i cant blame never going to college on anyone but myself, but (slightly) in my defense, christian colleges were really the only option shown me.... This is so true. I remember what it was like. As a jobless young adult without self-reliant resourcefulness, I felt powerless. "Powerlessness" is the theme of this whole story. It comes about this way: Andy will be constantly encouraged in sermons to back up his life decisions as if they were beamed straight into his head by Perfection Personified, whose inerrant and infallible transmissions are held beyond question. In other words, self-reliance will be discouraged, creating an illusion of powerlessness. "God is my pilot, Jesus is my co-pilot, the Holy Spirit is my navigator and I'm asleep in the back seat." Which is fine if you want to end up in the tool-and-die business out of charity from your wife's relatives, but it does not get you into veterinary medicine.
So the next step in ruining our lives through helplessness is looking for God's will. When a person who prays and studies the bible feels several contradictory mental impulses from it, none of which contradict scripture, how could you even tell which one is truly "God's will"? How do students get this leading and guidance in answer to their prayers which they are supposed to be looking for? Well, it's not difficult to conjecture how they do it, because I can't count how many PCC grads told me the only reason they stayed was that without their support network (which was their parents and their church) they had nowhere else to turn. The life before adult responsibilities (in this I include those adults, falsely so called, who hand over those responsibilities to a god or goddess) is like a twig floating down a river, going with the flow. The flow is the support structure: the collective group. In college I interpreted my circumstances as my direct revelation so I wouldn't have to do the hard work of figuring out the most effective path to my goals. It was a seductive prospect, the opportunity to extend childhood and hold off the time when I would be thrown out of the nest and have to take care of myself. In my senior year it became very clear to me there is no contract between society and young people, "get a diploma and we'll have to give you a job." By then I had invested so much of myself, and especially of other people, that I felt obligated to go on and complete the dead-end track I was on.
Powerlessness
This is so true. I remember what it was like. As a jobless young adult without self-reliant resourcefulness, I felt powerless. "Powerlessness" is the theme of this whole story. It comes about this way: Andy will be constantly encouraged in sermons to back up his life decisions as if they were beamed straight into his head by Perfection Personified, whose inerrant and infallible transmissions are held beyond question. In other words, self-reliance will be discouraged, creating an illusion of powerlessness. "God is my pilot, Jesus is my co-pilot, the Holy Spirit is my navigator and I'm asleep in the back seat." Which is fine if you want to end up in the tool-and-die business out of charity from your wife's relatives, but it does not get you into veterinary medicine.
So the next step in ruining our lives through helplessness is looking for God's will. When a person who prays and studies the bible feels several contradictory mental impulses from it, none of which contradict scripture, how could you even tell which one is truly "God's will"? How do students get this leading and guidance in answer to their prayers which they are supposed to be looking for? Well, it's not difficult to conjecture how they do it, because I can't count how many PCC grads told me the only reason they stayed was that without their support network (which was their parents and their church) they had nowhere else to turn. The life before adult responsibilities (in this I include those adults, falsely so called, who hand over those responsibilities to a god or goddess) is like a twig floating down a river, going with the flow. The flow is the support structure: the collective group. In college I interpreted my circumstances as my direct revelation so I wouldn't have to do the hard work of figuring out the most effective path to my goals. It was a seductive prospect, the opportunity to extend childhood and hold off the time when I would be thrown out of the nest and have to take care of myself. In my senior year it became very clear to me there is no contract between society and young people, "get a diploma and we'll have to give you a job." By then I had invested so much of myself, and especially of other people, that I felt obligated to go on and complete the dead-end track I was on.