Love the LORD, all you his saints! The LORD preserves the faithful but abundantly repays the one who acts in pride. Be strong, and let your heart take courage, all you who wait for the LORD!
— Psalm 31:23-24
Jonathan Haidt on the Coddling of the American Mind
By Collin HansenFrom The Gospel Coalition
If their intent is to foster anger and conflict, college administrators are doing an excellent job. But the rise of safe spaces hasn’t proven so safe for students, speakers, and professors who question the progressive orthodoxy of today’s academy. In many university settings today, students are encouraged to assume the worst of others, to assume they and their friends are fighting evil on behalf of good, and to assume they cannot withstand criticism or challenge from ideas they don’t like. That’s a recipe for endless quarrels. Late last year, the Gospel Coalition interviewed social psychologist Jonathan Haidt on a book he has co-authored, called The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure.
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Finding Your Five
By Qwynn GrossFrom ChristianUnion.org
Have you ever made a New Year’s Resolution and broken it? Have you ever set goals and then realized by the end of the year they remain incomplete? If you are anything like me, I’ve done this too many times. When I wrote my resolutions and goals in the past, like many of you, I had every intention to complete them, but life got in the way! Before I knew it, the year was drawing to a close and I had little if any progress. I made a decision to find a better way to handle the personal life change and goals that I wanted to achieve.
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Leaving Religion at Home: Engaging Religious Thought and Action in American Society
By Nathalie KiersznowskiFrom Stanford Politics Magazine
A student involved in Christian Union's ministry at Stanford wrote this excellent article in the December Stanford Politics Magazine: Oxford University conference on human dignity held earlier this year, Dr. Paul Fiddes, a professor of systematic theology, presented his thesis on the role religion should play in social and political arenas. In the speech, Professor Fiddes argued that it was unethical for individuals to bring their private religious beliefs into the public sphere. He advocated for the adoption of secular public arenas as a response to increasingly multicultural societies. As the West becomes more religiously diverse, he argued, adherence to purely secular social behaviors in public would reduce cultural tension and create increasingly peaceful societies. Dr. Fiddes also contended it was culturally offensive to bring religious beliefs into public affairs, as not every member of society shares these values. Sitting in the audience, I grew increasingly unsettled by the professor’s speech; faces in the audience, though, seemed unvexed and inattentive. The room’s complete lack of recoil spoke volumes. This perspective was not bewildering: this was the West’s new normal.
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Godlessness: the First Step to the Gulag
By Alexander Solzhenitsyn
From OrthoChristian.com
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A Heart for Serving Neighbors
By Catherine ElvyFrom Christian Union: The Magazine
Peter Schroen ’19 helps coordinate Dartmouth’s student chapter of Habitat for Humanity International and is a leader with Christian Union. The government and biology major explains that focusing on the practical needs of neighbors is “a rewarding way to serve people. You get to meet them and see how you are tangibly improving their lives.”Read Now >
Please Join Us in a Fast Starting Next Monday
From Christian Union Day & Night
Join fellow Christians across America in a ten-day fast (fasting from food). Participants will follow the example of men and women of Scripture who humbled themselves and called upon the Lord through fasting. Our country needs the spiritual renewal that only God can bring. May He hear our cry and answer.Learn More >
Prayer Requests
UNIVERSITY MINISTRIES
As students return from their holiday break, pray that they would have safe travel and that they will be refreshed and encouraged for the new term ahead. Pray also for our ministry teams to kick off the new year with renewed energy and enthusiasm over the great things God can do in and through them. May we see a revival of faith in God across all of our campuses.
CITY MINISTRIES
We are grateful for all the Lord has done in New York and Washington DC during 2018. We have seen new graduates transition well and new small groups develop, a growing speaker series in both cities, our first CU Cities conference, and new networks begin to bud – all for the purpose of developing Christian leaders to engage our world for the kingdom. Thank you for your support and involvement, and we look forward to much to come in 2019 – for His glory.
DAY & NIGHT
Please pray that Christians across America would hear of — and join — the fast that starts Monday, January 7th (mentioned above). Pray that God would move powerfully, not just in and through the lives of all who fast, but in our nation as well.
Talk Back
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