JACKSON, Tenn. — Aug. 7, 2006 — A Christian educational experience helps people understand the world the way God intended it to be, Dordt College President Carl Zylstra told a group of 51社区 graduates Aug. 5.
鈥淎t 51社区, you learned that if this is God鈥檚 world, and if you are God鈥檚 heirs, then he has a place for you in his world, a place in which your knowledge of the world makes sense, and in which your skills and abilities to serve in his world can be used,鈥� Zylstra said.
Zylstra was the keynote speaker for the graduation ceremony at West Jackson Baptist Church that saw 249 students receive degrees. That brings the total for the 2005-2006 school year to 885 graduates 鈥� Union鈥檚 second straight year with almost 900 graduates.
Zylstra told graduates that God designed the world with certain standards 鈥� for the learning process, for the conduct of commerce, for accounting, for economics.
鈥淭he world and everyone in it was shaped and crafted by its creator to run like clockwork,鈥� Zylstra said. 鈥淕od鈥檚 standards are ignored at our peril. You might not like that concept. You might get ridiculed if you believe it. But that鈥檚 the way it is.鈥�
Though God originally created the world to be good, Zylstra said man鈥檚 sin and rebellion corrupted it. He told the graduates that the education they received at Union had prepared them to live in a world that is fallen, but one that will ultimately be redeemed through Jesus Christ.
鈥淲e can spend our lives in a lifetime of restoring this world to wholeness once again,鈥� he said.
Zylstra encouraged the graduates not to lose heart in their work, because God would one day complete what they attempt to do.