Plantinga Chapter 5: Vocation

This chapter on vocation definitely had some points that I agreed with, and also a couple that I disagreed with. Plantinga talked a lot about how our vocation ties in with our contribution to bringing the kingdom of God. Plantinga challenges us in that we often don't want the kingdom of God, especially when everything seems to be going well for us:"When our earthly kingdoms have had a good year, we don't necessarily long for the kingdom of God to break in. We like our own setup just fine." Plantinga says that "Your kingdom come" does not mean come into existence; rather, it means, "Your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven." As Americans, we often forget how much God's kingdom needs to be brought because we often have everything handed to us on a silver platter. However, as Plantinga reminds us, there are people all over the world crying out for God's kingdom to come. Plantinga says that our vocation should be our contribution to God's kingdom. I really like what Plantinga said about our kingdoms being part of God's. He says, "Successful living depends especially on fitting our small kingdom inside God's big kingdom, always recalling where we got our dominion in the first place." He goes on to describe how we are each like a king or queen in our own small "territory" but God's kingdom is overall. This gives me comfort, because I often get overwhelmed with wanting to bring the kingdom to the entire world. However, if I work at bringing God's kingdom to what I can be able to manage, it will fit inside God's much bigger plan.

Here comes my problem with what Plantinga says. Plantinga says that we need to have a higher education to be prepared to bring God's kingdom, and I agree with that. However, he also talks about the fact that the benefits to a Christian college far outweigh the benefits to a secular college. He says, "But I fear that for most Christian students mainstream higher education simply won't be adequate to help them understand the kingdom of God and their own vocation within it." He also says, "Such students will be busy with a hundred other things and won't take the time or spend the effort to sort out the good and evil in what they encounter on campus and to construct a thoughtful Christian philosophy of life on their own." Now, I have always wanted to go to a Christian college. I think that a Christian education will help to better prepare me for the rest of my life. I know that we have the rest of our lives to encounter people who are not Christians, and so a Christian college is a great preparation for that. However, that is just for me. I definitely think that there are Christians who are not called to go to a Christian college. College is a great time to witness, because although the students are adults, they are still very young and may not be as set in their ways. Also, Christians in a secular school may be challenged in their beliefs and forced to have reasons for believing what they do. Plantinga says that Christians in a secular school "will find it easier to go with the flow...sometimes unaware that they are absorbing views of the world and of life that flatly contradict the gospel." I disagree with this, because I see people going with the flow just as much at Calvin. Many of us have grown up in a Christian home, going to church all our lives, and going to Christian school. We've never been challenged in our faith because it's always been surrounding us. I believe that we too often "go with the flow" in our Christian lives, and sometimes separate our Christian lives with our social lives. I believe that a Christian college is best for me, but I definitely do not think that a Christian education is necessarily best for everyone. God's plan is different for every person.