Cedars, February 2018

February 2018 3 What are some tangible ways you have experienced God’s love? Ray Tiell Junior Class Chaplain God has made His love most tangible to me in the personal relationships He’s blessed me with.  For most of my life, I’ve been surrounded by parents, friends and pastors who have overflowed with Spirit-produced affection. I’ve watched countless times as God has softened hearts of those around me, and I’ve so often been a recipient of His love being reflected out of those He’s placed along the path of my spiritual journey. When people who love God love me, I try to be aware of the fact that their sentiments towards me are the sentiments of the One who stands as Creator over both of us; in the same way, I pray that those I love are pointed back to the one who loved me even when I hated Him. 1 John 2:10 says that “Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling.” Being surrounded by brothers and sisters who live in the light and count others as more important than themselves has always pointed me back to the glorious, life-altering light of Christ. Just Sayin’ ... Alex Hentschel Why Dating At Cedarville Is The Worst D ear readers: I want you to just accept something that is unequivocally true. Don’t contest it, don’t think about it too much, don’t combat it with arguments. I, the Just Sa- yin’ guru, am here with some wisdom that has been revealed to me that I feel I must impart. Open your minds. Be receptive to this truth, that... ...dating at Cedarville is the worst. Ok. Now that we’ve accepted it, we can do something about it. Let’s talk about why it’s the worst. First, it’s the worst because there’s undue pressure around it. If you take someone to Telemetry, you may as well have signed your marriage contract with this person, because honey, Cedarville dating gossip culture means you’ve been bonded with this person until the day you die. That’s not to mention that at Telemetry you’re in full view of your New Tes- tament professor, your roommate’s best friend’s roommate, and probably someone who knows someone who knows someone who heard once that the person you’re with might be an Arminian. There’s instant judgment. You and the person you were mildly in- terested in and wanted to get to know better over casual coffee are now on three different Snapchat stories. There is no escape. How do we fix this? We realize collectively that sometimes, a coffee date is just a coffee date. Also, a trip to Telemetry with your friend of the opposite gender is not necessarily a coffee date. Cof- fee is good. People are good. Let’s all calm down a bit. Another reason why it’s the worst is that every breakup is pub- lic, and everyone and their mother asks you why it happened, where it happened, who was there, every day for about a month. In the face of this intense pressure where your friends already start making up your wedding hashtag on date #3, we need to remember that we all have freedom to enter into and exit out of relationships. If you have a good reason to break up with someone, go ahead and do it (prayerfully). The intense pressure to stay with that person because you fear you will never meet another person to marry in your life is ... laughable. Here’s some truth, spoken in love...it is not the end of the world if you’re not married with five children at age 22. God will bring the right person, at the right time. Breathe out a bit! There’s also an intense double standard in Cedarville dating. You’re told to wait for only the best and godliest of men or women. But if you’re single, everyone is trying to set you up with someone, all the time, or asking if you’re really “content.” Nobody believes you if you say “yes, I am content where God has me right now, and the boy in your Earth Science class is probably not my Mr. Darcy.” On the other hand, dating at Cedarville is also the worst be- cause there’s nowhere to go. If you are in a relationship and you want to hang out with your significant other on campus, your op- tions are....Stinger’s, where Stinger has been lurking lately (a high- five from a sweaty guy in a bee costume will really set the mood); walking around the lake, where you will pass 87 people you know and have to say hi to; or the dorm lounges, which makes you a Ste- reotypical Dorm Lounge Couple™ (and I don’t even need to explain why that makes you both the worst). If you want to go off campus, your options are the Springfield Dunkin’ or some fast food in Xenia. It’s a good 35 minutes to an hour to find cool spots to go. This isn’t the most fixable problem, other than the suggestion to get a car. Or, perhaps...hint, hint, administration...we could use some better spots on campus. Regardless of howwe deal with this problem, we need to remember that PDA is half of the reason why dating on campus is so weird. We see you, upper BTS couples. We see you. This is some real talk in love — it’s difficult to seek someone in a culture that idealizes marriage above all else. As Christians, we should always only be dating for the purposes of seeking out a potential life partner, but there’s something off about “He asked me out to coffee, but I’m just not sure if he’s The One!” — it puts a lot of pressure and intimacy on a relationship that isn’t strong enough to withstand it yet. We can grow there, and seek that, but only at the right pace. The title of this article is a bit misleading. In fact, I think dat- ing at Cedarville is great. (I don’t have too much room to talk...I’m doing it right now.) My opinion — remember, this is an opinion column! — is that if we collectively realize that some of the pres- sure needs to go away, we can relax a little bit about dating while still prayerfully only seeking out those whom God wills. So this Valentine’s season, remember that God’s in control of your future — single or dating. V ideo OPS Team at CU Learn more about the invisible servants who faithfully set up and tear down for all the events on campus. P hoto 100 Days Party 2018 View a few highlights of the 100 Days Party that celebrated the beginning of the last 100 days before seniors graduate. Websclusives @ ReadCedars.com