4A
Tuesday, September 13, 1994
OPINION
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
COLUMNIST
Faith, not fear, should be a reason to convert.
DAVID ZIMMERMAN History, Bible show that Christian zealots predicting exact date of doomsday have missed the point.
What were you doing last Tuesday?
Going to classes? Going to work?
Having a couple of beers at The Crossing? Did you know that last Tuesday was supposed to be the beginning of the end of the world?
Christian radio talk show host Harold Camping figured out that the beginning of the end would start last Tuesday. From what he thinks is the fulfillment of biblical end of time prophecies and a strange form of numerology based upon the Bible, Camping also predicts that Jesus will return the 27th of this month.
Now it is basic, orthodox Christian doctrine that Jesus will return some time in the future. Only a few fringe groups have ever taken a stand to specific dates. Among these are William
Miller, who predicted the end to come in 1843 and from whom came the Seventh-day Adventist Church. From the Adventists came the Branch Davidian sect of popular fame.
Joseph Smith, the founder of the Mormon religion, also decided the world would end in 1890. Unfortunately for him, his world was violently ended in 1844, and ours is still going on.
I even remember a group passing out fliers my sophomore year claiming the end to come Sept. 28, 1992.
With all these missed dates, it is hard to take Camping's seriously — I was extremely cynical the first time I heard about this. However, I find Camping's predictions erred on more than my cynical attitude.
The Bible is clear that no one will know when the end will come. It continuously describes the end of time as coming "like a thief in the night." Jesus even says, "No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, not the Son, but only the Father" (Matthew 24:36).
This idea scares a lot of people. Some of the people who believe Camping have quit their jobs to spread the message. They hope to get even a few more people to repeat and acknowledge Jesus as their Lord and savior before the end comes. This also scares a few people who aren't Christians to make hasty conversions in fear of their own judgment.
I have found some Christians who don't agree with Camping's predictions but say this rush for converts is good.
They seem to think the ends justify the means — that, even though Camping will be wrong, it is good that people are turning their lives around to Jesus.
I disagree. This is falling into one of the major criticisms of Christianity (and religion in general) — that all we are doing is offering some metaphysical "fire insurance." These critics say the Christian message is only about fear of hell and punishment.
However, this is not what Christianity is all about. Christianity preaches a message of a God who loves the whole world. 1 John 4:9, 10 says, "This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into
the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins."
If you find the prospect of judgment for your sins in a couple of weeks frightening, and are considering repentance, ask yourself, "Would I be doing the same thing if I didn't know when the world was going to end?" Come to Jesus from a genuine faith that he paid the penalty for your sins, not the fear of what would happen if he didn't.
VIEWPOINT
David Zimmerman is a Wichita sonor In communications studies.
Enrollment advising solution involves student volunteers
Everyone has horror stories about enrollment. But students in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences have the added difficulty
of inconsistent, often inadequate, advising.
An advising committee has been formed to evaluate the situation and
should be established for two weeks each semester during the enrollment period to help younger students decide which classes to take and why.
PEER ADVISING
A volunteer corps of students would guide new students through enrollment when the inconsistent system now in place fails.
should make its initial report by next spring. Meanwhile, students continue to struggle.
The committee could be formed by Student Senate with the help of the advising support center. It will be cheap and easy to
A volunteer squad of juniors and seniors
create, and most important, it will fill — at least temporarily—the gap in advising that exists for students when enrollment time comes around.
JACK LERNER FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD.
Alternatives to jail time could alleviate crowding
The recent banishment of two teens to an uninhabited Alaskan island should not be dismissed as an arcane example of tribal justice.
It should be seen as an alternative to today's overcrowded prisons.
victs to prison for minor offenses. Prison is all-too often the place where the cycle of crime is perpetuated, and these minor offenders become hard-
CRIME AND PUNISHMENT
Alternatives to imprisonment should
Justice is better served by teaching discipline and skills to minor offenders through alternative punishment.
be seriously considered. Sending juveniles to juvenile hall where the point of their confinement is often lost is just as improper as sending con-
W or k camps, where minor offenders can be put to work on building projects beneficial to the community, or boot camps, where discipline is stressed, should be considered by the federal and state governments.
MICHAEL PAUL FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD.
KANSAN STAFF
STEPHEN MARTINO Editor
CHRISTOPH FUHRMANS Managing editor
JEN CARR Business manager
TOM EBLEN General manager, news adviser
CAMERON DEATH Retail sales manager
JEANNE HINES Sales and marketing adviser
CATHERINE ELLSWORTH Systems coordinator
News ... Sara Bannett
Editorial ... Donella Heene
Campus ... Mark Martin
Sports ... Brian James
Photo ... Daron Bennett
Mellassie Lecey
Features ... Tread Carl
Planning Editor ... Susan White
Design ... Noah Musser
Assistant to the editor ... Robbie Johnson
Editors
Business Staff
Campus mgr ... Todd Winters
Regional mgr ... Laura Guth
National mgr ... Mark Mastro
Coop mgr ... Emily Gibson
Special Sections mgr ... Jen Perrier
Production mgrs ... Holly Boren
Regan Overy
Marketing director ... Alan Stiglic
Creative director ... John Carlton
Classified mgr ... Heather Nahuaus
Letters should be typed, double-spaced and fewer than 200 words. They must include the writer's signature, name, address and telephone number. Writers affiliated with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill may also use this format.
