The Unofficial Pensacola Christian College Information Site  Link to official PCC Site All contents  ©2001, 2002, The Student Voice	Why PCC is Dangerous By Todd Cotton Original .doc (printable) While no one can truly know the heart of another person (or organization), the following observations are based on my four-year experience at Pensacola Christian College. My intent is to expose the danger of entrusting your relationship with God to anyone but Him and to encourage all Christians to take a serious look at our faith. The Charges PCC replaces God with religion; bases their religious code on the world instead of God's character; prevents spiritual growth by assuming the work of the Holy Spirit in the Christian's life; and values tradition over the truth. People throughout history have confused religion and Christianity. The difference is that religion is more concerned with controlling its followers than with teaching them to have a relationship with God. Religious organizations like PCC seek to dictate a person's life-choices by controlling the mind, body, and spirit. Every aspect of a student's life is governed by a strict set of guidelines used to conform the outward person--through dress, grooming, walk, and talk--to the image of an ideal "Christian" fabricated by the minds of mere men. In their zeal for control, Pensacola's administration has shifted our focus from a relationship with God to useless rules and regulations. If you have any question about PCC's focus, look at the number of posts on the Student Voice Web site that concern rules. Better yet, request a student handbook for your own review. If God only wanted to control us, why did He give us a choice--knowing that we would choose evil? God created us for companionship; He wanted a relationship with us so badly that when we chose fruit over our relationship with Him, He sent His only Son into the world to restore our broken fellowship. The religious leaders of Jesus' time orchestrated Jesus death because He threatened their control over the Jews. We killed God's Son because He didn't keep the rules. Christianity is focused on God and our spiritual well being; religion is focused on man and controlling our outward conformation to a religious code. Ironically, PCC's religious code is based on contemporary society rather than the unchanging character of God. Ready to react instantly to the latest trends in vocabulary, fashion, and music the eyes and ears of Pensacola Christian College are firmly fixed on the World. PCC's moral code is complex and confusing because it is based on a lie. Cited as the foundation of many religious regulations, fundamentalist institutions often misuse the admonition: "...be not conformed to this world..." (Romans 12:2), to justify the continual editing and appending of their religious code needed to maintain control of their followers. Used as a chisel to reshape followers in the image of a religious organization, the administration's interpretation of this verse bankrupts the true meaning of God's call to abandon the World's selfish way of thinking. God's moral code is simple. When asked which of the laws was most important, Jesus responded by saying the entire law could be summed up in two principles--love God more than anything else and love everyone else as much as you love your own life. If Jesus answered correctly (as I'm sure He did), we should be living our lives by asking, "How does this action affect my relationship with God?" How does... ...wearing jeans... ...not wearing a tie until noon... ...wearing Birkenstocks... ...not going to the Campus Church... ...not crawling out from under my covers until AFTER the floor leader finishes room check... ...95% of the rules at PCC... ...affect my relationship with God? Every institution must have reasonable rules to ensure health, safety and order, yet the majority of rules at PCC have nothing to do with making students more Christ-like and everything to do with recasting them in the image of PCC. Their religious code is complex because it morphs and multiplies while reacting to the whims of the World; God's moral code is simple and effects a real life-change because His principles for inner growth are based on His unchanging character. God gave us simple, clear directions for living fulfilled lives in the Bible and He gave us the Holy Spirit to help us discern the truth. Jesus was hard on the religious leaders in His time because they unnecessarily burdened the people with meaningless regulations aimed at outward appearance instead of inward righteousness. Pensacola's preoccupation with legalistic rule-keeping assumes the work of the Holy Spirit by attempting to legislate a person's relationship with God through a strict set of rules. The Bible clearly teaches that God is unimpressed by all our feeble attempts at goodness. Whatever we do is not good enough. The new covenant is not based on our ability to keep rules and regulations, but on the character of God. The new covenant transcends the recording of black marks on a list of dos and don'ts and requires us to do whatever is necessary to maintain a right relationship with God. The Old Testament religious model required a professional holy-man between God and man, but when Jesus arrived, mankind's relationship with God became personal. Because God knew we would need a guide to show us how to maintain our relationship with Him after Jesus returned to heaven, He sent the Holy Spirit. Hebrews teaches that if we believe an action will damage our relationship with God and do it anyway that the action is counted against us as sin--even when it may not be a sin for someone else. The implication is that God is more interested in having a real relationship with us than with how well we compare our lives with the lives of other people. By substituting outward conformance for inward change, PCC seriously damages--and in some cases completely destroys--the faith of young Christians by teaching them in practice that it is what they do that makes them acceptable to God. Pensacola Christian College prevents spiritual growth by measuring man against man using a man-made system of record-keeping; God teaches us to measure our lives against Him and gives us His Word and the Holy Spirit to help us discern the truth. Pensacola is determined to hold steadfastly to long-held traditions and beliefs without regard to relevance or reliability instead of seeking the truth above all else--which should be every Christian's first priority. Blindly following tradition reduces our effectiveness in reaching our society with the truth. "New", "different", and "modern" are not synonyms for "sin." Jesus did not share PCC's penchant for condemning the avant-garde. Valuing truth above tradition, Jesus infuriated religious leaders by healing on the Sabbath, eating with unclean hands, keeping company with sinners, and pointing out that it is not what we do for God but what He did for us that makes us what we are. During His ministry, Jesus met people where they were as they were and told them in a way to which they could relate how He could change their lives. How well do we relate the Living Word to a modern world using centuries-old language and music they do not understand? Why is the 1611 King James Version PCC's only accepted translation of God's word? Is He incapable of preserving His word in the common language of the day as He has for centuries? The New Testament was written in common Greek so that everyone--not just religious scholars--could understand. The Bible is not a piece of 17th Century English literature--it is the contemporary revelation of God's love for us. Why are hymns Pensacola's only acceptable form of worship in the 21st Century? If the songwriters of the Great Revival could use tunes borrowed from bars and taverns to reveal God's truths, why can't we amplify God's message using drums and electric guitars? I have seen hundreds of people accept Jesus when clearly presented with the Gospel during Christian rock concerts. Why do some Christians question Petra's faith because they prefer electric guitars and amplifiers to the piano and organ? The 1611 KJV, the piano, the organ, and even music were all vilified when they first arrived on the religious scene because, generally, people don't accept change easily, but getting too comfortable with our experiences hinders us from following Jesus' example of seeking and reaching people where they are. We should proclaim the greatest message of all time loud--and clear. Unlike PCC's religious leaders, God is not worried by change or upset by our questions because He has seen it all before and He has all the answers; religious leaders are worried because they haven't and they don't. Pensacola Christian College is dangerous to the cause of Christianity because it is only religion masquerading as the truth.