Does Islam or Christianity oppress women? Jay Smith and Mohamed Ali

From http://www.premier.org.uk/unbelievable, here is the MP3:

http://media.premier.org.uk/unbelievable/6e95c37b-33f7-4fdf-adb2-b628ab78914b.mp3

Tas Walker in Palmy North 26 Sept

Tas Walker from Creation Ministries international is in Palmy North on Friday night.

Details: Friday 26 September, 7.30pm, public meeting, Central Baptist Church, 190 Church Street, Palmerston North.

More here.

Racism and Christianity

I have a friend who describes herself as a “disinterested agnostic”. For several years I have tried to understand where she is coming in terms of her worldview. She is quite reluctant to talk to me about these things, which is perhaps understandable. She has been known to make some rather strong assertions regarding morality — for example, female circumcision, treatment of women in Afghanistan, and “white-flight” from schools that apparently have too many Muslims and indigenous attendees.

Recently she wrote about the latter on her blog, to which I responded:

I don’t personally like racism, and certainly feel emotionally for those who suffer at the hands of others, simply because their appearance is different due to minute differences in genetic coding.

However, at an intellectual level, I find it much more difficult to reject racism as evil. Indeed, to believe racism is actually evil, I would have to believe first that evil actually exists.

But how do I get to this realization?

If you are thinking: “what a moron — of course evil exists”, then convince me as to how you arrived that that conclusion.

Stating “this is evil” or “that is evil” is only making assertions, and even racists are good at making assertions. For an assertion to carry any weight, it requires a foundation, lest it just be merely an empty assertion.

So what do you think? Does she have a case, or is she being inconsistent with her worldview? Is she making baseless assertions? Or am i just being too hard on her?

Help Us Get Lawmakers Expelled

Dear friends,

We’re excited to be able to tell you that on October 21^st Expelled: No Intelligence Allow, starring Ben Stein, will be released on DVD. In Expelled, Stein brilliantly exposed the widespread persecution of scientists and educators who are pursuing legitimate science that challenges Darwin’s theory of evolution.

Rush Limbaugh called the movie “powerful” and “fabulous” and said Stein’s “interviews with some of the professors who espouse Darwinism are literally shocking.”

Read more

The Darwin Lectures

National Radio are running this series. Check out the MP3s here.

Apologetics Study Bible

Watch the video here.

• General Editor: Ted Cabal
• Associate Editors: Chad Owen Brand, E. Ray Clendenen, Paul Copan, and J. P. Moreland
• Contributors: Charles Colson, John Frame, Norman L. Geisler, Al Mohler, Ravi Zacharias, and dozens more
• Broadman & Holman Publishing Group | 1999, 2007

Sample Pages: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11

Human beings are the only creatures who ask questions. Major questions.

• Can I know that God exists?
• Am I the product of a blind evolutionary process or was I created by God?
• How strong is the evidence for Jesus’ resurrection?
• Is the Bible reliable and true?
• Do I have a destiny beyond my life on earth?
• Can evil be reconciled with belief in God who is both all-powerful and all-loving?

Read more

Islam Expert Patrick Sookhdeo in Palmerston North

Patrick Sookhdeo from the Barnabas Fund will be in Palmerston North in September.

Venue: Kingston Street Community Church (website), Palmerston North.

Date:  Wednesday, 3 September

Start time:  7 p.m.

Event sponsored by Global Connections in Mission.

ARN - Real Science-4-Kids

What is Kogs-4-Kids?

Kogs-4-Kids is a workbook set that has just been released that supports the Real Science-4-Kids curriculum. This workbook set helps students make cognitive connections between the scientific discipline they are studying (chemistry, biology, physics, and earth and space) and other disciplines such as critical thinking, language, technology, the arts, philosophy, and history. Kogs-4-Kids plus Real Science-4-Kids work together to create not only a foundation for scientific knowledge but also a framework for scientific literacy.

Order the complete Chemistry 1A Bundle today or the individual workbooks of interest (recommended for grades 3-5).  You can also download sample chapters for each topic.  Find out why kids are going krazy for kogs.

Muslim Awareness Week

I decided to go to a “Koran and Bible” talk at Massey University tonight, held as part of Islam Awareness Week. It was mildly interesting, and perhaps would have been more so had the material been easier to follow. Here are a few thoughts about the meeting:

• Most of the people there were Muslim, with a small handful of others I suspect were non-Muslim.
• The speaker made it abundantly clear, several times, that he did not want to offend anyone.
• He also made it abundantly clear that he was not there to convert or try to convert anyone.
• He made an intense effort to show Muhammad within the Bible, in prophecies and other verses.
• I met several people there who I had taught over the last couple of years, and had a quick and pleasant chat to a few of them.

