Campolo

"Oh people, isn't that what you really want in this post-modern era?" Campolo said. "Not just a God who fills a theologian or philosopher's mind, but a God you can feel."

Campolo -- a sociology professor at Eastern College in St. Davids, Pa., and head of several mission organizations -- spoke several times Jan. 22 at Wake Forest University. He presented some of the views that have made him a popular speaker, but have drawn criticism from Christians across the theological spectrum.

The God of feelings was revealed in Jesus, who presents himself through people, Campolo said during one of two speeches in Wait Chapel.

"When it comes to knowing truth, reason won't do it," he said. "Love will." If truth could be found in reason, only brilliant people would find it and stupid people wouldn't, Campolo said. People who don't know Jesus find it hard to "grapple" with the truth, he said. While speaking to a religion class, Campolo talked about other faiths. He said Jesus is the only way he knows to reach God.

"You don't have to deny the Jesus in you to affirm the sacredness in others," he said.

Campolo said that when he is asked about other ways to God, he says "I hope they're as wonderful as mine. I want them all to work."

During a speech in Wait Chapel, Campolo urged people to connect with Jesus on the cross. Since Jesus was God, He can reach forward in time from the cross and cleanse people of their sins, he said. Theology keeps spirituality in check, Campolo said.

"While we theologize, Pentecostalism is running away with Christianity," he said.

Campolo said spirituality that isn't translated into commitments has no value.

"I am tired of churches that are filled with believers," he said. "Jesus never said, 'Go unto all the world and make believers out of everyone.' He said, 'Go unto all the world and make disciples.' "There's a big difference between a disciple and a believer. Believers accept certain theological propositions and truths. Disciples are people who commit themselves to a lifestyle, who live out visions and dreams."

Campolo urged Wake Forest students to commit to Jesus.

"The student that is worthy of his or her humanity does not use education as a ladder to upward mobility but uses education as a means of equipping himself or herself to meet the needs of others who are less fortunate," he said. "And if you fail in this, you have not had a commitment that is worthy of your humanity."

College students are constantly trying to find themselves, but never do, Campolo said.

"And the reason it never happens is this: that the self is not an essence waiting to be discovered through introspection," he said. "Rather, the self is an essence waiting to be created through commitments." Campolo quoted Danish philosopher and theologian Soren Kierkegaard: "This age will die not because of sin but from lack of passion."

Campolo said being "cool" has become a virtue. Everybody wants to be cool, he said.

"And to all of those cools, a voice echoes down the corridors of time and says, 'I wish that you were hot or cold but if you're cool, I spew thee out of my mouth.'"

Campolo said parents should encourage kids to commit to Jesus. "Everybody else is telling your kid what to do. The media does. T

he peer group does. The school counselor that runs that Minnesota multiphase personality test sits down and tells the child what to do with his or her life," Campolo said. "So what is wrong with parents standing up and saying, 'As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord?'

" Campolo said the child's best will come out of the tension between the parents' vision and the child's individuality and spontaneity.

"Oh I know what you are going to say. They will rebel. Of course, they'll rebel. That's what kids do for a living. That's their thing. They rebel."