City Tutoring Discussion Forum

Hello everyone!

My name is Jackson and I am from Thomasville, Georgia, about a 10 minute drive from the Georgia-Florida border. I’m 21 years old and currently a student at the University of Georgia studying mechanical engineering. My ideal goal is to make a career in the MEP (mechanical, electrical, and plumbing) industry, specifically in industrial/commercial HVAC (think large buildings and manufacturing plants). However, I am also open to potentially working in other fields such as consulting or mechanical design.

As to my religious background, I was raised in a very nominal southern baptist household where we did not go to church. In fact I only ever went to church with my grandmother who is very devout. I fell away from ages 13 to 18, first to a sort of aggressive atheism and then a casual deism/apatheism. Around the time I turned 18 I gained an interest in philosophy and theology through YouTube, then after finding a channel named Inspiringphilosphy. This was the first time I had learned the greatest philosophical and logical arguments for the existence of God, as well as the truth of Christianity and the evidence of Christ’s death and resurrection. From 18-19 I readily called myself a Christian but I only knew it in the intellectual sense. I did not know exactly how one lived as a Christian, however by the grace of the Holy Ghost there existed a traditional Catholic parish near UGA called Saint Aelred, which is part of the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter. The pastor of this church, The Rev. Father Gregory Tipton, is easily among the most intelligent and wisest of men I have ever personally met. I joined his OCIA program at the parish, in which his lessons combined theology, history, philosophy, sociology, and sound biblical exegesis to teach me the fullness of the Christian faith, which I of course believe is Catholicism. Equally as important, I also learned how to live as a Catholic, how to pray and fast and give alms (we started every lesson with praying Evensong), how to develop our spiritual life and practice, and ultimately how to function as being in the world but not of the world.

I decided to join this forum for a few reasons. First, I have been following Mr. Cromwell’s YouTube channel for about 8 months now and his ideas and personal formation are strikingly similar to those of Fr. Tipton. It is my opinion that Mr. Cromwell is in tune with ancient Christian thinking and formation to an extremely significant degree and I admire this greatly. Second, I assume that the majority of the people that will be active on this forum are of similar mindset, specifically in that they wish to investigate the universal truth buried under the decadence of the modern world. Finally, I wish to contribute however I am able to discussions on culture, theology, and other critically important topics. I would also love to talk about other personal interests and pastimes (especially engineering!). God Bless.

Thank you for providing such an interesting and detailed background! Interestingly enough, many of the staff members or people who collaborate at City Tutoring also come from Southern Baptist backgrounds, or Fundamental Baptist.

You mention the Rev. Father Gregory Tipton, and we would of course be delighted if you shared our forum at your parish, if relevant.

Your engineering background should make for some interesting discussions as well, especially the debate about pure vs applied mathematics.

We would also like to thank you for providing specific reasons as to why you joined the forum. Undoubtedly, we look forward to interesting discussions.

Welcome, and God Bless!

Staff at City Tutoring

Welcome, Jackson! I feel blessed reading your background story.

Your observation regarding the distinction between intellectual assent and actually learning how to live as a Christian struck me as particularly important. Many people today are capable of discussing Christianity as a historical, philosophical, or cultural phenomenon, yet far fewer have been taught how to pray, worship, fast, and order their lives according to the faith. The two are not identical.

I was also interested to read your comments regarding engineering. May I ask why you chose engineering?

Your description of modern "general education" courses elsewhere on the forum also resonated with me. I have long suspected that many institutions speak endlessly about producing well-rounded graduates while doing very little to cultivate genuinely educated students.

In any event, I am pleased that you decided to join us. I suspect you will find many members here who share your interests in theology, culture, education, and the broader questions of modern society.

Personally, I am not familiar with Father Tipton, but I will look into the name and the church. Although my own background is within the Reformed Episcopal tradition as well as Presbyterian in my early days, I have increasingly come to appreciate that many of the challenges facing Christians today are not primarily denominational in nature. A serious Catholic, a serious Anglican, and a serious Orthodox Christian will often find themselves confronting many of the same questions, and in opposition to many of the same errors.

I look forward to reading your contributions. God Bless you and welcome to the forum!

Damn I think you chose a great engineering field!

Have you ever thought about doing robotics?

Thank you all for the kind replies.

I tried to send a more detailed message yesterday, but my workplace is surrounded by bricks and I couldn’t get a decent internet connection, and somehow it was completely lost. So I must respond with an abbreviated version.

I initially chose engineering because I was very idealistic and thought something along the lines of “I’m going to use the laws of nature instituted by God to better help the world”. This lasted until about a year ago (halfway through the program) where I began to see that many jobs in the field won’t lead me to be a great (as in well known/accomplished) engineer like Thomas Edison. This is of course fine because I believe God didn’t intend for me to be like one of such men. I’m currently working as a engineering intern in a hospital, and while I am learning a lot especially about power management and HVAC, I have increasingly seen myself potentially branching into a technical but not explicitly engineering career. My sister works in tech consulting for a Top 6/5 firm and could easily get me an interview, and I have a very dear friend who works in the Pentagon and all but begs me to join him for a career in DC.

For robotics, I actually considered going into it for a long time (we usually call it mechatronics). However from my view it seems I would have to pursue some graduate education to really advance in the field past entry level. UGA’s mechanical engineering program only requires us to take one class in Linear systems theory, and robotics is extremely heavy in controls and linear systems, much so that I would want to go to grad school to specialize it. That would be ok if the company paid for me to do so, which many do as it is generally cheaper than hiring external expertise.