Third, students should take ownership of their beliefs. Too often Christian young people spend their pre-college years repeating phrases and doctrines without intellectual conviction. They need to go beyond clichés. It is wonderful if they are knowledgeable of the beliefs of significant adults in their lives, but that does not mean they have considered such beliefs for themselves. It will be much better for them to do this with adults who love them rather than a professor or another student who may be antagonistic toward Christianity. Of course this means that adults should be secure in addressing students' questions.

Some of the more consistent responses students give us (Probe) when we ask about their beliefs are these: "That's what my parents taught me," or "That's what I've always heard," or "I was raised that way," or "That's what my pastor (or youth pastor) said." On the positive side, these are answers that can give us great encouragement. They are indications that students may be listening to adults more than is generally recognized. On the negative side, when students say such things, too often there is no conviction on their part. Either they have never been challenged to articulate what they truly believe, or they have never been allowed to do so. Perhaps they have gotten into the "rut" of talking only with Christians who communicate in Christian "lingo." Such "lingo" is taken for granted and not questioned. When students enter their later high school years they begin to think more abstractly. They also begin to formulate those things that are of greatest importance to them. In addition, they begin to ask legitimate questions about Christianity. If the church doesn't provide a safe environment for those questions, students tend to go to school with the idea that their best response to a question is one they have only heard and not truly believed for themselves.

Paul realized that his young friend Timothy had become convinced of the truth of Christianity. Paul wrote to Timothy, saying

Continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of,knowing from whom you have learned them (II Tim. 3:14, NASB).

From whom did Paul learn? His mother, grandmother, and certainly Paul had taught him many things of God and the Scriptures. Notice, though, that Paul didn't stop with what Timothy learned. He elaborated his comments by inserting the phrase "convinced of." This terminology in the Greek language contains the concept of making something reliable. {13} The things Timothy learned were reliable. Timothy had become convinced personally of the reliability of what he was taught.

The early Christians in the city of Berea were praised for the way they examined the truth.

Now these [the Bereans] were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily, to see whether these things were so (Acts 17:11, NASB).

The term examined "means to sift up and down, make careful and exact research."14 Your student should be allowed to "sift up and down" and "make careful and exact research." Indeed, this verse stresses that those who do this are noble-minded, a beautiful phrase that should be indicative of how Christians use the minds God has given them. It should also be understood that a student who has been encouraged in this process is going to be received well by most professors. A professor who observes an interested student who is willing to "sift" through the material usually will respond to that student in a very positive manner.

A student who has ownership of his beliefs is going to be much better prepared for the questions and doubts that can arise while interacting with contrary ideas that inevitably are found on college campuses.