September

I remember when I created this blog thinking, I will write a simple little blog every month at the half way point and I'll be very diligent with it.  Turns out this is not such a high priority on my to-do list. If you are getting these blog posts but want a more consistent update, please let me know and I will send you my monthly prayer letter, which I actually do send out on time each month.

Anyway, much has happened since my last post, which I think was like April or something. At this point in the year we've seen 19 students come into a personal relationship with our Lord Jesus Christ. Just yesterday we got a new Chinese sister! She had been studying the gospel of Mark with Amanda and Vincy (another Chinese christian) and decided she wanted to put her faith in the Lord.

This semester I have made it a point to spend some more time doing evangelism on campus. I've started doing more worldview questions, just asking the basic 4 questions that a worldview must be able to coherently answer to be a reliable view of reality:
1. Origin - Where did everything come from
2. Purpose - What's the meaning or purpose of life and everything
3. Morality - What determines right from wrong and where did this morality sensor come from
4. Destination - Where is everything headed, specifically you, when you die

And then I include a fifth question:
5. Epistemology - How do you know that your worldview is correct?
(If they say they don't know, I ask them if they care)

Brace yourself, I'm about to rant:
These questions are direct and they go in a direction that I know is pertinent to this culture which typically denies that truth even matters. How can truth NOT matter?!!  Often times students tell me that it's not their place to tell someone else if they are right or wrong. I'll ask them if that is ALWAYS true. They'll usually say yes. To which I'll show them an example of a time when it's obviously not true:

Let's say their best friend has a dream one night that they can fly. They wake up believing with absolute certainty that they are able to fly. So they call you up and tell you to get the video camera. They want to go to the Kangaroo Cliffs and test out their theory. What are you to do? Are you going to say, "Well to each his own" or "Well it's not my place to tell them they are wrong." Are you going to let your friend jump off a cliff to their death in the name of "tolerance"?  Truth matters!  And if you know the truth, and that truth will save those who don't know it, then not only is it OK for you to speak up, it is your DUTY to speak truth and do all that you can to show them that they are wrong.

And I'm not in the business of just showing simple truths like "brushing your teeth will help prevent cavities" or "driving drunk is stupid and dangerous". I'm in the business of saving eternal lives. We are all destined for an eternal separation from Love, from all that is good, to a place of terrible weeping. Is it not my DUTY to show that TRUTH exists, TRUTH is knowable, and TRUTH is free? How can one say it doesn't matter what is true? Why is this culture so apathetic???!!! I pray that America would not move in this direction. We must stand for what is true. We must never let that go.

The direction of "modernity" is to classify certain sorts of knowledge into two categories: one which is knowable and public (aka science and math) and the other is not knowable and is private (aka morality, spirituality, and religion). This means that you can speak the "truth" so long as it fits into an equation. But as soon as you begin to suggest that something can be known outside the science lab, you are called an unenlightened religious bigot. "The only things which are comprehensibly knowable are those things which are proven scientifically."  Really? If that is true than you must also be able to prove that very sentiment scientifically. You let me know when you've done that.

We don't operate from day to day excluding all knowledge that isn't scientific. Do you ever operate based on what you 'remember'? Probably every minute of the day right. Well that's history, not science. Do you ever drive through a green light without worrying that someone is going to drive through their red light and smash into your car? Well that's not science. There's no scientific law prohibiting them from doing so. You're actually living by faith in that situation. Ever wanted to do something wrong, and then decided you wouldn't do it...not because you couldn't get away with it, but because you recognized that it wasn't right? That's not science. That's morality.  Ever fallen in love? And how did you know you were in love? Did you go to the local scientist to ask him to test your endorphins? Nope you didn't.  We don't need science to "prove" something in order to know that it's true. And yet this is how most people I meet think we must approach the question of God's existence.

Or I'll ask them "what would it take for you to believe in God?" And they'll say, "he would need to come to earth and tell me he's real."  To which I'll say, "and if he did that, do you think people should believe in him in 2000 years from now? Cuz he already came to earth and said he was God."  This is where we turn to history.

Can we trust the Bible? Is the New Testament reliable? Who was Jesus? What did he really say? What did he really do? Did he die on a Roman cross? Are there other accounts of this? And did his body really go missing? Where did it go? Could he have come back to life? And if he did, what implications does that have about WHO HE IS?

Many of you know who Lee Strobel is. He wrote a short book to look into these questions called "The Case for Easter." It's only 95 pages and quite good. I recommend it all the time. I've given out a few copies on campus to those who are willing to take the challenge. If you are interested in looking into this topic that's a good introduction.

Well at this point, my ranting is done. I shall now turn to preparing for the worldviews conference (Oct 16) that I am hosting with Kris and Nate, and at which my dad will be the key note speaker.

Please continue to pray for us here in Brisbane. Sometimes I fluctuate between compassion for these students and other times utter shock and disgust at their attitude toward these questions. It's not so much that they don't believe - that I understand and have seen all my life. But the attitude of apathy toward truth...well it's a little bit like someone coming to help you off a sinking ship, at which point you spit in their face and say "I'm not sinking and even if I was it wouldn't matter".   So please keep the prayer coming.  Much love, agape love.

BTC