BYU & Winning Respect

The sports world is all abuzz with the stand Brigham Young University took in dismissing a player from the men's basketball team for a violation of the school honor code this Monday. The student-athlete dismissed was the center, Brandon Davies. The team was ranked in the Top-10 nationally with a 27-2 record. This was probably the greatest basketball team in BYU history. Davies was the best big man on the team and the third-leading scorer. He was critical to the realistic aspirations of a national championship for BYU. Now all those dreams seem dashed as Davies has been suspended indefinitely for a violation of the honor code for an undisclosed reason. However, a swarming media has uncovered that the violation of the honor code was that Davies and his girlfriend engaged in premarital sex. Davies is on record admitting to this and accepting his dismissal as appropriate, while apologizing to his coaches and teammates for this transgression. The revelation of Davies specific “wrong” sparked even more debate.

As you may know there is a large segment of society that view the college years as a time to “sow your wild oats”. Thus, they are aghast at the honor code that BYU maintains and that all students commit to when enrolling there. The BYU honor code calls for students to “live a chaste and virtuous life, to use clean language, to abstain from alcoholic beverages, tobacco, tea, coffee, and substance abuse and to observe dress and grooming standards.” Furthermore, the code calls for honesty, respecting others, participation in church services and encouraging others to keep the honor code. Clearly, some of these standards reflect the particular beliefs of the Mormon Church (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints). Now due to Davies’ dismissal the BYU honor code has come under heavy scrutiny by a populace that finds it prudish and restrictive. Many collegians hear of these standards and say that it forbids some of the very things they were looking forward to. The mocking and laughter at the honor code has provided a sad commentary about the moral slide we have experienced in America over the past 60 years.

Yet at the same time others have expressed profound respect for students who would commit to such an honor code and for a school that would enforce that code at great cost. Articles such as the one by Pat Forde on ESPN.com entitled BYU Puts Principle Over Performance express this sentiment. It seems that even when people do not understand why a university or a person would choose to live by such standards the people respect a stand for what they deem to be right. It seems God knows that people of all ages would do that. Therefore, he led the Apostle Paul to write to the Christ-followers in first-century Thessalonica that they should live “so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders... (1 Thessalonians 4:12).” That’s quite a win!

What kind of daily life was talking about? The verses preceding these in Chapter 4 inform us. They include words like these: “It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality…. For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life (1 Thess. 4:3, 7). Is everything that is in the BYU honor code found in Scripture? Certainly not. The Bible says nothing against facial hair or caffeine, for example. Surely, such codes run the risk of going beyond Scripture and becoming legalistic. Furthermore, keeping an honor code or being moral will not grant one entry into heaven. However, it is a curious thing to see a university trying to have moral standards for students in a culture that appears to be in moral decline.

Let me be clear, I do not agree with the Mormon doctrine that BYU students are exposed to. For example, Mormonism teaches that God the Father is an exalted Man, that Jesus, angels, and human beings were all the literal spirit offspring of our "heavenly Father and Mother," and that the ultimate goal of the Christian life is to become exalted to Godhood ourselves. The Mormon Church has their own "scripture" that includes alleged modern revelations given to Joseph Smith. The Bible teaches that God is not a man (Num. 23:19) but is transcendent, omnipresent Spirit (1 Kings 8:27; Is. 31:3; John 4:24), that there are no other Gods alongside him, and that there will be no Gods formed in the future (Is. 43:10; 44:6-8). In fact, I would ardently disagree with the attempt of the Mormon Church to portray itself as a “Christian” group. In reality, they are a cult and their teachings lead people away from the saving gospel of the Christian Scriptures (see www.4thruth.net).

Nevertheless, that does not limit my respect for the stand BYU has taken in this case involving Brandon Davies. While they may win less basketball games due to their stand, they may win something greater in the long run—respect. I would even pray that the stand BYU has made would awaken believers in Jesus to be encouraged in their own attempts to live a life or purity and holiness. For this incident has shown us that though some may tease or mock a lifestyle of purity, in the end, they respect it.

Respectable only by the grace of Jesus,

Pastor Scott