Urbana 96 Webcast
December 29, p.m. Mullings of an X'er
by Liam Corley
I was up in the rafters when I got floored. Way up on the highest row, I couldn't be any farther from the stage but T.V. Thomas, struggling and straining through his brilliant witness to Jesus' supremacy over all other religions and secular answers, reached up to make a point and brought my heart down with him.
T.V. was being silenced, choked by an unseen force vising down on his voice box. Even three cups of water couldn't bring it out and before over 19,000 petrified eyes he wheezed with tremendous force a slender whisper of speech. "Jesus, do not let yourself be silenced," I prayed. "God, your witness is being choked out all over this world, and especially here, especially now, in our hearts and on this stage."
After the assembly hall joined Dan Harrison in his bold prayer for T.V.'s voice to recover, he continued on to make his points about postmodernism and Christian witness on university campuses. I had been angry when T.V. was being silenced. Now, I was in shock--I was in tears.
I knew I'd been well-liked and respected in my undergrad classes. Now, in graduate school, I've felt a strong drive to command the respect of my peers. But I believe in Jesus. As T.V. spoke, I realized I had been seduced. Silenced. My mind went back to Jesus' words in the parable of the sower: "And others are those sown among the thorns: these are the ones who hear the word, but the cares of the world, and the lure of wealth, and the desire for other things COME IN AND CHOKE THE WORD, and it yields nothing." (Mark 4:1-9)
For all of my personal piety, I have not been a true witness to Jesus on my campus. I don't feel opposed to postmodernism in any way. If the omnipotent God chooses to extend grace to our rebellious race, allowing opposing voices to deride his own, then I am compelled to do the same. But T.V.'s choked, defiant, and hurting whisper showed me there was more to the story than this.
Postmodernism claims to free people by dethroning pretentious hierarchies and affirming the true worth of individuals in a pluralistic world. However, I knew that I had not been affirmed when I walked in its halls. For fear of losing the respect of my peers, I failed to show the source of my true worth, the source of my truest thoughts. Even when appropriate times came, I choked.
When T.V. spoke of confronting one of his Christian-bashing professors, I knew the stronghold had come, the bastion of postmodernism in my heart. "Jesus, with your love and integrity, strength and pride, let me be a witness for you, for us, in the halls and in the faculty offices of my campus."
And the walls came tumbling down.
-Liam Corley
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