Guest columns should be typed, double-spaced and fewer than 700 words. The writer will be photographed.
The Kansan reserves the right to reject or edit letters, guest columns and cartoons. They can be mailed or brought to the Kansan newsroom. 111 Stauffer-Flint Hall.
CANDIDATES FOR GOVERNOR RACE TO FILL JOAN FINNEY'S SHOES
Matt Hood / KANSAN
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Slattery is only as good as his word
Congressman Jim Slattery is always trying to prove that he is what every voter wants. He demonstrated this again Sept. 1 during his campus visit.
However, Slattery has powerful connections in Washington. He can tell the people of Kansas the exact code to the men's restroom on the second floor of the Capitol. With his terms in Congress, he has also acquired the knowledge that, to get a bill from committee onto the floor and then vote against it. So the people of Kansas can expect a governor who backs a bill and then vetoes the bill once it gets to his desk.
On one side Slattery is a poor lost soul. He only wants to help the people of Kansas. If that means he has to become governor, then so be it. Although, he really can't afford to run. Thank God he was part of a Congress that voted itself several raises. Otherwise, he would have to depend solely on the political action committees and out-of-town businesses that have consistently funded his campaigns.
Deborah Thompson
Wichita sophomore
Slattery can indeed be what every voter wants. After all, he is a man of his word. Too bad that word is always changing.
Letters to the Editor may be submitted to the Kansan newsroom, 111 Staffer-Flint Hall.
Liberal arts meant to teach learning
The September 7th editorial, "Universities need to cater programs to today's grad," contains the assumption that the University is some sort of vocational school.
To propose the elimination of all course requirements "not designed to promote professional competence" is to argue for the narrowest kind of ignorance.
Surely the purpose of education isn't just to prepare one for a job but to prepare one for life.
Given the changing demands of the job market, students should welcome the opportunity to enhance their lifelong learning capacities and dismiss the notion that time-bound, job specific training is in anyway higher learning that prepares them for a productive life.
A narrow vocational education may help one get a job, but it won't help one advance to a new job or adapt to changing technologies and a changing world.
Can a French teacher — faced with genetic engineering, AIDS, etc. really afford to be ignorant of biology,
as the Kansan suggests?
Undergraduate general education requirements are designed to provide students with intellectual skills and habits of mind that will enable them to continue to learn as they come to make choices among the myriad possibilities of the University curriculum and beyond.
The editorial assumes that all students know from the beginning precisely what they want to do and should become immediate specialists.
A university is a place where minds are permitted and encouraged to change.
James Mukeskens
Dean, Liberal Arts and Sciences
Peter J. Casagrande Associate Dean, Humanities
Beverly Davenport Sypher Associate Dean, Social Sciences
J. Michael Young Associate Dean/Director, K.U Honors Program
James B. Carothers Associate Dean, Humanities
Sally Frost-Mason Associate Dean, Natural Sciences and Mathematics
COLUMNIST
ERIKA RASMUSSON
This week, while all of you are sweating through a full week of classes, I'll be spending four days in sunny Tennessee.
Campus clubs can provide fun and experience
I'm not going to visit Graceland, the Grand Ole Orpy or to listen to country music. It's not even a vacation, really.
The Society of Professional Journalists is the organization, and Nashville is the site of this year's national convention. Instead of learning about my major in classes, this week I'll be learning about it from professionals and famous journalists from all across the country.
I'm going to Nashville because I have the opportunity through an organization I'm involved with at KU.
I think it will be a great opportunity for me to learn about the business of journalism and bring that information back to the club so those who didn't go can benefit from the experience as well. Of course, I think it will be fun, too.
Regardless of what you are looking for in a student organization, it makes sense to check them out. You are bound to find at least one that interests you, and once involved, the opportunities are endless.
Aside from being fun and informative, it brings up an important point, and that is the fact that I wouldn't be going on this trip if I hadn't decided to get involved in the group.
According to KU Information, there are more than 300 student organizations at KU, from political and religious, to academic and social. Whether your interest is in legalizing marjuana, working on Rock Chalk Revue or reading Dr. Seuss books, there is an organization for you on this campus.
You might even get to go to Nashville.
Getting involved can be more rewarding than you think. Besides the obvious, such as meeting great people, having fun and getting experience, being active in a campus group looks good on a resume. It shows future employers that you did more with your four or five years in college than struggle through Western Civilization and drink a lot of beer.
And if you join an organization designed to help you with your major, such as the Pre Med club or the KU Advertising club, you can get extremely valuable information that might not be available in your classes.
Erika Rasmussen is a Minnetonka, Minn., senior in magazine journalism.
HUBIE
HERE IN THE SECOND CIRCLE OF HEIL RESIDES THE 22-YEAR-OLD MAN-CHILD, SHAQUILLE O'NEAL.
"I know I got skillz"
THE "SHAR VEGER-" RAP
ALBUM - WITH SONG
TITLES LIKE,
"I'm outstanding" —and—
"I hate to brag"
FOR HAVING A NAME THAT
BEGS ANNOUNCERS AND
WRITERS TO SAY TRUGS
HIKE "JOUN THE SHAQ"
"FUTURE SHAQ," OR
"SHAQ ATTACK."
By Greg Hardin
AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST,
THOSE SIDEBURNS !!!
SPORTS ILLUSTRATED APR2594