Asking the Right Questions

How do you find what a Christian institution actually believes and teaches? While its brochures and website may claim that the college is thoroughly Christian and biblical, you have to dig deeper, asking the right questions of the right people.

Christian parents and prospective students have every right to clear answers. So don’t be afraid to ask direct and specific questions about what a student can expect to hear in class.

Some schools may become defensive or vague. But if you are gracious and sincere in your questions, their evasiveness itself should be a warning sign.

Ask Specific Questions

You need to be very specific. Be aware that some Christian teachers have redefined common words, such as “literal” and “worldwide,” to mean things that you may not mean by them. For instance, they may say they believe in a “worldwide Flood,” but they mean it covered “the known region of the world.”

If you get vague answers, the wording below gives some ideas for how you can make your requests more concrete:

1. Did God create the heavens (including the sun, moon, and stars) and the earth (including plants, animals, and Adam and Eve) in six literal 24-hour days?
2. Did God create the heavens and earth as described above only a few thousand years ago (or “around six thousand years ago”)?
3. Was Adam created literally from dust and Eve created literally from Adam’s side (i.e., they were not made from pre-existing living creatures by any evolutionary process)?
4. Did the Flood of Noah’s day cover the entire globe?
5. Are the 66 books of the Bible infallible and inerrant? (Note: Some educators may want you to clarify whether you mean “in the original manuscripts.”)

Ask the Right People

1. Talk to as many people in as many different positions as possible. At larger schools it may be difficult to get beyond the admissions department and the students who give you a campus tour. But be persistent.
2. If possible, try to meet with the president, vice president, or dean of academics. Find out the office hours of professors in various departments and drop in to meet them. In many cases, their emails and phone numbers are listed on the school’s website.
3. Some of the best people to ask are former students or the parents of those students. Many schools have good intentions, but the reality in the classroom is often much different from their hopes.
4. In an effort to help parents in this difficult process, Answers in Genesis is hosting a new website, www.CreationColleges.org, listing schools where the president formally agrees to AiG’s statement of faith. While this list is not exhaustive (and families must weigh many other important issues), it is a starting point. The new book, Already Compromised, includes an entire chapter on this subject.