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What’s FREE all about?
Free-online.org.uk is a web resource that accompanies the distribution of 400,000 copies of ‘FREE’ (a student-friendly version of Mark’s Gospel, a book of the Bible) to about 150 universities and colleges in the UK. This student resource is for seekers and sceptics who want to explore the message of Jesus with an open and adult mind. This website wants to answer your questions about ‘Mark’ and it seeks to tackle the big questions of life.
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Who’s behind it?
FREE is brought to you by the Universities and Colleges Christian Fellowship (UCCF), the UK’s ‘Christian Union’ movement. With input from students throughout the entire process, and funded by supporters, UCCF have been able to design and produce a student-friendly version of Mark’s Gospel, which can be given out free-of-charge to interested students.
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Why are you doing it?
Many students have never read one of the accounts of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection. We want students throughout the UK to consider the claims of Jesus as they are presented in the source-material, so that they can come to an informed decision. Our hope is that many will choose to follow Jesus.
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Why’s it called ‘FREE’?
Jesus said that he ‘had not come to be served, but to serve’ and to give his life as ‘a ransom for many’ (Mark 10:45). Religions can be preoccupied with the details of how to go about serving god – get that right and everything will be OK. Christianity is preoccupied with how Jesus serves us! It’s so radically different! Jesus says that he has come to serve us by giving his life for us. Jesus saw his impending death as a rescue-mission; it pays the ransom-price to set us free from our slavery – that’s the point of the ‘ransom’ image. Jesus served us, by giving his life to set us free. Since that’s a big theme in ‘Mark’ we’ve called this project ‘FREE’. But what kind of freedom is Jesus offering? And what kind of slavery does he think we’re in? And how does Jesus’ death and resurrection set us free? Mark addresses these issues, and more!