I’m flipping through the Moody Bible Institute Student Life Guide with one hand and the Bible with the other, trying to determine exactly where it is in the Bible that the Lord tells us going to movies and playing cards is a sin.
It doesn’t seem like things have changed much since superevangelist Dwight Moody founded the college in 1886. The mission is to “educate and train individuals to proclaim the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, to promote evangelism and to serve the evangelical Christian church,” according to the undergraduate catalog. Students are selected on the basis of their “spirituality, evangelistic zeal and scholastic ability.” They must have accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior no less than one year prior to admission, they must belong to an evangelical Protestant church, and they must have refrained from the use of alcohol, tobacco, and illegal drugs for at least a year. In return they can get a three-year diploma, a four-year bachelor of arts degree, a five-year bachelor of music, or a four-year bachelor of science in “missionary aviation technology.”
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Chris’s parents sent him to Bible school all his life. You can tell he’s fallen from grace by the way he recites the Bible pledge and the Christian flag pledge. “I pledge allegiance to the Bible, God’s holy word. Something, something, something. Its word will I hide in my heart–and then it’s something else.”
But chaperons aren’t always necessary. The Student Life Guide says good students rat on each other. “Students are encouraged and expected to confront their peers when they witness guidelines and expectations being violated…. Students who are not actively participating in a violation but are associated with students who are will also receive discipline.”
“You can get out of it if you have a job,” said Frank. “So I try to get my job to schedule me during chapel.” But he still has to submit an official chapel-absence-excuse form.
