[Last updated by Duane: 8 October 2010]

How do you get apologetics training into your church? “If you’re reading this,” says Mikel Del Rosario (aka The Apologetics Guy), “you’re at least interested in considering your role in making this happen. Let me commend you. Christians who ask this question understand the importance of knowing what we believe and why we believe it.”

In a recently featured article and 9-minute audio clip on Apologetics 315, Mikel briefly discusses how you can get apologetics training in your church, and does so in part by explaining how he introduced it in his.

While it can be initially disheartening to learn that Mikel launched apologetics in his church by writing his own 9-week curriculum, don’t think that you need to be able to do that, or have a Masters in apologetics like Mikel to make an important contribution to the introduction of an apologetics program in your church. In fact I began at my church just by talking to people about apologetics in general and letting them know about existing books and programs like Greg Koukl’s Tactics series. At the moment, to my knowledge there is no program like this in my church. But I have been doing Koukl’s course as a dry run with some Christian work colleagues to prepare me for any opportunity that I may have to be involved in discipling others at my church to this end.

For those of you who are interested in apologetics, I hope you find Mikel’s advice helpful.

Apologetics 315 has just posted another article with a massive list of additional resources to help you get an apologetics group started in your church. I have actually used or read a good sample of the titles on the list by Koukl and Strobel, as well as some of the Illustria Media stuff (like Unlocking the Mysteries of Life) and the debates. Sorry, I haven’t formally reviewed any of them. But I will say that based on my sampling, that I would consider the list of resources to be of a high standard. If I had to recommend one to get you started, it’d be Koukl’s Tactics book.

The theme of the Summit youth camp hosted by my local church earlier this year was The Cross of Christ. Inspired by its message, some of the youth leaders made a video that shared and captured their passion for the cross and Christ, to the tune of Lecrae’s rap song ‘Don’t Waste Your Life’.

If you’re like me you probably don’t usually listen to a lot of rap, even though it has developed for the better (IMO) over the years from the raw record-scratching street-style rhythms to find a niche in the mainstream with its combination of melody and rhyme that I think deserves to be called “music”. But if, like me, you are not normally inclined to listen to any kind of rap, can I ask that you make an exception in this case. Pay attention to the lyrics and I think you might see rap music in a whole new light, as I did. That is, a God-given gift that finds its true purpose when it is used to glorify Him!

As far as I am able to tell by some reports, Lecrae’s motivation for this song comes from John Piper’s book of the same name. Yet during the song John MacArthur gets a notable mention, so go figure?

Shot, Edited and Produced by Tim Hiatt
Featuring Jordan Collier and Ben Jackson
Special Thanks to: Amelia Smith, Georgia Hiatt and Emily Robinson
Music By Lecrae.

My own thanks also to Jordan for help in identifying some of the lyrics. Any errors are, of course, entirely my own.

Let’s go.
Don’t waste your life man

Verse 1:
I know a lot of people that are scared they gon’ die
Couple of ‘em thinkin’ they’ll be livin’ in the sky
While I’m here livin’ man I gotta ask why
What am I here for I gotta figure out
Waste my life, no I gotta make it count
If Christ is real then what am I gonna do about
Everything in Luke 12 15 down to 21 ya really gotta go and check it out
Paul said if Christ aint resurrected we wasted our lives
Would that imply that our lives drift around Jesus being alive
Everyday I live I try to show the world why
Christ is more than anything I’d ever try
Better than pretty women and sinning and living to get a minute of any woman and men that you admire
It aint no lie!
We created for Him
Out of the dust he made us for Him
Elects us and he saved us for Him
Jesus comes and he raised us for Him
Magnify the Father, why bother with something lesser?
He made us so we could bless Him (Bless Him)
To the world we confess Him
Resurrects Him
So I know I got life
Matter fact better man I know I got Christ
If you don’t see His ways in my days in my nights
You can hit my breaks you can stop my life
Man I lost my rights, lost my life
Forget the money, cars and toss that ice
The cost is Christ
And they could never offer me anything on the planet that’ll cost that price

Don’t wanna waste my life [echo]

