welcome back.
welcome back to purdue y’all.
hope all of you had a wonderful break and hope the first week of school isn’t killing you yet. personally happy to see the campus and the city filled with a lot more people than during the break.
we were back on campus this past sunday for church. opened up the year with an opportunity to think about new year’s resolution especially when it comes to growing our faith. small steps over time with the help of the holy spirit.
other than that, the staff and students have been prepping and getting ready for the spring. a lot of exciting things coming up from noblemen and new eve “taste + see” as well as launch trips, weekly friday hangouts at the nguyen’s, basketball tournaments, to, of course, the purdue + iu + uiuc winter camp (still looking for a name…) that’s coming up in the first week of february. excited for all that’s in the pipeline.
we’re kick-starting the year with a special message series for our sundays.
this sunday and the next. secrets to happiness that no one tells you about. lessons from the bible on this topic. stories from students. fun + lunch + “choose your own adventure” local dessert eateries around campus (on us). so pull through and invite your friends.
looking forward to seeing all of you soon.
dj.
what’s upcoming.
purdue x iu x uiuc winter retreat.
feb 6-8. camp tecumseh, in.
come join us for an incredible weekend. fun. meeting new friends from iu and uiuc. time in god’s word. worship. different workshops addressing a variety of major questions about christianity. and of course a lot of food and late night shenanigans.
noblemen.
taste + see. fri, 1/23. 630p. 1205 hayes.
wellspring of progress.
we’ve been going through the book of ephesians in our devotions.
and this past week, we hit a stretch of text where apostle paul is giving specific instruction about marriage, parenting, bondservant + master, workplace and so on.
and as i was studying this text, i was reminded just how progressive christianity was and is for it’s time. in a world filled with inequality and imbalanced power dynamics, paul exhorts for equal obligation + responsibility towards each other and, ultimately, equal standing + value before god.
in a societal contexts where the husband had absolute authority in the household, paul calls for submission in love and to not misuse and abuse power and for children, likewise, to listen to your parents and wives to respect and cherish your husband as well. in other words, a loving household.
in a world where bondservants were mistreated and bullied by masters, paul calls for masters to treat your bondservants fairly, with kindness and recognizing they are your brothers in christ and he ends by saying
knowing that he who is both their Master and yours is in heaven, and that there is no partiality with him.
i.e. before god? there is no partiality. no bondservant and master. but both are one and the same. a child of god.
this is so counter-cultural and incredibly progressive and modern.
and in the end, christianity is what drove, remade and revolutionized culture as we know it and became the wellspring of progress.
author tom holland, writer of the best-selling book “dominion” (which i highly recommend) put it this way
Dignity, which no philosopher had ever taught might be possessed by the stinking, toiling masses, was for all. There was no human existence so wretched, none so despised or vulnerable, that it did not bear witness to the image of God. Divine love for the outcast and derelict demanded that mortals love them too.
i.e. christianity taught a radical message about human worth and dignity and with it the rights every person deserves out of love, especially the weak, taken advantage of, the down-trodden.
holland then goes on to develop this thought. that it’s from this judeo-christian foundation that gave rise to a revolution that would give birth to things like women’s rights, abolition of slavery, modern medicine, etc.
and it’s not just holland that has been persuaded of this truth. many “atheists” have been turning to christianity because of this. ayaan hirsi ali. louise perry. tom holland himself. and many others.
if you’re interested, i highly recommend justin brierley’s podcast, “the surprising rebirth of belief in god”, where he does an incredible job describing the history of this rebirth and interviewing some of the names listed and many others.
in the end, this has debunked this pervasive but false idea that christianity was the shackle on culture + society that needed to be removed before modernity and progress could be made. if anything, it’s the exact opposite and it’s served as an incredible apologetic - that much of what we value and have come to recognize as a society is only made sensible and possible under a christian worldview.
until next time.
dj.