Other students I met with at Princeton were enrolled in a class taught by the New Testament critic Elaine Pagels which they nicknamed the “Faithbusters Class” because of its destructive effect on the faith of many Christian students. They had no way of knowing how far out of mainstream scholarship Prof. Pagels’ views on the Gnostic gospels are. It was a privilege to share with them grounds for the credibility of the New Testament witness to Jesus.
Their experience is not unusual. In high school and college Christian teenagers are intellectually assaulted with every manner of non-Christian worldview coupled with an overwhelming relativism. If parents are not intellectually engaged with their faith and do not have sound arguments for Christian theism and good answers to their children’s questions, then we are in real danger of losing our youth. It’s no longer enough to teach our children simply Bible stories; they need doctrine and apologetics. It’s hard to understand how people today can risk parenthood without having studied apologetics.
Unfortunately, our churches have also largely dropped the ball in this area. It’s insufficient for youth groups and Sunday school classes to focus on entertainment and simpering devotional thoughts. We’ve got to train our kids for war. We dare not send them out to public high school and university armed with rubber swords and plastic armor. The time for playing games is past.
” —William Lane Craig
Oh, those first-day-of-the-semester lines. (Taken with instagram)
This is a “before shot” to my 20 unit semester. See the wide-eyed hopefulness in the binder index dividers? (Taken with instagram)
If you’ve forgotten or would like to participate, Freewrite Fridays go like this:
This video is produced by Elevation Church (http://elevationchurch.org) for their Follow series. I’ve posted this somewhere before (and I’ve seen it here on my Dashboard a couple of months back) but I searched for it tonight and I watched it again.
A public declaration of your identity in Christ, those few seconds of silence while submerged in water and a new sense of life as air enters your lungs again…it’s beautiful. A friend of mine said of this video, “They came in dry; they ain’t coming out the same.”
Be refreshed.
who knows who cares - local natives.
please add spontaneous open-air performances to my bucket list.
Because we did not have a prompt last week, you get two prompts! You can answer one of the prompts. Or both, if you’re awesome.
Here we go:
#1. Your security blanket (figuratively speaking, or literally if you have an actual blanket).
#2. Finding beauty in the mundane.
If you’ve forgotten or would like to participate, Freewrite Fridays go like this:
A couple of things couldn’t be ignored.
My family is a blessing.
Ninety percent of my day was spent with my mother as we both were trying to figure out how to renew my military ID. In the US military, turning 21 means that I have to prove that I am still a full time student in order to still receive dependent benefits until I’m 23. Furthermore, my dad was restored to Lt. JG. So, my mom and I had some nice bonding time stressing out and driving from my college and back to Camp Pendleton a couple of times to get that stuff taken care of.
It took years for me to realize how blessed it is to have a family who loves the Lord. My parents earnestly seek out what the Lord has laid out for us to walk in. My parents’ lives are a testimony of the faithfulness of God and the blessings and trials that come out of trusting in Him. My older brother is an inspiration and an encouragement to my soul. My little brother is being a testimony at his school. It goes without saying that I have a house that serves and loves the Lord.
My friends are amazing.
The evening was spent at the Gathering, our youth Bible study. It is always a blessing leading our youth group into worship, especially acoustically because you get to hear everyone’s voices above your own. You know you are having a good birthday when you spend it in worship with the Body of Christ.
Then a few lovely ladies took me out for a giant pizookie.
You know you are having a good birthday when you have a giant pizookie.
Christian Celestino is.
I don’t know what he is. All I know is that the Lord is so gracious to allow me to spend this season of my life with him. He stands closer than a brother and is an encouragement to my walk. The Lord has used him to chisel away areas in my life that shouldn’t be there. He has been a vessel of God’s unfailing love. And this paragraph needs to stop before I start crying.
No, reader. My lips did not meet any kind of alcoholic beverage on my 21st birthday. I wasn’t itching for a party (I don’t know how to party. No, really. It’s embarrassing). Yesterday, all I did was sit and watch and allow the Lord to show me just how much He loves me.
I am humbled.
I am unworthy.
I am loved.
I am 21.
Cray.
La Sportiva Katanas for my birthday? Ridic. Christian is the best. (Taken with instagram)
I might celebrate with a much needed update on what is happening in my life and what is going on in my mind. That sounds narcissistic of me. Like you care?
Also, I’m sorry that I was not able to post a Freewrite Friday this last Friday. Time waits for no one, so Friday came and went without me posting a prompt. I will make it up to you this Friday with two prompts and you can choose between the two. Or answer both like a boss.
You’re great.
Smile for me.