Verse 2:
Armed and dangerous
So the devil just can’t hang with us
Christian youth they must stand wid us
Livin’ n driven, given a vision, fulfillin the commission he handed us
London to Los Angeles
The rap evangelist
Ma daddy wouldn’t abandon us
“I gotta back pack fulla tracts and I keep a Johnny Mac”
So are you ready to jam with us
so lets go
Gimme the Word and lets go
Persecution lets go
Tribulation lets go
Across the nation let’s go
Procrastination let’s go
Hung on the cross in the cold
Died for da young and the old
Can’t say you never know
Heaven knows
How many souls are going to hell or to heaven so we gotta go in and get ‘em

Don’t wanna waste my life [echo]

Verse 3:
Suffer, yeah, do it for Christ
you’re trying to figure out what to do with ya life
you make a lot of money hope your doin’ it right
Because the money is God’s, you better steward it right
And stay focused, you ain’t got no ride
Your life ain’t wrapped up in what you drive
The clothes you wear, the job you work
The color your skin, nah you’re Christian first
People get their living for a job
Make a little money start living for a car
Get em a wife, a house, kids and a dog
Then they retire, they living high on the hog
But guess what? They didn’t ever really live at all
To live is Christ, and that’s Paul I recall
To die is gain and for Christ we give it all
He’s the treasure you’ll never find in a mall
See your money, your singleness, marriage, talents, your time
They were loaned you to show the world that Christ is divine
That’s why its Christ in my rhymes
That’s why its Christ all the time
See my whole world is built around Him
He’s the life in my lines
I refuse to waste my life
He’s too true to chase that ice
Here’s my gift and time
’cause I’m constantly tryin’ ta be used to praise the Christ
If He’s truly raised to life
Then this news should change your life
And by His grace you can put your faith in the place that rules your days and nights
YES!

Don’t wanna waste my life [echo]

(Gotta give you one hundred Lord
Even when the day is done Lord
Gotta live for, for something Lord
…There’s something coz you don’t wanna waste my life)

Mary Jo Sharp just updated via Facebook that all four—Nabeel Qureshi, David Wood, Paul Rezkalla, and Negeen Mayel—have been found not guilty of disturbing the peace. Mayel’s separate charge of failure to obey stuck, though. Their lawyer will appeal.

Update:

State Representative Tom McMillin (R-Rochester Hills) had the following statement regarding the verdicts given in the trial of the four Christian missionaries arrested at the Dearborn Arab American Festival:

Today in Dearborn, the jury got it mostly right in finding Paul, David and Nabeel innocent of disturbing the peace. The city of Dearborn, the Dearborn Police and especially the Dearborn Mayor owe them a huge apology immediately.

However the guilty decision for Negeen Mayel’s charge of failure to obey a police officer is extremely disturbing to me. I met with the ACLU here in Michigan recently to make sure we had good laws protecting citizens’ right to video police officers and their activity and they said we have the model for other states.

But based on today’s decision, it seems that police in Michigan can get cameras turned off before doing questionable things (like making an arrest that was just found to be bogus by the jury). And how did the police have the right to tell Negeen Mayel to turn off her video camera and how can he touch her… for what reason? The video she took made it clear the police stepped way out of bounds.

Now, for all this charade, the city of Dearborn needs to be dealt with firmly—unless they plan to try to secede from the union and have their own laws. This is the United States of America and we here in the USA have something called Freedom of Speech. Dearborn—get used to it!

(HT: Gene Clyatt)

Update:

Marie Wood said, “The judge gave [Mayel] time served for the night she spent in jail after the initial arrest. We will fight this on appeal and all these lying police officers and officials will have to answer for their despicable deceit.”

Update:

Niraj Warikoo for the Detroit Free Press reports (in part):

Dearborn Mayor Jack O’Reilly Jr. said Friday night that he respects the decision but that the missionaries were anti-Muslim bigots pulling a publicity stunt to gain attention on YouTube in order to raise money. … “It’s really about a hatred of Muslims,” O’Reilly said. “That is what the whole heart of this is. … Their idea is that there is no place for Muslims in America. They fail to understand the Constitution.”

You, sir, are a disgrace to public office.

