Pensacola Christian ‘Cult’: inside the college shaping America’s private school curriculum

DrHuk&Duck said:
www.lonestarlive.com

Pensacola Christian ‘Cult’: inside the college shaping America’s private school curriculum

A private Florida college forbids its students from listening to music, staying awake past 11 p.m., or being alone with the opposite sex — and their textbook company educates "over 1 million students every year."
www.lonestarlive.com www.lonestarlive.com
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Such an evil, insidious cult...
My school bus company tells its employees that we are not allowed to wear open toed shoes or sandals. The kicker is, we're not even allowed to wear certain kinds of advertising on our shirts, half shirts or tank tops.
Maybe someone can label STA an unfair cult-like work place.
PCC is a private Christian college and nobody is forced to go there or stay there once they are there.
 
Starlifter said:
PCC is a private Christian college and nobody is forced to go there or stay there once they are there.
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Whether someone is forced to go there or to stay there--or, as people used to say on this forum, they agreed to the rules--is beside the point of whether the rules are good or biblical. That someone willingly submits to rules doesn't make those rules immune to critique.
 
A lot of kids who end up at schools like PCC don’t really have a choice. I grew up in that environment and know many kids who had to submit to the “my way or the highway” mentality. Sure, at 18 a kid is legally an adult, but when you don’t have a job or a house or maybe even a car, you don’t really have a choice in some situations. I understand the background because I lived it.
 
We used Abeka materials when we homeschooled. Transferred our kids to the public school for high school. They were appalled by what they were being presented in their English classes. Today colleges are providing remedial education for incoming freshmen who are essentially illiterate.
 
Ransom said:
Whether someone is forced to go there or to stay there--or, as people used to say on this forum, they agreed to the rules--is beside the point of whether the rules are good or biblical. That someone willingly submits to rules doesn't make those rules immune to critique.
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True...but the fact that they have stricter rules doesn't make them a cult.
 
I guess I have come full circle here! I used to be all over stuff like this but the fact of the matter is, you signed up for it and you know what you got yourself into! I just skimmed over the article (or whatever you call it) and it appears to be writen by a bitter person who likely walked away from her "faith" so, yes, another victim of being "indoctrinated" and "Playing a game" only to find out that it was all a lie!

Too bad the faculty and staff at PCC do not realize that "externalism" only whitewashes a sepulchure. Christ transforms a person from the inside out and when he does, you would be amazed at how much of the "carnality" goes away without imposing a bunch of rules!
 
Starlifter said:
True...but the fact that they have stricter rules doesn't make them a cult.
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I don’t believe PCC is a “cult.” I do, however, believe they have unbiblical indoctrination techniques that are used, similar to what other fundamentalist colleges have done in the past such as HAC and BJU.
 
Baptist Renegade said:
I guess I have come full circle here! I used to be all over stuff like this but the fact of the matter is, you signed up for it and you know what you got yourself into! I just skimmed over the article (or whatever you call it) and it appears to be writen by a bitter person who likely walked away from her "faith" so, yes, another victim of being "indoctrinated" and "Playing a game" only to find out that it was all a lie!
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Again, a lot of kids didn’t have a choice. It’s easy to see the generational divide when it comes to this topic on this forum.
 
Baptist Renegade said:
I used to be all over stuff like this but the fact of the matter is, you signed up for it and you know what you got yourself into!
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You don't, always.

There was talk other previous FFF of how HAC didn't give you the student handbook until you signed up.

Or a school might change its rules mid-stream, after you've signed.

Either way, it's no longer what you signed up for, and you may or may not have recourse to criticize them.
 
Baptist Renegade said:
I guess I have come full circle here! I used to be all over stuff like this but the fact of the matter is, you signed up for it and you know what you got yourself into! I just skimmed over the article (or whatever you call it) and it appears to be writen by a bitter person who likely walked away from her "faith" so, yes, another victim of being "indoctrinated" and "Playing a game" only to find out that it was all a lie!

