I may be going to college or university next academic year and I would like to if anyone has any advice as to how to stay grounded in our Lord Jesus Christ during college, and how to share the gospel with others.
Personally, I feel that it may be possible for one's faith in Jesus Christ our Lord to be strengthened in a secular college, however I don't really want to receive non-biblical teaching, so I am curious about if you have went to college or university do you feel that any teaching has at any time contradicted the Bible (and if so, how did you deal with it), and if you feel that whether the course content agrees with the Bible may depend on the subject studied, and also about how was your faith journey in college.
I am half way through a bachelors in science from two secular institutions. Firstly, you will be exposed to anti biblical sentiments. Yes, especially in topics of English, music, sociology, economics, but also even some people you talk to in mathematics and science. I was afraid of the academically atheistic worldview myself and I worried that sitting under teachers that refuted the gospel and religion as a whole would pollute or weaken me.
Granted, hearing some of the secular ideas and "proofs" is shaking, disturbing, and will cause you to question things (at least it did me). I don't necessarily see this as a bad thing though, in fact all the questions I've had and the opposition I've faced, has really helped me put roots into the gospel. The single greatest thing that helped me besides prayer, bible reading, and my supportive christian family, has been reading philosophy, apologetics and history of worldviews. Once you understand that everything a college tries to teach you (either that there is no God (popular among scientists), or that truth is subject and so therefore everyone is right (popular in the humanities department)) are all recent worldviews that are based on certain assumptions you can be more confident in your faith.
VERY helpful resources:
"Mere Christianity" CS Lewis
"The Pensees" Blaise Pascal (this ones my favorite)
"How then Should we Know Live?" Francis Shaeffer
"Making Sense of your World" Gary Phillips and William E. Brow
"The case for Christ" Lee Strobel
Reading these really help you see that empirical, postmodern, and transcendental philosophies fall into bias and contradiction.
By being open minded, and defending my faith with careful thought and research has really helped me have great conversation with Christians and non Christians alike. One of my more intellectual friends who was raised Mormon and had a really heavy agnostic phase and was asking a lot of questions about the bible. I was able to share with him both the "unreasonable" faith based parts of my faith, as well as the historical and philosophical reasons behind why I can be more confident about it. By God's grace alone he is now reading his bible everyday and has really accepted the gospel for himself. Also, I have met some christian teachers who were very open about their faith with whom I have had amazing discussions about God's word with.
To sum it up you will hear opposition in a secular college, but that's okay! With God's help, some reflection and good reading you can stay your own. Once you've gone through those moments of doubt, or even loosing arguments with God haters, you will have a stronger faith and a more confident attitude.