Update:

Nabeel Qureshi posted his thoughts on the trial and verdict. Although the entire post is really quite excellent, the last paragraph is my favourite and very teachable, wherein he not only praises the Lord for their acquittals but also praises the Lord for Mayel’s guilty verdict! “Now to our God and Father be the glory forever and ever! Amen.”

“Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” In all this, Job did not sin in what he said.

(Job 2:10).

In the opinion of fellow staff writer Luis Dizon, the objection of Young Earth creationists against the idea of death existing prior to the Fall is “one of the strongest arguments against the Old Earth position.” (See his comment on my recent article “On Old Earth vs. Young Earth debate.”) That is, if there was no death in the world prior to the Fall, then Young Earth creationism must be the only view left standing, since every other creationist view (to my knowledge) involves prelapsarian death.

(For those new to the Aristophrenium or unfamiliar with staff writer Ryft, it must be noted that he rejects both Young Earth and Old Earth creationism. Although the view he takes on Genesis 1 is uniquely different to both positions, he does believe the earth is very old, so he often defends that view with Young Earth creationists for the sake of argument. It should also be noted that Old Earth creationism interprets Genesis 1, while believing in an old earth does not. Ryft argues that the Bible is silent on the age of the earth.)

So where do Young Earth creationists get the idea that there was no death in the world prior to the Fall? I think most people know the answer: Romans 5:12-14, “Sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned … Death reigned from the time of Adam …”

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Disclaimer: The Aristophrenium does not endorse every single statement that is made by the producer(s) of this video. For instance, it is claimed that “other religious books” have contradictions in them. We do not believe that the Bible has any real contradictions in it and that any apparent contradictions can be explained and harmonized using sound Biblical exegesis. That aside, though, this video does provide good information regarding Islamic sharia law and what the Qur’an says regarding jihad, tolerance and deception. Please pass the information on.

As for those who want the primary sources, here are various quotes from the Qur’an and hadiths (as well as a quote from Ibn Kathir’s commentary) on jihad, sharia and taqiyyah:

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In this article I will be stepping out of character a little bit by writing on a subject that will do two things I typically try to avoid: (1) opposing a long-time associate of mine and fellow member of the Alpha & Omega Ministries online community; (2) engaging the Old Earth vs. Young Earth creationism debate.

I have typically avoided confronting fellow members of the Alpha & Omega Ministries online community (those with whom I enjoy regular fellowship) because for the most part we are unified on the ‘essentials’ of biblical doctrine, so that the only real source for possible conflicting views are the ‘non-essentials’. It would be pointless controversy to get into blog scuttles over that.

And I usually avoid engaging the Old Earth vs. Young Earth creationism debates since that is not only an example of a ‘non-essential’ but it also involves two views I am not committed to; I am neither an Old Earth nor Young Earth creationist. That seems like two good reasons to stand outside the debate.

But I am making an exception in this case for two reasons. First, this fellow Christian brother has submitted a rebuttal so weak that it needs challenging, in the hopes that he might reconsider or strengthen it. Second, the angle he takes on the issue implicitly raises it to the level of an ‘essential’ by invoking the doctrine of God’s sovereignty and the primacy of Scripture in our fundamental axioms.

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This is a letter that I wrote a few days ago, being addressed to my former English high school teacher (who is not a Christian). We had good discussions on matters of religion and philosophy, so I decided to send him this letter so that we may be able to continue corresponding with each other. Aside from a few minor edits (taking out typographical and stylistic errors), I have left the text in its original form. All scripture quotations are from the King James Version.

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Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice. Pilate saith unto him, What is truth?
(John 18:37-38)

The previous year was quite the encounter. I enjoyed our discussions, and it is a shame that we are no longer able to converse quite as often as we used to. But, since time never stands still, we must all move forward, and I do hope to be able to dialogue every so often when my busy schedule allows for it. Perhaps by means of these discussions we will be able to learn from each other and would have something to ponder over.

