After a full semester of Chapel in the fall, first-year and sophomore students have become accustomed to the routine Core Chapel sessions on Wednesday mornings in Firestone Fieldhouse. However, the community was shocked and confused when, during the first Core Chapel of spring semester Jan. 10, Jake Olson took to the stage to speak what he called “the truth.”
After a 40-minute talk on goodness from Christopher Collins, a visiting professor of Organizational Behavior, Olson walked on stage and grabbed the microphone. He began to talk about his own beliefs regarding goodness. Olson said he disagreed with Collins’ claim that man can be good, because God is good, and man is not. Olson said this belief is “the only message you can truly give on goodness.”
“I’ve gotten more frustrated with the [religious] teaching at Pepperdine,” Olson said. “I had been frustrated with the teaching because I don’t think it’s biblical — a lot of the things they’ve said. Often, they’ll take Scripture and take it out of context.”
The Chapel Office’s main topics for the semester are truth, love, goodness and beauty, according to the Seaver College website. Collins said the Chapel office asked him to speak on the subject of goodness in relation to their four themes.
“I was thinking of it in multiple ways — just the ways in which we understand God to be good on a profoundly divine level that goes way beyond humanity but then also how God’s goodness can inspire us to be good to each other,” Collins said.
Olson said he was growing increasingly frustrated with Collins’ talk, as he felt like it did not align with his interpretation of the Word. Olson pointed to James 3:1 to support his frustration as it states those “who teach will be judged more strictly.”
“When I was at this Core Chapel, I was praying for the man [Collins] because I didn’t feel like he was handling God’s word rightly,” Olson said. “I was praying for him, and then, the thought kind of occurred to me to do something.”
Olson said his final point of disagreement was when Collins said to the crowd, “You are good.” He saw this as a direct disrespect to Jesus Christ and an undermining of the Christian faith.
“Him coming into the world was not a testament to how good we are,” Olson said. “It’s a testament to how sinful we are and how we need a savior because we are not good at all.”
There are Scripture verses Olson said he interprets to signify man is “not good” such as Mark 10 and Romans 3, which both say “none is good.”
“So, to say these things — man is good under the pretense of Scripture and goodness — is to completely pervert the entire truth of Christianity,” Olson said. “That’s why I went up there. I simply wanted to clear up that reality because that is just so fundamental.”
Many students took to Fizz to express their feelings regarding the disruption.
While many were asking questions about whether Olson’s act was planned or not, Olson said this act was done “completely by God’s grace” and was unplanned.
Luben and Collins said this move took everyone “by surprise.”
Much of the other backlash on Fizz had to do with Olson’s timing. Collins’ talk included his memories as a professor about Peyton Stewart, one of the four Pepperdine seniors who lost their lives on PCH.
“I apologize for that,” Olson said. “I’m sorry that that was portrayed, but that was not at all my intention. My simple intention was to preach the only hope of good news.”
Olson said his intent was not to disrespect the girls’ memory.
“My whole intention was actually to give people hope that death loses its sting when you place your faith in Him,” Olson said. “I by no means want to bring any disrespect to them and the tragedy that happened.”
Zac Luben, director of Chapel, sent an email Jan. 11, regarding the disruption at Chapel and this different interpretation of the Bible.
“The disruption of this past Wednesday’s Core Chapel was not appropriate; however, it does show how two people who love Jesus do not always agree on important topics of human nature,” Luben wrote.
The intention behind choosing love, truth, goodness and beauty as themes was to provide a “basis for robust conversations,” Luben wrote.
“The Chapel team is committed to providing opportunities for you to enter into these conversations,” Luben wrote.
Tim Spivey, vice president for Spiritual Life, said he agreed with Luben’s statement.
“We plant our feet in the historic Christian faith and welcome alternative perspectives,” Spivey said. “But, we have venues for those kinds of dialogue.”
The opportunities and venues Luben and Spivey are referring to would be Connection Chapels, where students work in small groups to dive further into the conversations of faith.
“In the small group Connection Chapels, we hope that you will build relationships with peers and leaders that will allow you to share your insights, ask questions, and have deep conversations, including when disagreements arise,” Luben wrote.
Olson said his disagreement on the preaching of the Word was not the only thing that fueled him to go on stage. He said he found it extremely disrespectful that students would not be paying full attention during Chapel.
“His Word is supposedly being preached, and people are on their phones,” Olson said. “Even in prayer, people aren’t even paying homage to their Creator. Young people are still talking [and] chattering on their phones; it is very dishonoring to God.”
Olson said he was escorted off campus while attempting to attend the Well on Jan. 10, after being advised against doing so. As of Jan. 11, Olson said he was at his home in Orange County.
Luben said, despite this interruption, Core Chapel will not be changing. Luben plans to continue encouraging faithful conversations through the program.
“Chapel really is an invitation to a conversation, and we recognize students will hear that differently,” Luben said. “You’ll see the same sort of program that we ran and have been running.”
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