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Welcome to Cross Reference!

Stephen Anderson
Thursday, March 26, 2009

The world is not a friendly place for Christians. The Bible assures that those who stand up for their belief in Christ will be persecuted (II Timothy 3:12, Matthew 5:10-12). Rather than being deterred, Christians should be motivated to reach the world with the Gospel (Matthew 28:16-20) because the earth is only a temporary home - heaven is a promised reward for those who have put their faith in Him by admitting their sin (Romans 3:23), believing in Jesus and the eternal life offered through Him (John 3:16-17, Acts 16:31), and confessing and turning from their sins (Romans 10:9).

It is with these fundamental beliefs that the Cross Reference staff publishes this Christian newspaper. While we fully expect brothers and sisters in Christ to read this, we hope that those who are openly or secretly searching for the truth of God's word will find what they are looking for through this paper and/or the resources presented in it. After all, we worship a loving God who desires to have a personal relationship with each and every one of us, including skeptics, who this paper is also reaching out to.

While we want to provide a channel for Christians to communicate with one another, we would like to be a forum for religious discussions, even debate that could not appropriately be handled by other campus media. Our mission statement is as follows: "To glorify God by serving as a communication channel to and among Christians in the Michigan Tech community by publishing Christian news, Christian opinion, Christian entertainment and Christian features."

Perfection is our goal, but we understand and fundamentally believe that only God and His Word are ultimately perfect. We are not attempting to replace the Bible or make additions/subtractions to it, and we understand that versions of the Scripture itself fall under scrutiny and textual criticism. We would expect no less for our paper, which we would never go so far as to call perfect, inspired or inerrant.

We understand that there are as many different beliefs as people who hold them. While we will try our best to represent as many viewpoints as possible, we will take stances that are different than yours at times - that is unavoidable. As mentioned above, we want to provide a forum for lively discussion to take place on topics that matter to Christians and non-Christians alike, and that is one reason that we have created a website to accompany our bi-weekly print edition: www.mtucrossreference.com. I trust that each article will be a forum in and of itself and that through that medium, you will challenge and/or strengthen your faith.

Again, to hammer home our idea of a public discourse, we highly encourage feedback that can help us better cater to readership and better represent our readers' various viewpoints (we will publish appropriately presented counter-arguments in letter-to-the-editor format, for example). Each of our editors can be reached by e-mail and all editors can be reached through our common e-mail address:
crossref@mtu.edu.

We feel that the Lord has placed it on our hearts to create this unique ministry and it is only under His guidance that we present this paper to you. We are merely the servants that God has chosen. If you feel led to help in any way, please contact one of our editors.

We hope you enjoy what you read, but more importantly, we hope that you challenge your faith to grow closer to God.

Comments

When I read the line, "The

When I read the line, "The world is not a friendly place for Christians," I get a little worried. Not because I disagree entirely, but because I only disagree somewhat. In some parts of the world, like Pakistan, for example, it's kind of rough. But here in Houghton, being a Christian is the norm, and is sometimes even expected. Please don't lose sight of that.

In Tyler Schwartz's introduction to Cross Reference, he said that some of the stories will focus on social injustice. I am aware that he is referring to things like poverty, hunger, and other world crises, but we should also keep sight of a different kind of injustice happening right here at home. Many of my non-Christian friends on campus (adherents to Judaism, Islam, and other religions) have been discriminated against, teased, and harassed for their beliefs. As good Christians, we should be encouraging open dialogue on different religions and different cultures, not a cowardly, accusatory yell of "you're different than most of us!" from those Christians who are not practicing good Christian principles.

We must remember that, in Houghton, it's not hard to be Christian. It's hard to be anything else.

Please use this medium for improving your fellow Christians, not just to provide them information. I realize that many of our campus' Christians already are respectful and tolerant. But there are many others who are not. Helping them be better Christians by being more respectful of different religions, different cultures, different lifestyles, and different choices will be one of the best ways you can get them closer to God.

Thank you very much.
Submitted by Anonymous on Thu, 03/26/2009 - 21:52.

Good point...

While I would not say it's always easy to be a Christian even in Houghton, I think the fact that it is not particularly hard makes it easy to become complacent and just live like those around us. It can make it hard to maintain that spiritual fire. Strong opposition can sometimes make a Christian back down, but I think it also has the power to help the person rely solely on God for strength, something that can be hard to do when life isn't all that tough. Not that I invite persecution, but God does promise more reward in heaven for staying true to God, even through persecution (Matthew 5:10-12)
Submitted by Stephen Anderson on Fri, 03/27/2009 - 00:30.