I’ve been thinking a lot about what Justin is writing. a LOT.

he posted a comment to one of my entries, simply saying “hi, Tara.” from his name, several of my friends (and I) have accessed his blog and read about his experiences with Taylor University. now, in various groups of which I’m a part, there is a lot of discussion about his situation and his entries.

right off, let me say that I choose to take him at his word. I believe that things happened the way he says they did. I’ve known of, over the course of my years at Taylor, a few others who’ve had similar (in that they were so negative as to be scarring) experiences, so to hear people saying “it’s just one person’s conspiracy theory” rubs me the wrong way. while my Taylor experience was a very, very positive one, I certainly don’t believe that was the case for everyone.

Justin’s right. people, myself included, find it hard to admit that Taylor could do wrong – we never experienced these kinds of things first-hand. we believe that if there was a wrong, the school (and therefore the faculty) would go out of its way to fix things and own up to its mistakes. after all, we were taught BY Taylor that transparency and responsibility were key to developing good, lasting, meaningful relationships.

but… Taylor is a human-made institution. yes, it’s faith-based. yes, it’s Christian. but the institution is only as “Christian” as the people it employs will act. so many churches and Christian organizations are concerned about maintaining an image that may or may not even be real… people don’t buy that Christians are perfect – none of us are, and the more we (“we” individuals and “we” churches & organizations) try to pass ourselves off as perfect, the more everyone else sees only our hypocrisy. Christian living isn’t about covering up past wrongs, but about making them right and moving on to do better in the future.

which is why I hurt for Justin. he was wronged, but more than that, he was dehumanized.