Second year of high school.
Everything was going great for me: I was a straight-A student, on the varsity basketball team, was the youngest in my ballet class to start toe shoes, and my family and social lives were going great. Perfect, right? Well, it wasn’t.
I attended church, but never paid much attention—I didn’t think I should have to…I felt pretty satisfied with my life already. It came the time for me to get confirmed and I had to take a Catholic education class in order to do so.
Tags: Faith
[Editor's note: Natalie is the Poet Laureate of Seed. She is a Penn State undergraduate majoring in Communications, is an active member of everything, and likes to drive editors crazy by including unusual typographical symbols in her writing. Enjoy.]
Wait a second…
I have always heard that one’s five closest friends added together, give or take a few complimentary idiosyncrasies, mixed up, and spit out—personality, humor, charm, morals and all—equals oneself. Because truth is, we choose our friends based off of these criteria. If we don’t smoke, any smoker “friends” we may have are probably better titled “acquaintances”. We bond with who we relate to. To what degree this is true, I know not. But I have been an inhabitant of this earth long enough to know that most of the time, it proves to be true. One night I sat on my bed pondering all of this. I thought about all the cliques in my high school and how alike those within each clique were. They were all on the same sports teams, went everywhere together, loved the same movies, laughed at the same kind of humor. I thought…and I thought.
Then I thought, why am I so different?
Tags: Faith
A special seminar called Questioning Christianity: Hard Questions, Real Answers will be held on the Penn State University Park campus on the evening of Tuesday, November 17. Anyone who has honest questions about the truthfulness of the historic Christian faith is encouraged to attend.
The forum will take place in the Memorial Lounge of the Pasquerilla Center from 7:00 to 9:00 pm. It is hosted by Disciplemakers Christian Fellowship. For more information, contact Brian Seay, seayb@dm.org.
Last month, I attended a weekend forum sponsored by ACT 3, the ministry of my friend John Armstrong. The forum was led by Peter Enns, who spoke on topic Reading the Old Testament as Jesus Did.
Enns is the author of a popular but controversial book Inspiration and Incarnation: Evangelicals and the Problem of the Old Testament (2005, Baker Academic). In this book he addresses the difficult question of what Christians mean when they claim that the Bible, a book whose words were written by men, is also the inspired word of God. Enns presents an incarnational model that upholds divine inspiration while acknowledging the contextual and cultural influences of the human writers.
Throughout the forum, Enns suggested that we approach the Old Testament as the writers of the New Testament did. How did Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul and Peter handle the OT? Not very well, if they are judged by standards of modern evangelical scholarship. Suppose one of these NT authors was enrolled in a modern seminary that holds to the inerrancy of Scripture. And suppose he applied verses from the OT to Jesus in the manner found throughout the NT. What kind of grade would he receive? He would fail.
Tags: Church History, Scripture
[Editor’s note: The author is a Penn State undergraduate majoring in Media Studies. He is a self-described nerd who loves film, books and politics. He has been diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome, a form of autism, which he regards as a spiritual gift. Please don’t compare him to the Rain Man! More of his writings can be found at his blog, Tuttle’s Journal, which he updates weekly.]
As part of my major, I have taken two classes on film. Film is a modern form of narrative. A much older form of narrative is mythology. I’ve studied mythology and seen how it influences fantasy film. All forms of narrative seem to point to certain fundamental desires, and these desires are closely related to our desire for God. I would like to mention three particular desires that are often seen in films.
Tags: Allegory
[Editor's note: This article was written by a graduate student at a medium-sized private university. The original post can be viewed at Susan's blog.]
I lucked out with having one of the most amazing, personable departments ever. Most students tell me about how apathetic, cold, and sometimes even spiteful their professors can be. I realize that I am blessed. God blessed me with the BEST professors and advisors- we’re talking incredibly accomplished people in their field, Harvard Ph.D’s who are on the frontlines of social science, medicine/epidemiology, public health, and political science research. Not only are they accomplished, but they are NICE!
Tags: Academia
This skit is hilarious…
by Andrew Kim
A majority of Korean-Americans identify themselves as Christian. If they attend church on a weekly basis, one would assume that they did so because of their faith. But faith is not the sole reason that Korean-Americans spend their Sundays in God’s house. Upon their arrival in America, many Koreans speak very little English. One of the few escapes from this strange new world in which they are submerged is the church. Church becomes a place not only for prayer but a haven where Koreans can feel comfortable, surrounded by people who resemble them.
About 40% of Korean-American Christians became Christian after their arrival in United States. The church became an important place for social gathering. It makes us wonder how many of these “conversions” are real. Do they see themselves as Christians because they began to identify with a new social group? Or did they truly see the light through the preaching of the gospel and having their hearts changed by God?
Tags: Race and Ethnicity
Peter Kreeft, one of the most widely respected Christian apologists of our day, is coming to Penn State to speak on Friday, November 6.
Dr Kreeft is Professor of Philosophy at Boston College. He also serves on the faculty at Kings College in New York City. He has published more than 50 books, including the classic text Handbook of Christian Apologetics (1994, InterVarsity Press) which he coauthored with Ronald K. Tacelli. Kreeft is Roman Catholic, but his work is widely read and valued by Christians of all traditions. He became a primary source for Lee Strobel’s The Case for Faith (2000, Zondervan), in which he helps Strobel to wrestle with the age-old question, “How can an all-powerful and loving God allow the existence of evil?”
Dr. Kreeft will speak at 7 pm in 121 Sparks. His visit is sponsored by the Newman Catholic Student Association. Come out and listen to him, and tell us what you think.
Tags: Apologetics, Philosophy
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Modest No More
November 11, 2009 in Commentary by admin | 2 comments
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Tags: Fashion, Feminism