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Originally posted October 8, 2017, in Columbia Crown & Cross. Posted here with permission of the author.
Six weeks ago, with a secret photographer looking on, I escorted my girlfriend Taylor to a patio overlooking a lake upstate. Taylor and I had met here at Columbia through mutual friends, sat beside each other in Art Hum, and went on a dozen dates in the city. Just before the outset of our senior year, right there on that patio, I proposed to her; she said yes, with the camera bulb flashing behind her.
Needless to say, Taylor and I have taken a few deviations from the common college dating route. When we get married next summer, we will both be 22 years old, a half-decade younger than the national average age of first marriage and perhaps a decade younger than the average Columbia student’s. We aren’t sexually active, which frequently surprises people. We read a devotional book and pray together to promote intimacy in our emotional and spiritual lives. Talk to someone who knows us well and they might mention that we’ve become abstinence-minded matchmakers for others—it’s easy to fix up potential couples since we only know a handful of Columbia undergrads who approach romantic relationships like we do. But as our model, which draws a great deal from the doctrines of Christianity, has worked for us, we believe it could work for everyone, regardless of religious conviction.
Why Doctrine Matters
Mere Christianity was a book written by Clives Staples Lewis and published in 1952 (based on a number of radio recordings by Lewis on the BBC during World War II). It is one of the most influential books of the 20th century, written by one of Western culture’s intellectual giants. In the book, even though it gives a baseline apologetic (or, defense) of the Christian faith, it contains an impressive depth of what we call doctrine.In the years since its first publication, the Church has undergone a continual seismic shift.
You keep him in perfect peace
whose mind is stayed on you,
because he trusts in you.
— Isaiah: 26:3
Great things happen when you decide to pray!
Prayer is a forum that brings fulfillment to a life in Christ. Without prayer Christianity is a title alone, but with prayer, Christianity is an ever-growing, intimate relationship with the God who promises to honor those who honor Him (1 Samuel 2:30), reveal Himself to those who search for Him (Jeremiah 29:13), and draw near to those who will draw near to Him (James 4:8).This December we and our students have been reading a new Advent devotional—Come Let Us Adore Him, by Paul Tripp—which we gave out at our Christmas party at the beginning of the month.
But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons..
— Galatians 4:4-5
Friends,
I pray this Advent season has been full of Christ’s presence, joy and peace!
It’s hard to believe, but this semester has already come and gone! It’s been a semester full of God’s goodness and faithfulness meeting students in their everyday lives – the highs and lows and every place in between. I could share many stories of God’s work on campus over the course of the Fall Semester, but I’d like to tell you about a large outreach event we organized earlier this month.
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