Indiana Wesleyan University 1st Annual “Multi-Culturalism” Day
Courageous Conversations Seminars
All About the Bass: Searching for Treble in the Midst of a Pounding Culture War, presented by Dr. Scott Burson:
In recent years, many evangelical Christians have taken up arms against those who are not part of their tribe, whether they be liberals, the LGBT community, or Muslims. This Us vs. Them approach seems to be fueled by the assumption that faithfulness to the righteous standards of the Gospel requires a hostile orientation toward “the Other.” This interactive workshop will challenge this paradigm and explore ways in which Christ-followers can cultivate a more faithful, holistic response to the entire gospel message, a message that emphasizes not only righteousness, but compassion, as well.
Rev. McAtee responds,
Note well the “Us vs. Them” approach implied in this Seminar.
Us = Tribal Members who believe that their assumption the compassionate standard of the Gospel requires a hostile orientation towards “the Other” who putatively wrongly emphasizes the righteousness of God’s character in a culture hostile to Christianity.
Them = Those “others” who believe that compassion and love are defined as speaking the truth, without hostility, about God’s righteous standard to those who are lost and in rebellion against their Creator.
Dr. Burson’s assumption, given the description of the seminar, seems to be that there is no necessary antithesis in a Gospel proclamation. He seems to be hostile to any notion of “other” that Christianity has baked into its very definition. One can’t help but wonder if Dr. Burson might think that the God who hates the wicked every day (Psalm 7:11) is part of the problem with Christianity.
Christianity is certainly compassionate but it does not demonstrate its compassion when it gathers a seminar that seeks to dilute God’s righteous standard.
Indiana Wesleyan University 1st Annual “Multi-Culturalism” Day
Courageous Conversations Seminar
An Intercultural Marriage: A story of God’s love, presented by Dr. Harriet Rojas: Harriet met Ner Rojas when she was teaching in Chiclayo, Peru. Hear more about their love story and God’s love.
Rev. McAtee responds,
The current culture we are living in are slamming kids 24-7 with the virtue and normalcy of Inter-cultural marriage. While certainly inter-cultural marriages can work our children ought to be taught that they are not the norm and create a marriage where many pitfalls exist that do not exist in marriages where there is a shared background and culture. Inter-cultural marriage should be discouraged for those unmarried while still providing community support when such marriages take place.
As a minister who has counseled more inter-cultural troubled marriages than I care to remember I can tell you that inter-cultural marriage, normatively, is not a good idea.
IWU’s “Courageous Conversations” on their first Multicultural Days.
Breaking down the walls, presented by OILE:
This experiential session is designed to unify, empower, and engage participants to break negative socially accepted stereotypes. This activity is meant to question generally accepted beliefs and open a conversation about how we view other people groups and why we feel this way.
___________
Rev. McAtee responds,
One would LOVE to know just exactly what “negative socially accepted stereotypes” we are talking about. What “generally accepted beliefs” are going to be questioned?
In Corporate settings I’ve been a participant in these “experiential sessions,” and typically they are designed consistent with the Delphi technique. Is IWU going to Delphi their students by manipulating a false consensus? Will this really be a conversation or students going to be psychologically herded into a predetermined conclusion?
Finally, note that OILE is going to be asking why people “feel” this way as opposed to why they think the way they think.
IWU’s “Courageous Conversations” on their first Multicultural Days.
Supporting Even When We Don’t Understand, presented by Jackie Stancil, Nicole Stancil, and Risha Ruono:
Students who struggle with mental illness, survivors of sexual assault, or those with questions about their sexuality or gender often bring their struggles to friends before they speak to teachers, doctors, or counselors. What can we say in support without damaging relationships? This workshop offers ideas about how to walk brothers and sisters through painful struggles.
____________
Rev. McAtee responds,
First not all the items mentioned in the description belong in the same category. Survivors of sexual assault or those with genuine mental illness are not necessarily struggling against sin as those who are having questions about their sexuality or gender. These category differences need to be kept in mind when approaching this subject. If the category distinctions are not kept in mind then one runs the danger of not naming the potential sin in the matter sexual and gender confusion.
