October 21, 2015
"You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven." — Matthew 5:14-16
Effective Prayer
By Qwynn Gross
From YouTube
What can we do to ensure that our prayers are effective? Christian Union Ministry Fellow at Princeton Qwynn Gross uses the Bible to show that by praying God's will, our prayers will always be heard...
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October 14, 2015
by Wayne Grudem
I believe that Christians should seek to influence civil government according to God's moral standards and God's purposes for government as revealed in the Bible (when rightly understood). But while Christians exercise this influence, they must simultaneously insist on protecting freedom of religion for all citizens, a right that is rightfully embedded in our First Amendment.
I believe that Christians should seek to influence civil government according to God's moral standards and God's purposes for government as revealed in the Bible (when rightly understood). But while Christians exercise this influence, they must simultaneously insist on protecting freedom of religion for all citizens, a right that is rightfully embedded in our First Amendment.
October 14, 2015
Three Historical Developments Explain How We Got Here
by Ryan T. AndersonIn recent political memory, religious liberty was a value that brought together conservatives, libertarians, and progressives. As recently as 1993, the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act was passed by a nearly unanimous Congress and signed by a Democratic president. Today, the same value is a political liability. Bakers, photographers, and florists are being ruined, adoption agencies shuttered, and schools threatened with loss of accreditation and nonprofit status. So what happened? Why is religious liberty now losing so much ground?
As I explain in my just-released book, Truth Overruled: The Future of Marriage and Religious Freedom, three historical developments explain our current predicament: a change in the scope of our government, a change in our sexual values, and a change in our political leaders' vision of religious liberty. An adequate response will need to address each of these changes.
October 14, 2015
Gains New Editor-in-Chief
In the fall semester, Brown sophomore Nicholas Chuan will take over as editor-in-chief of The Cornerstone Magazine, a student-run, Christian literary and arts magazine. According to the Singapore native, the Bible teaching and leadership development provided by Christian Union's ministry on campus has helped shape his worldview and equip him for his new leadership role."The in-depth and rational look Christian Union takes toward various issues, such as sex and spirituality, has given me a model to think about issues within the Christian worldview," said Chuan. "Christian Union Bible courses have given me a deeper understanding of the Gospel and how to live it out as a student."
October 14, 2015
Christian Union Hosts Senior Sendoff
As the class of 2015 prepared to graduate, Don Weiss, Christian Union's ministry director at Harvard College, emphasized the need for seniors to keep Christ as their foundation in their new ventures."There's nothing that compares to being able to say 'It is well with my soul,'" Weiss told students during the ministry's gathering to honor seniors on May 1. "Your house is going to stand with Jesus underneath."
October 14, 2015
Christian Union at Dartmouth Hosts Art Showcase
Christian Union's ministry at Dartmouth sponsored an eclectic art showcase on campus this spring.Students expressed their talents through a variety of forms, including visual arts, rap, and dance. With each brush stroke, dance step, and beatbox rhythm, God's creativity was expressed as the students shared their gifts.
"I believe that God is an artist," said Ian Chaffin '15.
October 14, 2015
Longtime Friends, Colonial Figures Agreed to Disagree
by Catherine ElvyAn 18th-century evangelist whose legendary oratory skills helped ignite the Great Awakening across two continents also played a role in the creation of the University of Pennsylvania.
George Whitefield, one of the most touted spiritual figures of the U.S. colonial period, preached to as many as 10 million spectators across North America and the British Isles, according to Christianity Today.
Along the way, Whitefield enlisted Benjamin Franklin as his printer and publicist in the colonies in the early 1740s. Collaboration between the longtime pals helped birth a forerunner to Penn a decade later, though the pair differed on the role of faith in early American higher education.
October 8, 2015
Why does our all-good, all-powerful God actively hide from us? Christian Union Teaching Fellow Nick Nowalk addresses what he believes to be the biggest question surrounding the Christian, and really any, faith: why does God hide from his people? (41:54)
October 7, 2015
For great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised;
He is to be feared above all gods.
For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols,
but the Lord made the heavens.
Splendor and majesty are before Him;
strength and beauty are in His sanctuary.
— Psalm 96:4-6
Has Science Buried God?
By John Lennox
From RZIM
In a lecture at Rice University last week, renowned Professor of Mathematics John Lennox, from the University of Oxford, tackled the question, "Has Science Buried God?" Professor Lennox is a tremendous communicator and thinker in the area of faith and science...
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September 25, 2015
A Prayer and Fasting Devotional
And Samuel said, “Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams. - 1 Samuel 15:22 (ESV)Obedience is important to God.
Perhaps that sounds to you like the understatement of the century. You may be saying to yourself, “Of course obedience is important to God…what a remarkably unimpressive way to start to a devotional!” And that may be a fair summation of your perspective on the Christian life. However, I’d like to suggest that the importance God gives to our obedience is an often-underemphasized reality in substantial portions of the American church.
September 24, 2015
Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, indeed everything that is in the heavens and the earth; Yours is the dominion, O LORD, and You exalt Yourself as head over all.
