I attend Malone University, a private Christian school in Canton, OH. The community comprises of students and faculty of various backgrounds. I’ve met students from different religious backgrounds and some who are non-religious, of different ethnic backgrounds, and so on. As a Christian school, Malone is affiliated with Evangelical Friends Church. Their community guidelines adhere to the church’s guidelines. Faculty members are expected to follow the guidelines more than students. One of the guidelines is that sex must be intimate between a man and a woman– same-sex relationships aren’t allowed. As you can imagine many people would be irked by this, and this is exactly what happened six months ago on October 11th. Malone’s president announced in an email that one of the female science professors is having a relationship with another woman and intends to get married this summer. When she approached the leadership she hoped for a compromise. Instead, she was asked to resign. Many students and alumni shared their grievances on Facebook and Instagram showing their support for the professor; most of whom were members of the LBGTQ+ community and supporters.
Read More1 Corinthians 13, verses 4 through 7, has always fascinated me. As a child, I saw it as yet another unattainable thing in the Bible. It was something that Christians were supposed to be, but also something I could never be. It felt overwhelming. As a youth, I started to understand that these were qualities of Christ, yet they still felt beyond my grasp. As a young adult who walked away from the Lord, I no longer cared what the Bible said about anything
Read MoreGrowing up there was one thing my dad had to tell me more than he should have: “Allison, you need to think before you speak.” My stubborn and prideful self was too focused on how I felt and getting what I had to say off my chest. Meanwhile someone was on the other end of my words, feeling the effects of my emotions.
Read MoreThere is this tension of wanting to point more people to Jesus by providing content people will visually enjoy but also wanting them to not see you (or a pretty filtered version of you and your life), but to see the One whom you preach and serve. To be a transparent being who is the hands and feet and the voice of the Savior, without becoming a savior for the hungry, hurting souls searching for meaning, healing and nourishment.
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