Well, let me invite you to turn in your Bibles to Mark, chapter 8. Mark chapter 8. We're continuing in our total devotion. Series and if you want to give a title to this message today, it would be Total Devotion.
To Christ, total devotion to Christ. I was reading a couple of weeks ago about maybe some of you saw this in the news, about a student group at Oxford University called the Christian Union. And the purpose statement for this student group called the Christian Union is giving every student in Oxford University the chance to hear and respond to the gospel of Jesus Christ. To us, seated here in this room, to most of us, this purpose statement would seem innocent enough and wonderful enough, right?
But it came out in the news last month that this particular group The Christian Union has been banned from involvement in Oxford University's Freshman Fair. And the reason that was given was this, amongst other things, historically, Christianity's influence on many marginalized communities has been damaging in its methods of conversion and rules. of practice. And so they banned this group from being involved in the freshman fair.
Clearly, those who oppose this group oppose. Christianity, and they oppose Christianity because they view this as a religion that is damaging to people. And they're concerned about the harm that Christianity will have upon people. And we might read what I just read to you and hear of such concerns and respond by saying Christianity is not harmful to people....
