<p>Hovering,</p>
<p>Is this what we are now? Are we a body that contents itself with mediocrity while we avoid personal responsibility for every failure and second place finish by comforting ourselves with a false fatalism that says, “Oh, it must have been God’s will.” Such trite and superficial nonsense dominates western evangelical thinking to the severe handicap and detriment of the persuasiveness and intellectual rigor of the modern american community. Christians are taught that power and money and influence are “bad” and that the pursuit of “higher” goals like art, or worship, or pastoring are superior. The result? The church skews strongly towards a passive, small, and overly feminine culture with a strong tendency to deride and reject the strong, blunt, CEO type personalities that play a vital role in the body of Christ. It also precludes itself to your type of thinking, “Phear thinks everyone should have better toys and phallic symbols because he MUST need to impress us because why else would he pursue money?” Such an attitude is the picture of grace and love - why can’t we all be more like your shining example of Philippians chapter 2?</p>
<p>What if I told you that 50% of my income goes to Samaritans Purse and hundreds of children were prevented from starving because of my financial success? Or what if you found out that I paid for a new church building for my congregation? Or that I used my influence to help elect a pro-life conservative to congress? I am NOT saying I did those things, but maybe some people pursue excellence, and the corresponding money and power and influence, for the right reasons. Perhaps all of us who have been blessed with a college education should be pursuing excellence within the field that God has called us to so our ability to influence our chosen fields for the kingdom of Christ is maximized. With this in mind, my point still stands that in that in choosing to attend a less prestigious university, a student is also choosing to flatten their professional trajectory in many fields. This isn’t true for every field, i.e. teaching children or nursing, but it is true for a great many fields and that fact cannot and should not be ignored. </p>
<p>I will explain again, since there seems to be quite a bit of confusion over the definition of the word “proxy” that in the absence of objectivity, it makes sense to use income as a proxy for success in most industries. It’s not a perfect measure, but it’s hard to think of someone really successful in their field that isn’t well compensated. I’m willing to entertain counterexamples if you have them. Lets even use your example of an artist. If the artist is an important figure influencing her field, her paintings will command a substantial premium. For example, Thomas Kinkaid. </p>
<p>As a final note, I find your insults, i.e. “he must be narcissistic or deluded” to be shortsighted and in poor taste before our Father. If this drivel represents your best efforts at making an argument, then you have succeeded in making the case for a prestigious education far better than I ever could alone. </p>
<p>Berry Berry, </p>
<p>You said, “So in essence because you have not achieved a high salary nor professional success, which you attribute to your attending a Christian University, you seem to believe the same will hold true for everyone else. Sorry, but I clearly disagree.”</p>
<p>I find it interesting how people on message boards, and sadly particularly Christians, have a tendency to suddenly become professional psychics and psychologists. Given such an effort you are, rather predictably, quite wrong. This thread isn’t and shouldn’t be about me, but I will quell your rhetoric none the less. I have achieved a high salary (although, to be clear, most people who do well financially are rewarded on a performance based incentive, such as bonus or stock options, not salary) and a high level of professional success (relative to where I’m at in life). I will also say that I am in private equity and am in the top 2% of earners in this country. I am also still a couple years shy of 30, so there’s a long way to go yet. I have achieved a relatively high level of success despite having gone to a Christian university. But I can tell you that during my interview, I was asked point blank, “Do you regret your choice of undergrad.” The truth is that I don’t, but if I hadn’t the luxury of going to USC and MIT for grad school, an opportunity many students at Christian universities won’t have, the private equity door would have NEVER been opened to me. Christian students deserve to know what they are giving up when choosing to attend a religious university as well as what they are gaining. Finally, whether or not I had achieved this level of success is irrelevant to the validity of my arguments (ad hominem fallacy). </p>
<p>A note for the record: I’m not just complaining about this. I’ve volunteered hundreds of hours and much of my own money working with (and sometimes against) my alma mater to improve the perception of, and the final product offered by, one of the leading universities. Academic rigor, prestige, and a Christian foundation should not be mutually exclusive concepts. However, the harsh reality is that Christian students are giving up a good measure of their work force opportunity in many fields by choosing to attend an evangelical university, and they deserve to go into that choice with eyes open. All the childish attacks against me aren’t going to change that truth and they certainly aren’t going to please God. </p>
<p>If I have caused offense to anyone, I apologize. But I will not apologize for the truth. I’d like to think we are a generation that will do more than simply bury our talents in the sand …</p>