Day two of the conference is now done, the activities officially concluded in my mind now that I have entered all twenty books into my digital library via Delicious Monster. I don’t like to cut these posts short, but as it is midweek of the conference and I want to be rested for the following day, I will make this brief.
Apart from the moving rendition of “It is well” in a cappella with both halves of the room facing each other, the most significant “take away” from the day for me was the analysis of the “new atheist” by Nate Buzenitz. The significance of the “new atheist” as opposed to a traditional atheist is the hell bent mentality of these people to see the end of all religion. No longer are they happy enough to deny God and let the “wacko” Christians do their own thing, they are on a mission to oust all religion (Christians) from existence.
In my own experience, this movement has quickly picked up the banner of same sex marriage and abortion rights as weapons in their arsenal to hunt after believers. While in the university scene I was constantly ridiculed, yelled at and ostracized in and outside of classes by fellow students who found my “intolerant” religion - intolerable. I experienced professors grading my papers low because of my beliefs and I have had other classmates threaten me with physical harm. If we don’t think that “it can happen here” - “it” has already taken root in the colleges and universities where the masses of youth are being recruited into the army of the “living dead” (that’s a pun) that is setting out to wage a public war against religion.
Now, lest I sound to heavy on the “head for the hills” mantra - the point I endeavor to make is not one of “prepare for battle.” The point that Dr. Buzenitz made that I found extremely deeply encouraging is the truth that the Holy Spirit ALONE will be the agent of change. While we as believers do have some nice “evidences” that are pieces of God’s grace to use that we can use in “proving” God’s existence - be it through natural discoveries that support the creationism or avenues of logical argument that disprove evolution… the point still remains that we cannot “prove” Christ exists because that is not our job to do. Our job is to proclaim Christ and He will reveal himself to those whom he has chosen. Praise God for His goodness to us in that, while we can expect greater hardships to come - it is not a matter of our own strength or eloquence to win the battle. Our faithfulness to His word is our charge and His revelation of Himself is His mighty, sovereign and gracious work.
This true story was told during the seminar. A young man on a college campus was arguing with an evangelist. The young man was attempting to argue that Jonah could not have been swallowed by a giant fish and then spewed back on to land three days later. The evangelist told him that he was happy to discuss Jonah and the whale with him - but first he wanted to finish telling him about Jesus. The evangelist continued through a gospel presentation at which point the Holy Spirit did a work in the college students life and he came to know the Lord through the conversation. After the tears of repentance cleared, the evangelist asked if he wanted to still discuss Jonah? The college student replied by saying no, if the Bible says it happened, he believed it happened.
It is Christ that saves souls and makes alive the truths of scripture, not our cleverness of argument.
That is all I have for tonight, all that I can muster up - it is not 11pm again and I really ought to be getting myself some sleep before tomorrow begins. Some rumors running about on the topic of tomorrow’s sessions promises to be a VERY interesting day. Please continue to pray for us as we press on and sit under the quality teaching for the rest of the week. Enjoy!
“Almighty, Most Holy Lord, Faithful through the ages” comes to my mind. Thanks for “taking us to class” with you. May we be found living IN and speaking OUT His Word.