From stephenk@u.washington.edu Thu Oct 25 10:16:55 2001 Received: from jason02.u.washington.edu (jason02.u.washington.edu [140.142.8.52]) by lists.u.washington.edu (8.11.6+UW01.08/8.11.6+UW01.08) with ESMTP id f9PHGrN12726 for ; Thu, 25 Oct 2001 10:16:53 -0700 Received: from dante19.u.washington.edu (daemon@dante19.u.washington.edu [140.142.15.69]) by jason02.u.washington.edu (8.11.6+UW01.08/8.11.6+UW01.08) with ESMTP id f9PHGN658582; Thu, 25 Oct 2001 10:16:24 -0700 Received: from localhost (stephenk@localhost) by dante19.u.washington.edu (8.11.6+UW01.08/8.11.6+UW01.08) with ESMTP id f9PHGNk93810; Thu, 25 Oct 2001 10:16:23 -0700 Date: Thu, 25 Oct 2001 10:16:23 -0700 (PDT) From: "S. Kim" To: , , , , , , Subject: November 9-11 Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII Hey guys! Well,...you're probably wondering what's happening between November 9th to the 11th. So let me fill you guys in: As most of you know, Barnabas Project of ANCC church now has an intern pastor from Calvin Seminary. His name is Simon Ko. Anyhow, he has offered up his home in Bellingham for a weekend of intense R*R (rest and relaxation), but also some intense thinking about our faith summed up in what is known as the apologetics. What is apologetics? Apologetics is the practice of defending the Christian faith against those who raise objections to its validity. We are commanded to be apologists (those who defend the faith) in 1 Pet. 3:15 - ". . . always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you. . . " Do you want to learn Christian apologetics? Well then, this is for you. Let your friends know...this is not exclusive for JUST BP. I know that this weekend is right smack in the middle of midterms and such, but we DO have the following monday off because of Veteran's Day...and plus (if you have work or other things), it is not mandatory that you stay the whole length of the retreat/event. We will be returning on the morning of Sunday so as to not miss our 1:00 afternoon service. Retreat fees have not been accounted for yet, but we KNOW that we are college students...and coughing up $40 bucks here and there is not what is used to be. So...we've decided to just ask for funds that would cover the meal-aspect of the retreat. So what do you say? Reply back to me so I can get a feel for who's interested. Anyhow, Simon emailed this to me so that if you guys are interested in the kinds of areas we will be discussing...here are the tentative teaching plans for the retreat: (1) "The relationship between faith and reason, heart and mind, trust and evidence." What is the true nature of faith? Is it true that the less we have evidence, the more faith we can have? Therefore, should we not then go for as much blind faith as possible? Why and why not? Can we be sure that Christianity is right for its claims? Was Jesus joking or lying or metaphorically speaking when He said, "I'm the way, the truth, and the light"? And what did He mean by these things or what are possible implications of this? Can people of other faiths be saved without explicitly knowing the gospel? What about the doctrine of Trinity? Isn't it internally inconsistent or "contradictory"? Why believe in this then while dismissing other faiths for their contradictions? Can it be made any sense at all. If not, why reason and use our mind at all? Or can it be made sense? (2) Christianity and the theory of Evolution: (Guest Speaker: Pastor Rob Haskell) The truths and myths of the theory of evolution * this is the real stuff, fellas! NOT one of those flimsy Christian defenses that you are likely to have been exposed to in regular church settings. We will look into it with MUCH more respect for the other side and think about the implications as we look at the most recent development (a very great development at that) in this controversial debate. (3) Christianity and the problem of evil and suffering. There are so much evil in this world. Many Christians have explained them away by saying how it is conducive to faith building? Is this a substantial position? What about the amount evil? Couldn't God teach us "the lessons" with a little less amount of evil? Did he really have to kill Mary at the Twin Tower to teach her son that he should have been nicer to her that morning and that he should in the future keep God at the center of His heart all the days of his life? IF God COULD indeed achieve these character-building processes with much less evil and does not, should He be deemed good or indeed evil? We shall see. (4) A shorter talk on The resurrection of Jesus: Are we kidding? What about those inconsistencies in the Bible? It must be fabricated!!! Let's weigh the evidence. (5) A short lesson on QT * How to study the Bible properly without making it say what we want it to say? Can we have more objective, yet more meaningful reading of the Scripture? Sounds like something that you would like to touch-base with? Well, let me know!! Let's learn together, strive for more depth in the concept of our faith, get to know and fellowship with one another, and share the task of being kingdom builders for the LORD. Amen? Well, sorry for the mass LONG email..Hope you guys have a great rest of the week and remember...we have bible study at the HUB this Friday at 6 in room 304D... God bless! Stephen Acts 20:35 .