October 5, 2013

Facts & Faith Symposium

By John Paine

Facts & Faith

(A Three-part Vine Life Symposium)
November 10th, 17th and 24th, 2013
6:30-8:30 p.m. at the Williamsburg Community Chapel

The Christian faith is founded in reality.  The events in the Bible really happened, and the Bible is completely trustworthy in all that it reports and represents.  Not completely convinced?  Join us for a three-night symposium entitled Facts & Faith as we present the astounding corroboration of the Bible that is found in science.  The Williamsburg Community Chapel was founded by scientists, who will participate in a facilitated panel discussion to answer questions from the audience after viewing one special video each evening, including:

1- The Case for a Creator (Lee Strobel documentary)
2- Dual Revelation (from Reasons To Believe)
3- Cosmic Fingerprints (Hugh Ross presentation to Willow Creek Church)

Topics will cover: the incredible fine tuning of the universe from cosmology, astrophysics, and biology; the concordance between God’s Dual Revelation in the book of Scripture and the book of nature; and the incredible accuracy of Old Testament writing that is just now being appreciated in 21st century scientific discoveries that even prominent atheists agree can only be explained by the existence of an intelligent designer.  Please join us for teaching and sharing that will definitely lift your appreciation for the veracity of the Bible.

Click here to register (it’s free).  Registration is not required but helps our hosts provide the coffee and seating.

HT: Arlene Vander Loon, Eileen Grant, Jessica Grimes, Marion Paine, Dave Rudy, Clarke Morledge, David Thompson, Dick Terman, Ken Petzinger

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October 4, 2013

The Dis-Comfort of Evolution vs. God

By Clarke Morledge
Helpful evangelistic tool or yet another stumbling block for others to hear the Gospel? Ray Comfort's new video raises a controversy.

Helpful evangelistic tool or yet another stumbling block for others to hear the Gospel? Apologist Ray Comfort’s new video raises a controversy.

Is it ever appropriate for a Christian to misrepresent the beliefs of other people?

Surely, the answer to this is a no-brainer, but apparently a controversy over a recent evangelistic film suggests evidentially that not all Christians agree when this is happening.  Lest you think that I woke up on the wrong side of bed this morning, let me tell you that there is something bugging me here that simply will not go away.

Though I am not overly familiar with him, I understand that Ray Comfort is an apologist from New Zealand with a ministry to reach out to a lost and hurting world. In the summer of 2013, Ray Comfort released a 40-minute video, Evolution vs. God, which is designed to challenge beliefs about evolution and present a case for the Gospel. Comfort interviews science professors and college students who claim to be atheists because of their confidence that science has somehow disproven the Bible. I have had a chance to see the film, but I have a very mixed reaction to it.
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September 27, 2013

Bill Nye…. and Bible Guy?

By Clarke Morledge
Bill Nye, the Science Guy. Comedian and science educator for a generation of young people. Now a participant in the culture wars??

Bill Nye, the Science Guy. Comedian and science educator for a generation of young people. Is Bill Nye now taking sides in the culture wars??

I love watching Bill Nye, the Science Guy. Back in the 1990s, I would get up on Saturdays and watch Bill Nye’s science television show on PBS. It was fast-paced, slapstick comedy, but it was a very clever way to get young people excited about science.

Recently, while most folks were watching Bill Nye enter the realm of Dancing with the Stars (watch Bill go!….Bill! Bill! Bill!), here at Veracity, we have noticed a more serious “cha-cha” move by the geekie-favorite Science Guy.  It appears that Bill Nye has entered the fray about the status of education in America. Nye is concerned that Americans might be losing the innovative edge in science and technology. What is the culprit for Nye? “Creationism.”
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September 23, 2013

Generous Justice

By Clarke Morledge
Is there a connection between the Bible's teaching on justification by faith alone and living a life that promotes justice? Tim Keller says, "Yes!"

“Faith alone saves, but the faith that saves is never alone”.   This quote, often attributed to the Protestant Reformer John Calvin, reveals an important truth that pastor/author Tim Keller wants everyone to know.

A lot of people experience injustice.   A lot of people find themselves on the receiving end of life’s bitter struggles. Then along comes some Bible-toting Christian saying that “all you need is Jesus“.  Well, how does Jesus help you when you can not pay your medical bills, you lost your job, or when your spouse ran off with someone else and left you in thousands of dollars of credit card debt?

Is the Christian faith just some pie-in-the-sky hope for an eternal future or does it mean something for the here and now? Ouch.

Meet Timothy Keller.  Keller is a pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City.  This fall our church is doing a six-week study on his book Generous Justice: How God’s Grace Makes Us Just.   Many critics of historic, orthodox Christian faith complain that the Bible stands in the way of really making progress towards eliminating injustice in our world today.   Others find that efforts to promote “social justice” in the church are undercutting the message of the Bible.

In his book, Tim Keller is attempting to make a crucial connection between the experience of God’s grace on the one hand with a life empowered to live justly with our neighbor on the other.   The following is a 30-minute talk where Keller summarizes the message of his book based on the teachings he finds in the Bible.  Does he succeed in making that crucial connection?

2 Comments   |  tags: , , , | posted in Witnesses

September 21, 2013

Life After Death (Part 1)

By John Paine
Serenity

Serenity by Henri Martin, 1899

Have you ever tried to share the concept of Heaven with someone who doesn’t understand much about the Christian faith?  The theology of Heaven can be a stumbling block to those who have haven’t thought much beyond caricatures of floating angels and harps in an afterlife.  How can something that every reasoning adult must process be so subject to myth and misconception? Can an apologetic approach help?

Yvonne Brendley recently gave me back issues of Bill Brendley‘s Areopagus Journal, published by the Apologetics Resource Center. The Fall 2011 edition addresses the topic of life after death.

So is there evidence for life after death?  This journal will address biblical, historical, philosophical, and scientific evidences that support the reality of life after death as well as refute false ideas about it.
Craig Branch, Senior Editor, Areopagus Journal, Fall 2011

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5 Comments   |  tags: , , , , , | posted in Apologetics, Topics