Seeing Through the Fog by Ed Dobson

Author:Ed Dobson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Ed Dobson, Seeing through the Fog, ALS, Lou Gehrig's disease, hope in God, sickness
Publisher: David C Cook
Published: 2012-08-07T00:00:00+00:00

As I look back on my years of ministry, there are a number of people I know I have offended. Since I am going to die, I want to at least ask their forgiveness. I want to be able to say with Paul, “I am striving to keep my conscience clear before God and man.” So I made a list of the people I know I have offended. Because of my history with Bob Jones University, Liberty University, and the Moral Majority, that list included Bob Jones III, Jerry Falwell, and James Dobson.

First up, Bob Jones University.

After I graduated high school, my dad decided that I should go to a Christian college until I turned eighteen, and then I could go wherever I wanted. The only Christian college my dad had ever heard of was Bob Jones University, so he drove me down to the school to drop me off. I shall never forget his last words: “Now, son, don’t you believe a word they tell you here unless you can prove it from the Bible!” In other words, question everything.

Bob Jones University is a very fundamentalist school. The dress code for guys is strict: a shirt and tie. Hair must be short. It cannot touch the ear or the back of the collar. The dress code for girls is also strict: girls wear dresses to class. And the dress must come down to the middle of the knee. I won’t bore you with all the rules, or at least the rules as they were when I attended the school. I earned both a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree at Bob Jones University. In fact, all of my formal training for ministry came from that school.

But during my last year of graduate studies, I got into some trouble. Actually, it was serious trouble. So serious that the administration voted on whether or not to graduate me.

One day Bob Jones III was preaching in chapel. He was preaching about compromise. He was imploring us never to compromise. At the end of the sermon, he asked everyone to stand who promised never to compromise. So I stood along with thousands of others. Bob Jones then went on to explain what he meant by compromise, and it sounded to me that compromise meant disagreeing with Bob Jones University.

So I sat back down.

I remembered the words of my dad: “Don’t you believe a word they tell you here unless you can prove it from the Bible!” I was really committed to not compromising my belief in the Bible. And I was not committed to agreeing with Bob Jones University on everything they stood for.

The next day I got a notice to see the director of ministerial services. I went to see him, and he was very upset with me. “You are a leader here on campus. Everyone is watching you. And so when you sat down, you set a bad example.” The meeting did not go well. So a few days later I was asked to meet with Bob Jones III and Bob Jones Jr.

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