With those comments in mind, here are a few responses:

• First, the Bible tells us the gospel is offensive. That is not to say that we ought to be offensive! 1 Peter 3:15-16 in fact commands the opposite. But we must not let the presentation of the gospel be subdued by the offense it may cause as it is intrinsically offensive.

But set Christ apart as Lord in your hearts and always be ready to give an answer to anyone who asks about the hope you possess.  Yet do it with courtesy and respect, keeping a good conscience, so that those who slander your good conduct in Christ may be put to shame when they accuse you. (1 Peter 3:15-16)

• The Bible claims that there is only one true God and that those who do not follow Christ in this life will be absent from Christ’s kingdom and presence in the next life. It makes many other claims that exclude the possibility of both the Bible and Koran being God’s revelation. So, they cannot both be true. They could both be false, but let’s not fool around by suggesting they could both be true. Simple logic dictates that this is impossible.
  So, if a Muslim stands before people and talks as a Muslim, he is implicitly saying that his beliefs are right, and it logically follows that the beliefs of Christians are wrong. So, the Muslim, believing he is right, must believe that the Christian (me) is wrong. So let’s not beat around the bush — he may not explicitly want to convert me, but it is certainly in the back of his mind, because I am following a religion that is not true, or at least not as true as Islam.
  Personally, I would prefer to be more up front. I would love to have gotten up and shared the gospel with these people, whom I happen to quite like and respect by the way. And I would love to have told them that I DO want to convert them, because I believe they are wrong, their religion is false, and their eternity does not rest in good hands. I would love to have told them they need forgiveness — and that they can have it freely — and that it is by grace and not any works they have to do.
• The thrust of the talk covered a lot of verses in quick succession which would all need to be looked up. There are some great talks and debates on YouTube and www.bethinking.org.uk that cover many of the arguments used.
• Lastly, I hope to have more contact with these people - the men at least. I have found the Muslim women very reluctant not only to talk to me, but even to look at me. I find this sad, but Patrick Sookhdeo from Barnabas Fund (soon in New Zealand) gives this advice in his excellent little book “A Christian’s Pocket Guide to Islam“:

The Christian should only seek to talk to those of the same sex. Any conversation with the opposite sex should be at the Muslim’s initiative. Never touch anyone of the opposite sex, even to shake hands, unless the other person initiates it. Try also to avoid eye contact with the opposite sex, even if a conversation develops.Treat both the Bible and Quran with great respect, not placing them on the floor and not writing in them.

Dr. James White on Apologetic Methodology

You might find this useful. This is James White’s 3 part series on consistent apologetic methodology. He does it in light of specific apologetics debates, which makes it more useful too.

• http://www.aomin.org/podcasts/20080722fta.mp3
• http://www.aomin.org/podcasts/20080724fta.mp3
• http://www.aomin.org/podcasts/20080729fta.mp3

Homepage is www.aomin.org.

The New Atheists: Old Arguments, New Attitude

Support Stand to Reason and buy these MP3s ($3.99 USD)

by Gregory Koukl

2 Audio MP3 Files & Study Notes in PDF

The titles are numerous and daunting: God Is Not Great—How Religion Poisons Everything (Christopher Hitchens), The God Delusion (Richard Dawkins), Breaking the Spell—Religion as Natural Phenomenon (Daniel Dennett), The End of Faith—Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason (Sam Harris).  Worse, they’ve also been dominating the bestseller lists recently.

The authors are a new breed of skeptics, atheists with an attitude.  They’re convinced religion is not just false, it’s dangerous.  This puts followers of Christ right in the crosshairs in a new campaign against the Gospel.  With these “new atheists,” though, there’s a lot more bark than bite in their challenge.  Greg will walk you through the issues, answer their charges, and demonstrate that the real culprit is not religion, but false religion, or true religion improperly or inconsistently applied.

This presentation is also available on audio CD.

DVDs

More Great Books

Great Books

Greg Koukl and Stand to Reason have their own video page

And here it is…

http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=STRvideos

Lots of great stuff here!

William Lane Craig debates John Shook in Canada, 2008

Full videos of the debate are located here.

Thanks to our friends at Apologetics 315.

A Massive compilation of materials

www.apollos.ws

Five Sacred Crossings: A Novel Approach to Reasonable Faith

Dr. Craig Hazen has written this novel as an apologetics work, and it is really cool (well, I’m half way thru right now).

You can grab a free chapter download here:

http://www.conversantlife.com/files/resource_downloads/FiveCrossing.pdf

Lots of reviews of the book here:

http://www.conversantlife.com/five-sacred-crossings-novel-approach-reasonable-faith

Video interviews for you to watch at the same link.

Oh, and i t is quite a short book — 169 pages ad a really enjoyable and exciting read. Perhaps a first for an apologetics book?

Looking for a good church in Palmerston North?