— 1 Chronicles 29:11
Renewing Christian Friendship
By Wesley Hill
From Christian Union's Ministry at Harvard
Professor Wesley Hill, of Trinity College, addresses the value and potential in friendship that often goes unrecognized in the modern Christian community. Professor Hill gave this talk at Christian Union's leadership lecture series at Harvard...
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September 24, 2015
A Prayer and Fasting Devotional
“So they feared the LORD but also served their own gods, after the manner of the nations from among whom they had been carried….these nations feared the Lord and also served their carved images.” –2 Kings 17:33, 41In 2 Kings 17, we read of how the Israelites were deported to Assyria “because the people of Israel had sinned against the LORD their God” (2 Kings 17:7). In their place, the king of Assyria settled peoples from other nations to take possession of the cities and the land. After lions attacked and killed some of them, they sent for a priest to teach them the “law of the god of the land.” Responding to the teaching of these priests, the people learned to “fear the LORD,” but they also continued to serve and worship their former gods.
September 23, 2015
A Prayer and Fasting Devotional
A friend of mine founded a global consulting firm and hosts an annual conference for policy makers and CEOs. Over several days they look at global trends in a number of areas through panels and seminars. Last year two of the panels were: Media Gone Mad: Living with Information Overload: How can we be sure of staying ‘unspun’ in a world where we have never been so connected—and where it has never been so apparent that knowledge is power?
What’s Next: Hinge Events Ahead in 2015: The perils in prediction—in geopolitics as in other walks of life—arise from the fact that we simply do not have enough information.
September 22, 2015
A Prayer and Fasting Devotional
Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good. - 1 Peter 2:2-3 (NIV)Have you heard the screams of a hungry newborn? As a new father, this was rather eye-opening (read: sleep-depriving) for me. I thought: “How can something so little scream so piercingly?” The hungry baby screams for milk with an intensity and an urgency that is virtually unparalleled in our world. We should crave spiritual nourishment with such urgency and desperation.
September 21, 2015
A Prayer and Fasting Devotional
I sought the Lord, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears. Those who look to him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed…Oh taste and see that the Lord is good! –Psalm 34:4-5, 8
I have recently had the wild blessing of witnessing a powerful conversion. I have seen a man who has never known what it is like to be excluded, who has proven his worth through successful business, who lives the seemingly charmed life of prosperity, a good name and the love of many, step out of darkness and into glorious light.
I have recently had the wild blessing of witnessing a powerful conversion. I have seen a man who has never known what it is like to be excluded, who has proven his worth through successful business, who lives the seemingly charmed life of prosperity, a good name and the love of many, step out of darkness and into glorious light.
September 20, 2015
A Prayer and Fasting Devotional
If you are a parent, you probably remember your child’s first trip to the ER. I don’t think my wife and I will ever forget ours because we have had two in the span of two months for our daughter, Ellie. On each occasion, she had seizures that were caused by a dramatic spike in a fever. During a seizure, the whole body tenses up due to your brain firing off extreme signals. Even the lungs become tense or stiff, restricting airflow and decreasing oxygen levels throughout the body. Ellie clearly was not breathing much and began to turn a pale and blue color. I had my hand on her back and could only feel very small movements of her lungs. I could hear very faint breaths come out of her mouth. At times, we thought we might be saying goodbye to our daughter. Something was clearly wrong. It was visible.September 19, 2015
A Prayer and Fasting Devotional
Unfortunately, Psalm 23 has often become associated with death and funerals within American culture. Yet in reality, this psalm is a psalm about living, and it provides the reader with the needed assurance in order to be radical for God. It is, as one commentator puts it, “…one that puts daily activities, such as eating, drinking, and seeking security, in a radically God-centered perspective. This psalm invites people into a declaration of trust that is both extraordinarily courageous and coldly rational.”September 18, 2015
A Devotional on Seeking God
It is intrinsic to our conception of God that God is inherently invisible. “You cannot see my face,” God famously told Moses on the mountain, “for man shall not see me and live” (Exod 33:20, esv). God in himself cannot be seen directly. If he is to be seen at all, it must be through some sort of manifestation in another form, some kind of epiphany.September 17, 2015
A Prayer and Fasting Devotional
“See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!” - 1 John 3:1aDo you look like your parents or siblings? Those of us who do have inevitably experienced a moment when someone meets our family, or sees their picture, and exclaims that (goodness gracious!) you look just like them! Familial resemblance does not just involve our good looks; in even deeper ways we can see it in our behavior. This can go from the mundane (we laugh like our grandfather) to the good (we are compassionate like our mother) to the bad (we have a temper like our older brother). Our families resemble each other in deep and meaningful ways, and this comes into especially sharp focus when we get married. Marriage brings together two people from different families who immediately notice that they have developed different (and sometimes wonderfully complementary!) practices because, "that's how my family does it."
September 16, 2015
A Parable on Prayer
We won’t always see our prayers answered. If there is no guarantee for answered prayer, why should we persist in prayer?In Luke 18:1-8, Jesus addressed this issue head-on:
And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’” And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says. And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?
