Student Life dove into sexual purity from a Biblical viewpoint at Wednesday night’s “Unfiltered” series – a study that allows students to discuss difficult topics.
Sam Smith, Dean of Student Life, came up with this series from a conversation he had with Josh Roberts, Dean of Student Development.
“Josh Roberts and I went to a conference with some of our sister-school deans, and we were talking about what our campuses should look like, what our students are struggling with and how we can address those issues,” Smith said. “We realized there was this void on our campus when it came to these types of discussions, and instead of trying to avoid it, we’re going to do our best to address it.”
“Unfiltered” is a four-part series, and each meeting covers a different topic. The topics include: online identity in social media, pornography and faith, sexual purity and substance abuse.
Smith and Roberts decided to purposely not make the series available for chapel credit or a requirement for any Bible classes. They didn’t want students to feel forced in any way to attend the meetings because they knew they were difficult topics to confront.
This week, the topic was sexual purity. Dr. Earl Lavender, a bible professor, led the discussion for the evening. He focused on maintaining a Christ-centered identity in a world focused on self-interest and sexual pleasure.
“[Students need to] believe that God wills for you to flourish,” Lavender said. “He’s not giving you laws to frustrate you and tell you what you can’t do. He’s created you for His glory, and His teachings on appropriate sexual behavior are very specific, and it’s not to inhibit us from joy but to give us true joy.”
One of Smith’s goals is that students will take what they have learned in this series and continue discussing it with each other.
“There’s natural conversations that happen in the residence halls, in the dorm rooms, in the cars or in the classrooms,” Smith said. “Instead of letting culture dictate ‘I believe this about sex’ or ‘I believe this about pornography’ or ‘I believe this about alcohol or drugs,’ let’s take it from a kingdom perspective. Let’s equip our students that have these discussions in their dorm rooms and not just assume they know they have them.”
The final meeting in the series will cover substance abuse next week at 10 p.m. in Stowe Hall in the Swang Business Center.