Slightly Older Life

I goofed.

In a previous post, this is what I said. This is what Ontario Emperor said:

I have a warm spot in my heart for InterVarsity Christian Fellowship, since this was the organization that most effectively brought the Word to me in my high school years - and then told me in no uncertain terms to get affiliated with a church.

Not exactly.

I got InterVarsity and Young Life confused in my brain.

However, I did belong to a semi-affiliated InterVarsity group in my college years, and I do respect them.

Incidentally, I say "semi-affiliated" because I attended Reed College, and at Reed things are never simple. To be an OFFICIAL InterVarsity chapter, we would have had to appoint a chapter president, chapter vice president, chapter secretary, chapter treasurer, chapter historian, chapter inter-educational liaison, chapter chair arranger, and who knows what all. So we were pretty unofficial.

This sense of casualness continues today. Compare the InterVarsity pages for the University of Oregon and for Reed College.

Incidentally, this illustrates how important it is to convey the message via the appropriate channels, without compromising the message. InterVarsity realizes that, while their overall message to Reed and to, say, Georgetown is the same, this message may need to be delivered in a different format. As an example, take a look at this message from Paul:

Acts 17:24-28 (New International Version)
New International Version (NIV)
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society

24"The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. 25And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. 26From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. 27God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. 28'For in him we live and move and have our being.' As some of your own poets have said, 'We are his offspring.'

So, where was Paul speaking:

• Athens
• Jerusalem
• Samaria

As you can see, Paul shaped his message so that his audience would understand the truth.

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