As you would know, now that I am no longer in high school, I am now able to pursue the service to which I am called. It might seem strange that I phrase things this way to most people in this day and age, given that our careers and vocations are often thought of as decisions that are made either by ourselves or by our parents. However, I do not see this as the case for myself. I am, at this moment, writing from Toronto Baptist Seminary, where I am spending one year for theological instruction before I go off to a secular university to study history. The ironic thing is that before, I had no intention of going to study history, and my heart was set towards the natural sciences rather than the humanities. However, as time passed by, I gained a clearer view of what I am to do with my life, and my old aspirations gradually faded away. I do not think, however, that any of this has to do with sheer chance. Throughout the events that pushed me in this direction and all the people I talked to for guidance, I can see the Sovereign Architect’s hand at work, as it is written, “A man’s heart deviseth his way: but the LORD directeth his steps” (Proverbs 16:9). And I am glad that He has set the way for me.

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I had a Facebook conversation with a friend of a friend, Sylwia, a while back and I thought I would share it with you. As you can see, the conversation focused mainly on love and salvation with us coming to the conclusion at the end that we are talking about different Gods. I’ll leave it up to you to decide for yourselves who you think has a more accurate portrait of the one true God.

Ashleigh: Just saw some crazy Christian guy on a street corner, yelling at people about Jesus and sin. I understand having faith – I do too and I’m thankful that Jesus died for me and my sin, but you shouldn’t yell at people who don’t and tell them they’re going to hell. It’s not really the right way to go about it..

This guy wasn’t being gentle at all. And there were 2 guys with him, holding signs and one of them actually said God HATES drunks and homosexuals. It wasn’t getting a good response from the crowd

Sylwia: God loves drunks and homosexuals the people themselves, but not the action of sin. Makes me so annoyed that people miss the point, and then others think because of it that the message contradicts itself…. Hate doesn’t make other people love, only loving others despite their failings can do that :)

Ashleigh: That’s right! It’s not a Christian’s job to judge, so I think people like that should just shut up because they make the rest of us look bad

Sylwia: Exactly :)

Adam: I thought that’s what Jesus and his apostles did…went to various town and addressed the crowds. The language used may have been different but there was still condemnation of sinners. Jesus turned almost everyone off due to his witness to the truth. Read the rest of this entry

An associate of mine, who goes by the pseudonym Noc Nocterro, recently notified me and some others about an article he had published over at UrbanPhilosophy.net called “Love Knows No Gender.” The aim of the article was “a comprehensive analysis on the debate over the moral permissibility of homosexual behaviour,” in which he argues that homosexual activity is morally permissible when it is similar in circumstances to heterosexual activity that is morally permissible. I will leave it to Mathew Hamilton to address the sociological arguments when he returns from his sabbatical. My purpose in this response is to evaluate whether or not the arguments Nocterro presents withstand critical scrutiny. And his basic argument reasons in this way:

Premise 1: In cases where the good-making properties of a behaviour are much greater than the bad-making properties, then that behaviour is prima facie morally permissible.

Premise 2: There is a subset of homosexual sexual relationships where the good-making properties are much greater than the bad-making properties.

Premise 3: There is a subset of homosexual sexual relationships that are prima facie morally permissible.

Premise 4: If there is a prima facie support for the permissibility of some-thing, and there are no good reasons to support its impermissibility, then it should be deemed permissible.

Premise 5: There are no good reasons to suppose this subset of homosexual sexual relationships are impermissible.

Conclusion: This subset of homosexual sexual relationships is permissible.

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For those who are not familiar with Louis Ruggiero, he runs an apologetics website called the King Messiah Project. He is quite Arminian in his theology, and has been charged by some of being a Pelagian (although he denies this charge). He is known primarily for his diatribes against Calvinism. For example, some time back, he and Matt Slick tried to set up a debate on Total Depravity, but the debate was scrapped because Lou would not stick to the topic at hand. More recently, he has published a book called The God of Calvinism: A Rebuttal of Reformed Theology. He attempts to present it as a rebuttal to Dr. White’s The Potter’s Freedom, and interestingly enough, the foreword is written by none other than Ergun M. Caner. Unfortunately, I don’t have a copy of the book with me right now (although one of my friends who has dialogued with Ruggiero before does, and perhaps I can borrow it from him). So, until I can get my hands on the book, I will instead deal with an article he has posted on his website titled, Refuting the Tulip With the Fear of the LORD.[1]

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