Too bad the faculty and staff at PCC do not realize that "externalism" only whitewashes a sepulchure. Christ transforms a person from the inside out and when he does, you would be amazed at how much of the "carnality" goes away without imposing a bunch of rules!
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I have come to the realization that not every rule that we were exposed to at college needed to apply to the rest of my life.
I have also come to the understanding that at college, there are young people with hormones raging who are living together in very close proximity, 24 hours out of the day.
I have gone to two secular colleges, the University of Pittsburgh, and Burlington Community College in Burlington NJ, to help me get my Associates Degree and I have gone to a Fundamental Christian College, Hyles Anderson College.
The secular colleges really don't care about your morality, we did whatever we wanted with whomever we wanted, drank what we wanted, skipped class when we wanted, dressed how we wanted, smoked what we wanted, etc.
It's only by the grace of God that I survived my year at Pitt.
The leadership of the Conservative Christian college believes, and I believe correctly, that they have a responsibility as Christian educators and mentors, to assure that as best as possible to foster an atmosphere that insures purity and Christian character.
And that is their 'liberty' to do so.
It is my liberty to say whether I want to be exposed to that or not.
We ALL have choices, even those who said that they didn't have a choice.
You could have refused to go and made your own way and gone to the school of your own choice.
You could have gone to the military like I did and receive technical training and some money to help with college.
If your parents refused to help you go to college unless you went to a "Christian college of their choice", you could have moved out of the house and gone to a community college.
Please don't say you don't have a choice...
We all have choices...

On another note, it's interesting that I had only been saved for 3.5 years when I went to Bible College.
When I got saved, I was a good time rock and roll, drinking, cussing fornicator and at times 'hell raiser.'
I learned the importance of devotion to Christ, godliness and separation while in my local church after I got saved.
But my involvement in the world was not all that far behind when I first went to Bible college.
I'm so thankful for the boundaries that I had while I was there.
Probably kept me from a lot of heartache.
 
Here is a song produced some years ago by some mischievious, unspiritual PCC students who were clearly not happy campers- a parody of "Your Body Is A Wonderland" by John Mayer:

"Your Body Is A No No Land"



We've got nothing to do at all.

Let's go to the social hall

where we can sit and stare

for hours on end up there.

We'll do devotions for a minute or two.

The rest of the time I'm going to stare

at you

and to our own demise. I can't touch

your thighs.

If you want to hold hands, you'll have

to wait until we get home for a real

date. The physical contact is reserved

just for mates. Dang, it's going to be a

while.

Your body is a no no land. I can't use my

hands. Your body is a no no land.

Something about the way your skirt hugs

your feet. That new pair of hose is

looking pretty sweet.

If you want to go off campus, we'll have

to get a shap. [chaperone]. Well, personally,

I think that's a bunch of crap. Yeah.

Okay. If you want

hold hands, you'll have to wait until we

get home

for real date. Physical contact

reserve just mates. Dang, it's gonna be

a while. Your body is a no no land.

Your body is a no no land. I can't use my

hands. Your body is a no no land.

Your body is a no no land. I can't use

my hands. Your body is a no no land.

Your body is a no no land. I can't use

my hands. Your body is no less.
 
subllibrm said:
We used Abeka materials when we homeschooled. Transferred our kids to the public school for high school. They were appalled by what they were being presented in their English classes. Today colleges are providing remedial education for incoming freshmen who are essentially illiterate.
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There are high performing and low performing public schools, same with private schools and charter schools. In Florida, we have underperforming charter schools that get shut down on a yearly basis. The private schools that charge big tuition are normally the crème de la crème, churning out kids with the highest SAT/ACT scores, while often the little church affiliated schools (particularly the IFB sort), are taught by teachers with unaccredited degrees who aren’t very qualified in their subject areas, and those kids are usually exempt from standardized testing to see how they’re truly performing. Public schools are often zip code based—an affluent community school will produce students who are somewhat competitive with the good private schools, while the poor neighborhoods will consistently be fighting for a decent school grade of a D or C.

These are all easily accessible facts that are published by your local and state governments. Assuming your state has a school grading system, just search how the schools are performing based on neighborhood and you’ll very likely see it’s socioeconomic dependent.
 
PCC parody of "Yellow Submarine" by the Beatles: "We All Read From the KJV"