Then check out Christ Sanctuary! Lots of young people, and lots on intelligent thinking, which is rather scarce in evangelical churches

http://www.christsanctuary.org.nz/index.php

We are currently going through a series on The Apostle’s Creed…

Excellent stuff!

Palmy Conference on Islam and the Church

Come and hear three Australian Christian leaders and a former Iranian Muslim better inform you about Islam and how to relate positively to Muslim people.

To be held at St. Albans Church, 339 Albert Street, on June 10th (Tuesday) and 11th (Wednesday).

Only $50 to attend. (are there student rates available? Or what about just the evening talks?)

Hear the testimony of Iranian convert Dr. Shayesteh, now a follower of Christ, on Tuesday 10th at 7pm.

For more info and to register, contact Steve Jourdain 357 3571.

Dr. Brad Harrub 4-night Bible & Science Seminar

Dr. Brad Harrub will be conducting a 4 night Bible & Science Seminar at the Riverdale School hall starting on Sun. 20 April, Mon. 21, Tue. 22, Wed. 23 at 6pm.

Each night there will be two 25 minute lessons with a 10 minute break in between. The final lesson will be followed by a question and answer session in which Brad will field questions from the floor.

This proved especially popular last year.

Brad is a well qualified, highly entertaining and engaging speaker. He holds a Ph.D in Neurobiology and Anatomy earned from the University of Tennessee and publishes/co-edits his own Christian apologetics magazine "Think."

I would greatly appreciate it if you would promote Brad’s visit at the next apologetics meeting and amongst any other contacts that you feel might be interested. For more information people can contact me at: 355-4580 or e-mail: nathrachp@xnet.co.nz

Christian Evidences Camp @ Foxton Beach

HOSTED BY THE PALMERSTON NORTH CHURCH OF CHRIST

WHERE? FOXTON BEACH BOYS BRIGADE, FOXTON BEACH.

WHEN? SAT. 19TH APRIL TO WED. 23RD APRIL (FIRST WEEK OF THE SCHOOL HOLIDAYS)

WHAT? CHRISTIAN EVIDENCES CAMP designed to quip Christians of all ages with the cutting edge scientific discoveries. While everyone is invited to come, we are especially aiming our lessons at our youth and young adults/intermediate/college/university). Families are most welcome. There will be special classes for all ages from cradle roll to adults. During the day there will be various sports activities and other fun events organised.

ACCOMODATION: Although the camp sleeps 70 indoors, there is plenty of space for tents and caravans. You may also like to consider other options such as a beach bach or even a local motel.

DAY CAMPPERS:  Simply pay for your meals.  Breakfast and lunch cost $5, while tea costs $10.

WHO? BRAD HARRUB & DEWAYNE BRYANT. Two of the leading scientists in the church today. Both men are well qualified, exciting and and experienced speakers. Other special classes for children will be conducted by members of the Palmerston North church of Christ.

COST? $60 PER PERSON. We are trying to keep costs down to an absolute minimum as we want as many people to attend as possible. This covers food and accomodation. 2x 30 people dorms are available and there is plenty of space for tents.

RSVP. Please let us know if before 1 April. There is a limit of 70 people in the dorms and a total of 120 (tent space) so the sooner you let me know the better chance you will have of getting a cabin. There are also three family cabins available which I will give out on a first in first served basis. We are also opening up the camp to members of the public as we believe this is something all people can benefit by.

CONTACT: Nathan Paki, 355-4580 or e-mail: nathrachp@xnet.co.nz

Check Brad out here: http://focuspress.org/

MIT Jewish History Course

21H.914 Jewish History from Biblical to Modern Times

Course Description

This course explores how our views of Jewish history have been formed and how this history can explain the survival of the Jews as an ethnic/religious group into the present day. Special attention is given to the partial and fragmentary nature of our information about the past, and the difficulties inherent in decoding statements about the past that were written with a religious agenda in mind. It also considers complex events in Jewish history — from early history as portrayed in the Bible to recent history, including the Holocaust.

John Frame: Apologetics, History of Philosophy, Christian Thought courses for MP3 players

Thanks to those who write to us, especially Rob M from Memphis!

Greetings: I wanted to write a short note to thank you for the excellent resources available on your site.  You’ve aggregated some great articles and other materials and have become a really good clearinghouse for students of apologetics.

May I commend to you another resource? I’m about to graduate from Reformed Theological Seminary’s Virtual Campus, and many of their lectures are online and available from Itunes via a link you can reach here:

http://itunes.rts.edu/

Of particular interest for your site will be the complete John Frame apologetics course and also his History of Philosophy and Christian Thought course, also complete and free here.

Please do continue to keep up your web site.  It’s very helpful not only for your fellow Kiwis, but for those of us in other parts of the world as well.

Tim Keller — ‘The Reason for God’ book interviews

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