Naturally, the Christian desires to be compassionate to those who are struggling with what the Scripture calls “Besetting sins.” However, we must first keep in mind that compassion begins by not allowing the person struggling to coddle or excuse their sin. To not challenge the person struggling, even in the context of coming alongside to minister, would be an act of hateful aggression against the one who struggles. There is zero compassion in enabling the sinner in their sin. Sodomy and LGBQT’ism must be named as sin even as we seek to come alongside those who are struggling with these questions.
In terms of damaging relationships, the main relationship we need to keep in mind to avoid doing damage to is our relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. If we coddle people in their sin … if we enable them in their sin … if we become codependent in their sins we dishonor the Lord Jesus Christ and damage His relationship with us and our relationship with Him.
This workshop concerns me greatly because it has all the potential of winking at the sin of LGBQT’ism.
IWU Courageous Conversations
Authentic Relationships: Why Empathy Matters, presented by Laura Bronsink:
Showing empathy is a key component to building meaningful relationships. It is the only way that we can fully accept others.
Challenging the dominant culture of individualism, this session will cover basic principles of empathy and strategies for building it.
—————-
Rev. McAtee responds,
Who will be empathetic to those who are lifting the prophetic warning concerning the heresy that is Multiculturalism and Cultural Marxism? Who wants to have meaningful relationships with the Prophetic voice that says IWU Multiculturalism days are days of anti-Christ and so death?
Secondly, IWU’s Multiculturalism days SCREAMS that the culture of individualism is dead at IWU. What we are seeing is University-wide group think. IWU challenging the dominant culture of Individualism is like the reporter who went to a Goth bar and asked the Goth patrons why they were into Goth, only to be told, as surrounded by a sea of Goth, that they “just wanted to be different.”
There is no culture of individualism at IWU and there is no dominant culture of individualism in the West and any lecture warning about the dangers of a dominant culture of Individualism is pursued to the end of making sure no individualism survives the group think.
I’m hoping Laura can empathize with me on this.
IWU Day of Courageous Conversation Session Descriptions
Bridging the Gap:
Facing challenges of loving beyond the familiar, presented by Chris Heuertz and Heather Roberson, LMHC: Often our social world can be limited to those who are similar to us in ethnicity, socioeconomic status, religion, and views. In this interactive session we will learn how to challenge our false centers, avoiding the pitfalls of tokenism and one-up helping relationships, in order to create authentic friendships and community at the margins.
____________
Bret responds,
How about the false centers of those running this seminar? They have a false center that insists that one can’t have a true center unless others have the same center they have. Their social world is limited to those who agree with them that social worlds should be diverse. Are they going to be friends with me when I tell them that they are not as diverse friendly as they would like to think they are? If they were really diverse friendly they’d give me a hug every time I told them that these ideas are self-contradictory. Are they going to embrace when I skewer their multiculturalist religious faith tenets? Will I be part of Chris and Heather’s “community at the margins?”
IWU Day of Courageous Conversation Session Descriptions
Loving Refugees;
Student led, facilitated by Dr. Bart Bruehler: This event will seek to raise awareness of the global refugee crisis through stories from IWU students, Gabriella Garver (alum), Ryan Smith, and Whitney Renfroe, who have helped with refugee care in Pennsylvania, Greece, and other locations.
————
Rev. Bret McAtee responds,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PzT8vEvYPg
Will awareness be raised by handing out this booklet to each attending student?
https://www.amazon.com/Refugee-Resettlemen…/…/ref=sr_1_sc_1…
Mrs. Corcoran reveals that refugeeism to the States has an agenda that is committed to overturn historic and traditional American culture.
Also, will anyone go into the fact that this global refugee crisis has been intentionally created in order to salt historically White Anglo-Saxon Christian Nations with people of a different ethnic and religious origin to the end of creating a New World Order global arrangement?
