We spend most of our days not reading the Bible or praying in solitude (necessary practices), but eating a meal, talking with friends, or watching a movie. For my Senior Integration Project, I challenged the idea that to love God more we must love the physical world less. My paper defines the true nature of idolatry and the importance of integrating joy in God with joy in his creation. In what …
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You own me, I sayAs I anxiously bow to my idolsProstrate before them in quivering fearAll of my identity rests hereThe approval of others I care so much what you think, I sayThe endless questioning of what your opinion of me isOn edge and waiting for rejectionClenched fists around all the adjectives I hope to be defined byI cannot let goIf you see me as anything lessSurely I will dieAnd the …
I've always felt my life was one of ongoing reflection and constant change--a continuous rearranging of habits. The New Year is of course a prime time to reflect and replace bad habits with good ones. But to me, the entire Christian life is one of reflection. Sanctification isn't annual, but moment by moment. The Spirit is always convicting me of sin and reordering my desires toward Christ. From …
It was Thanksgiving day, and from the other side of the house, the living room TV caught my attention: Missionary John Chau killed. Instantly I began to search online and read what happened. He went to a remote tribe, the North Sentinelese people, off the coast of India to share the gospel. Many have questioned whether this was wise or if his life was wasted. He certainly prepared …
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I am naturally a black and white thinker. I thrive on clarity. When I became a Christian in 2011, I headed straight for the theology books. Sin is this, not that. God is like this, not that. We follow God like this, not that. Out of what I believe was a earnest desire to please the Lord, I absorbed convictions from those whose books I read. And then in an equally immature and self-righteous …
I’m a Bible major with a Missions concentration. But several case studies deep in Theology of Missions, I also realized…I’m a syncretist. Scenario after scenario I was stunned by the problems missionaries faced in their host culture. Men with multiple wives, damaging cultic practices, and strange burial rituals. Then I saw similar situations on the mission field. Haitians mixed Christianity with …
