Who Defines Your Identity? Christ & Culture Week Examines Sexuality Through a Biblical Worldview
Cornerstone University students and the community examined one of today’s most personal and challenging cultural issues during the university’s first Christ & Culture Week on September 14-18: Biblical Identity & Sexuality.
Through three Community Chapel services and special gatherings, students explored what Scripture teaches about identity and sexuality and how to live by Biblical truth with courage. The week was grounded in 1 John 2:5b-6, connecting our identity in Christ with the call to walk as He walked.
Bringing bold, Biblical perspectives on living faithfully in today’s culture, special guests Alisa Childers, Ryan Bomberger and Joe Dallas explored the beauty of God’s design for humanity, our ultimate identity in Christ, and how Biblical truth speaks to sexuality, marriage, personal struggle, repentance and restoration.
Grounding Sexual Identity in Biblical Truth: Alisa Childers
Former member of the Dove Award-winning Christian music group ZOEgirl, host of The Alisa Childers Podcast and bestselling author, Childers shared how a class offered at her former church intended to deepen her Christian faith instead undermined her foundational beliefs, leading her to investigate Biblical truth for herself and ultimately reaffirm the authority of Scripture.
Walking students from Genesis to Jesus’ teaching on marriage in Matthew 19, she pointed to humanity as created male and female in the image of God, marriage as the one-flesh union of a man and a woman, and sexuality as part of God’s good design.
“It’s what you feel. It isn’t who you are. Who you are is what the Word of God says you are.”
Her message returned to the Gospel: “God’s design is beautiful. Sin broke it. The Gospel is the cure.”
God-Given Identity and Human Dignity: Ryan Bomberger
Co-founder of The Radiance Foundation and Cornerstone National President’s Fellow, shared his own story Tuesday evening as students and the community viewed Bomberger’s autobiographical documentary, Should Have Been Aborted. Conceived in rape and adopted into a diverse family of 15, Bomberger shared how God brought unbelievably beautiful purpose and family connections from the broken circumstances of his own story. Bomberger knows the cost of challenging prevailing cultural views, having faced lawsuits, protests and intense criticism for publicly defending his convictions.
In Wednesday’s chapel, he challenged students to reject cultural definitions of identity and believe what God says about who they are. “There’s only one identity that matters,” Bomberger said. “What matters is your identity in Christ. It’s the only thing that eternally matters.”
Drawing from Genesis, he urged students not to allow brokenness, feelings or cultural labels to redefine God’s design: “Don’t ever let the world redefine what God has already designed.”
Sexual Struggle, Repentance and Christian Community: Joe Dallas
Author and pastoral counselor, Dallas spoke about experiencing same-sex attraction, becoming a Christian but still struggling with sexual temptation, leaving the church and becoming a gay activist before eventually repenting and returning to Biblical Christianity.
He emphasized repentance and obedience while challenging churches to become places where people hear the truth about the Biblical mandate of sexuality and what is good and beautiful and what is self-focused and self-satisfying. “When we are loving each other right, we make it safe to tell the truth to each other,” Dallas said. He also challenged Christians to live by the Biblical sexual standards they proclaim: know the Word of God, live the Word of God and express the Word of God.
Christ & Culture Week is an extension of The Cornerstone Core™, preparing students to carry Biblical truth into their professions, relationships and communities.
We invite you to explore Cornerstone’s 65+ academic programs, taught from the beauty and relevance of a Christian worldview.