well Dr Horton had a plan to start a

school to take a stand And he went down

in

history taking a stand for

KJV We all read from the KJV, the KJV, the KJV



We all read from the

KJV The KJV the KJV Well

BJU said that ain't right And so they

called us

ruckmanites And so we hire Dell Johnson

Then the war had then

begun cuz we sent out all the videos The

videos the videos

We sent out all the videos and stepped

on everybody's toes The FBF they all

concurred cuz they're all puppets for Dr

Bob III And they all said in unison that

PCC would duck and

run But we all stood on the KJV the KJV

the KJV

We all stood on the g The g
 
Starlifter said:
I have come to the realization that not every rule that we were exposed to at college needed to apply to the rest of my life.
I have also come to the understanding that at college, there are young people with hormones raging who are living together in very close proximity, 24 hours out of the day.
I have gone to two secular colleges, the University of Pittsburgh, and Burlington Community College in Burlington NJ, to help me get my Associates Degree and I have gone to a Fundamental Christian College, Hyles Anderson College.
The secular colleges really don't care about your morality, we did whatever we wanted with whomever we wanted, drank what we wanted, skipped class when we wanted, dressed how we wanted, smoked what we wanted, etc.
It's only by the grace of God that I survived my year at Pitt.
The leadership of the Conservative Christian college believes, and I believe correctly, that they have a responsibility as Christian educators and mentors, to assure that as best as possible to foster an atmosphere that insures purity and Christian character.
And that is their 'liberty' to do so.
It is my liberty to say whether I want to be exposed to that or not.
We ALL have choices, even those who said that they didn't have a choice.
You could have refused to go and made your own way and gone to the school of your own choice.
You could have gone to the military like I did and receive technical training and some money to help with college.
If your parents refused to help you go to college unless you went to a "Christian college of their choice", you could have moved out of the house and gone to a community college.
Please don't say you don't have a choice...
We all have choices...

On another note, it's interesting that I had only been saved for 3.5 years when I went to Bible College.
When I got saved, I was a good time rock and roll, drinking, cussing fornicator and at times 'hell raiser.'
I learned the importance of devotion to Christ, godliness and separation while in my local church after I got saved.
But my involvement in the world was not all that far behind when I first went to Bible college.
I'm so thankful for the boundaries that I had while I was there.
Probably kept me from a lot of heartache.
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I agree with pretty much everything you said, but why does it have to be one extreme or the other? I greatly prefer a conservative Christian college like Liberty University that still has high expectations of student behavior, but without the craziness of PCC or HAC. The added bonus is they’re actually accredited and the degree is worth something. The unfortunate part about colleges like Liberty University is the cost is about triple that of PCC or HAC, but again, it’s because the degree is meaningful and respected.
 
The ballad of the Pensacola Hillbillies (sorry, lyrics only, no audio or video]:

There’s some people down south say if you want to get to heaven
Gotta get you a Bible that’s free of all the leaven
Gotta throw away the NIV, the NASB too
The Textus Receptus is the one to see you through

King James, that is. 1611.

Now some liberals from Bob Jones and Lansdale too
Maranatha, Detroit are compromisin’ schools
They fell headlong into textual criticism
But a school down yonder is causin’ quite a schism

Pensacola, that is. Southern Dell.

Now when you come to Pensacola leave your Hebrew at the door
If you quote from the Greek we will make you swab the floor
And about church history we’ve rewritten all the past
It’s in the latest Beka Books, we’ve got a lot of cash

And I mean a lot of cash!

So Dr. Dell and Mrs. Horton of this mindless Inquisition
Are purging fundamentalists of textual criticism
But underneath the rhetoric, the simple proposition:
Pensacola is the only fundamental institution.

Y’all come here now! We’re the only one that’s left!
 
DrHuk&Duck said:
I agree with pretty much everything you said, but why does it have to be one extreme or the other? I greatly prefer a conservative Christian college like Liberty University that still has high expectations of student behavior, but without the craziness of PCC or HAC. The added bonus is they’re actually accredited and the degree is worth something. The unfortunate part about colleges like Liberty University is the cost is about triple that of PCC or HAC, but again, it’s because the degree is meaningful and respected.
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Is there a way to be accredited without having to submit to the state's credentials and stay true to one's faith?
Just asking.
 
Starlifter said:
Is there a way to be accredited without having to submit to the state's credentials and stay true to one's faith?
Just asking.
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Well, I gave the example of Liberty University. Cedarville University has good, regional accreditation, as is Maranatha Baptist University and nowadays even Bob Jones University. All have historically been affiliated with conservative Baptists, even the IFBs. However, do a Google search and compare the tuition of those universities with that of HAC and PCC and then you’ll see what I’m talking about. I fully understand it because I’m living it with a kid about to go to college in a couple years.
 
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subllibrm said:
We used Abeka materials when we homeschooled.
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We used Abeka as well. Generally, a good curriculum, although I took exception to some lessons such as the one that presented Charles Finney as a hero of the faith.
 
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