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The most recent articles, videos, blog entries, and more that have been added to ChristianUnion.org.
A Prayer and Fasting Devotional
Dear friend in Christ,
Our 40 days of fasting and prayer to seek the Lord for 2015 has come to a close, and I am deeply grateful to you for joining with me on this journey. I have been blessed and encouraged by the devotionals, and, as usual, fasting has helped me draw closer to God.
Our 40 days of fasting and prayer to seek the Lord for 2015 has come to a close, and I am deeply grateful to you for joining with me on this journey. I have been blessed and encouraged by the devotionals, and, as usual, fasting has helped me draw closer to God.
Scholar Exhorts Attendees at Harvard Catholic Center Event
Exercising the constitutional right to "authentic worship" at Harvard was heralded this fall with a lecture from noted scholar Father Peter Stravinskas.The Harvard Catholic Center sponsored the event, entitled "Give Me Freedom (Religious) or Give Me Death."
Stravinskas, editor of The Catholic Answer magazine and books such as The Catholic Response and The Catholic Church and the Bible, exhorted attendees to refute the bifurcation of religious freedom by a secular culture.
Stravinskas spoke about how society is seeking to replace authentic Christian worship and expression with a more politically correct and passive version of religion.
The right to assemble is tolerated, but the freedom to live out your faith with actionable belief and works is disallowed.
A Prayer and Fasting Devotional
How do I know when the Holy Spirit is active and present in my life? What must I do to engage in the Spirit-filled life? What sorts of criteria may I employ to recognize and discern the leading of the Spirit as I follow Jesus in faith? Such questions are no less crucial for being so prevalent among earnest Christians who desire to please the Lord and experience His grace in power.
Cornell Alumnus Joe Holland Challenges Students to Walk by Faith
For believers, God's calling is not an isolated event. Rather, it often plays out as part of an amazing personal movement.Activist, attorney, and football legend Joe Holland offered that spiritual insight during an appearance on October 16 at his alma mater of Cornell University. The All-American football player spoke about the stages of fulfilling a divine commission during a public lecture in Friends Hall.
"It's not just something that happens, and that's the end," said Holland, Cornell '78, MA '79, Harvard Law '82. "It's a movement that God executes in your life."
A Prayer and Fasting Devotional
“Then the women said to Naomi, ‘Blessed be the LORD, who has not left you this day without a redeemer, and may his name be renowned in Israel! He shall be to you a restorer of life and a nourisher of your old age, for your daughter-in-law who loves you, who is more to you than seven sons, has given birth to him.’” - Ruth 4:14-15
Considering Nietzsche and Jesus of Nazareth
by Jesse Peterson
At the risk of an absurd reductionism, I'd like to propose an audacious thesis: that in Western history there have been only two distinct ethical philosophies. Every other ethic ultimately falls under the banner of one of these two. The two stances are represented by two teachers: Friedrich Nietzsche and Jesus of Nazareth. Their fundamental disagreement? What it means to be human, and what it means to love.The Ethics of Nature
There could hardly have been a more fitting philosopher to follow on the heels of Darwin's mid-19th-century discoveries than Nietzsche. Nietzsche translated into ethical-prescriptive terms ("ought") what for Darwin had merely been biological-historical description ("is"). Darwin's "survival of the fittest" in the war of nature became Nietzsche's "will to power":The Lambs help students grow in grace and truth.
by Sarah Camp, Contributing Editor
From marriage to ministry, Angela (Cornell, BA '99) and Allen (Cornell, BS '00 and MEng'01) Lamb know a good thing when they find it. For example, they met during their freshman year at Cornell and married during the summer between their junior and senior years. Allen was already a Christian when he met Angela; Angela came to faith in Christ at Cornell thanks in part to a suitemate who shared her faith.The young couple were led to follows Christ's ethos in college as they pursued integrity in courtship and dating, and fidelity in marriage. A supportive community and God's great grace helped them navigate their student years.
A Prayer and Fasting Devotional
The apostle Paul famously engaged the citizens of Athens in his pursuit of proclaiming the Gospel throughout the Roman Empire.
Acts 17 records:
So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there. Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also conversed with him. And some said, “What does this babbler wish to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a preacher of foreign divinities”—because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection. - Acts 17:17, 18 (ESV)
Acts 17 records:
So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the devout persons, and in the marketplace every day with those who happened to be there. Some of the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers also conversed with him. And some said, “What does this babbler wish to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a preacher of foreign divinities”—because he was preaching Jesus and the resurrection. - Acts 17:17, 18 (ESV)
A Prayer and Fasting Devotional
"For God, who said, 'Let light shine out of darkness,' made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.” - 2 Corinthians 4:6
As we fast, many of us are asking God to show Himself. We want God to reveal Himself to us and show us who He is. This is certainly not unique to human experience. If people are given the chance to ask God a question, many simply wonder, “Where are you?” We wonder, “If you’re present everywhere, if you love us and want a relationship with us, then why don’t we hear from you?” Fasting promises insight into God’s hiddenness. In many ways, we are like Moses in Exodus 34. Moses, wanting to know this God who has led the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt and is taking them to the Promised Land, asks God to show him His Glory.
As we fast, many of us are asking God to show Himself. We want God to reveal Himself to us and show us who He is. This is certainly not unique to human experience. If people are given the chance to ask God a question, many simply wonder, “Where are you?” We wonder, “If you’re present everywhere, if you love us and want a relationship with us, then why don’t we hear from you?” Fasting promises insight into God’s hiddenness. In many ways, we are like Moses in Exodus 34. Moses, wanting to know this God who has led the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt and is taking them to the Promised Land, asks God to show him His Glory.
Day Thirty-Five Devotional
My three teenage daughters, much like the college students I know, live in a state of almost constant sleep deprivation due to the pressure of extracurricular activities and academics. Breaks in the schedule, such as the one we just had over Christmas, provide welcome opportunities to catch up on sleep. Slumber is perhaps more desired than anything under the Christmas tree!
We know our bodies need rest, and anyone who has battled insomnia knows that a good night’s sleep is a blessing from the Lord. But we’ve also all experienced that too much sleep can make us lethargic and dull. Spiritual sleepiness is the counterpart to the physical manifestation, and Scripture is full of warnings against it, such as: “awake, O Sleeper!” (Ephesians 5:14), “wake up from your slumber!” (Romans 13:11), and “wake up from your drunken stupor” (1 Corinthians 15:34). In Revelation 3, in the word to the church in Sardis, this sobering judgment is given by the angel:
We know our bodies need rest, and anyone who has battled insomnia knows that a good night’s sleep is a blessing from the Lord. But we’ve also all experienced that too much sleep can make us lethargic and dull. Spiritual sleepiness is the counterpart to the physical manifestation, and Scripture is full of warnings against it, such as: “awake, O Sleeper!” (Ephesians 5:14), “wake up from your slumber!” (Romans 13:11), and “wake up from your drunken stupor” (1 Corinthians 15:34). In Revelation 3, in the word to the church in Sardis, this sobering judgment is given by the angel:
