happened?
The warden of the women’s dormitory, a middle aged lady,
was on her rounds to check whether everything was okay.
That’s when she noticed some awkward movements in the
dark. She moved closer to the bed to see what was
happening. Whoever was sleeping on it was fully covered
by a blanket. It however did not seem like a single
person. So, the warden, having smelled something fishy,
pulled off the blanket. And lo and behold, there were
two young women in their birthday suits locked in a
compromising position!
What do you think happened next? Obviously, one would
think that the two exposed women would cringe in shame
and seek to cover their nakedness. But that’s not what
happened. These perverted women were too callous to feel
any shame. Furious that their illicit pleasure was cut
short by prying eyes, these “gay” students from a
leading seminary pounced on the warden. Hearing the
cries of the warden, other women inmates switched on the
lights to see the commotion of a life time. Two naked
seminarians were beating up a warden! This is not an
isolated incident. Similar stories are surfacing in many
seminaries. In a large Pentecostal seminary in Kerala,
several students were involved in homosexual
relationships. Some of them confessed to having indulged
in this perversion. Yet, none of these students were
expelled for want of “evidence.” In another instance,
seminarians here were exchanging pornographic video!
We have heard allegations about sexual immorality and
homosexuality in Catholic convents. Recently, “Amen,” a
book written by Sister Jesme, a senior nun in Kerala,
exposed the immorality, sadism, and mental torture that
young nuns go through in Kerala’s convents. Hearing and
reading all these, we have thought, “That’s what happens
when you enforce celibacy on people.” What do we say
when we encounter homosexuality in evangelical or
Pentecostal seminaries?
India’s seminaries are least prepared to deal with
homosexuality. Seminaries in India are armed to their
teeth with laws, rules and day-to-day instructions aimed
at preventing illicit heterosexual relationships. Men
and women are virtually segregated on most campuses.
Generally, students are not allowed to spend time alone
or pray with members of the opposite sex. Ministry teams
consists of members of the same sex. Heterosexual
courtship is prohibited. If a young man falls in love
with a young woman, they may have to keep their mutual
inclination towards each other under wraps. Those who
are most skilled in this “art” get away with it and get
married after they graduate from college. The less
fortunate among the lovers usually get “caught” by the
authorities. Such lover couples are summarily dismissed
from college. Even if a couple wants to marry, they are
denied permission until they graduate.
On one hand, these young people face explosive sexual
urges or long for a relationship. On the other, there
are denied opportunities to choose the legitimate path
of courtship and marriage. To make matters worse, these
caged birds do not get sufficient pastoral support from
their teachers to help them to master the storms in
their bodies and minds. The “spiritual emphasis” weeks
are clearly failing to make their mark. In such a
difficult situation, is it surprising that some
spiritually weak students turn to homosexuality?
It is high time that our residential Bible schools take
serious note of the chinks in their armour. Probably the
most important flaw in our “Indian” system is the
deliberate attempt to stifle even normal heterosexual
behaviour or incli nations. The best way to promote
godly morality is to affirm normal forms of
hetero-sexuality according to biblical guidelines. By
telling a young man, “Don’t talk to a girl,” “Don’t look
at a girl,” we are not only stifling his normal
heterosexual inclinations but are paving the way for him
to turn to homo sexuality.
We sometimes look down on the West for having mixed
dormitories or hostels in secular colleges and
seminaries. In “mixed-dorms” men and women live in the
same dormitory. We tend to think that such hostels are
home to all vice and immorality. Some of our “male only”
or “women only” hostels are now turning to be far worse
nurseries of sin. It is undeniable that many Western
mixed-dorms or hostels maintain a higher moral standard
than our prudish single gender hostels that breed
homo-sexuality.
I am not saying that we should promote hete-rosexual
immorality to prevent homosexual immorality. We should
affirm our God given heterosexual orientation. We should
consider it natural for a young man or a woman to feel
attracted to a member of the opposite sex. Our
paternalistic attitudes that prohibit even healthy male
female friendships are doing no good neither in
preventing sin nor in promoting godliness.
We must stop treating seminary students as little ‘boys’
and ‘girls.’ We shouldn’t run colleges like primary
schools. Our students are grown up young people who can
and should learn to deal with their sexualities and
relationships. Seminary teachers take on the role of a
‘parent’ and legislate on too many things. “We should
not allow these ‘boys’ and ‘girls’ to become friends.
That can distract them from their studies. Courtship is
certainly a taboo in our Bible college.” What have we
achieved by our medieval legislations? At the end of the
day, those who wish to study will study and those who
wish to while away their time will waste their lives
regardless of how strict or lax our rules might be.
If an 18 year old is indeed a ‘major’ in the eyes of the
law, why do we think that he or she is not entitled to
choosing his/her life-partner? I remember my teacher’s
question in this regard, “If Christian young men and
women who are committed to the gospel are not allowed to
look for suitable life partners in a Bible college,
where else should they turn to?”
With all the strict rules to segregate men and women,
evangelical Bible schools and seminaries ignored or
downplayed the possibility of homosexual relationships
among their students. Probably, we assumed that our
young people would not dare to experiment with “dirty”
homosexuality even if they are treated like Catholic
novices. While in the West, men and women sit together
in churches and meeting hall, we segregated the women
from the men. We built separate hostels for men and
women. Men are not allowed to visit women students in
their hostels, and vice versa. In some Bible schools,
men and women do not eat together in the same dining
hall.
However, in our men’s and women’s hostels, students are
packed in like sardines in ill ventilated rooms. I have
seen hostel rooms where four or five beds are put side
by side with no gap in between the beds. Whatever made
us think that these young men and women who are housed
mostly in slum-like conditions will not explore each
other’s bodies? We take a light view of women students
who exhibit physical closeness on our campuses. As they
walk together hand-in-hand or by putting their hands
around each other’s hips, we dismiss it saying, “Oh,
this is not the West! Our girls can’t be gay.” How
farther can we be from ground realities?
Lack of opportunity to develop healthy friendships with
the opposite sex, lack of private space in same sex
hostels, congested living conditions, poor
infra-structure that leads even to sharing of
bath-rooms, tolerance for physical contact between
people of the same sex ... all these lead to illicit
physical contacts, explorations, and fullblown
homosexual acts. No one is born a homosexual;
homosexuality is the result of choices made by
individuals under conditions that favour it.
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This page
is updated on May 25, 2009 |
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PRAISE THE ALMIGHTY
10 YEARS CELEBRATION
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