Dear Friends and Family,
We are actually in the middle of the second day of the Apologetics Conference in Ishaka, Uganda at Ishaka Community Church. I am taking a break from one of the lectures so I can get this started and I hope to finish later tonight. It has been a full, information packed day. Some of the information was common apologetics themes but one in particular was cutting edge and definitely futuristic.
After introductions, Ben Clifton, one of the founders of Adventurous Apologetics, introduced the conference and reminded the attendees what apologetics is all about, that is being able to give rational answers to questions people are asking about the Bible and Christianity.
I followed Ben with my first presentation entitled “Worldview Matters”. I explained what a worldview is and what influences our worldview. A big influencer is culture. I defined culture and who are culture’s influencers and how easily we are influenced by culture. If you prayed for me…. Thank you! I felt like it went well.
Then I gave an overview of the biblical Christian worldview, the deistic worldview, then naturalism, postmodernism, Islamic, and the African Traditional Religion worldview.
It’s interesting that according to a recent study, 65% of Americans call themselves “Christians” but only 6% have a biblical worldview.
My presentation was followed by one on the history and teaching of Seventh Day Adventism and the Prosperity Gospel (i.e. the Word Faith Movement).
That was followed by Kristin’s presentation on the reliability of the Old Testament. She has spent a lot of time researching archeological evidence that validates many of the disputed claims in the Old Testament.
After lunch, Kristin gave a second presentation. This is a major development in science and technology. It is hard to describe this in a short paragraph. Look up “transhumanism.” There is an attempt in the science and technology areas to create robots (AI=artificial intelligence) that can think, act, respond, create, and feel like a human. They believe that if they can do this, it will prove that God does not exist. Many are insisting that this is the next step in the evolutionary chain. Kristin is a software engineer and is writing her PhD dissertation on the topic and explain why their attempts will fall short and that man will never be able to create a robot that can replace man. NOTE: Bill Gates (Microsoft) and Elon Musk (Space X) both believe this venture has very dangerous possibilities. It was a fascinating, brain stretching presentation.
After another break, Ben gave a presentation on Science and Apologetics. In fact that is going on right now while I am typing this in my room. Dinner is next then we will be having an evening session of questions and answers. I’ll report on that when we get back and before I send this report.
NOTE THIS IS THE END OF THUSDAY. I GOT SICK (FOOD POISIONING I THINK) AND NEVER FINISHED TUES REPORT. Unfortunately I missed the big apologetics Q&A session at the church. I was looking forward to it.
WEDNESDAY REPORT
I will make this quick. It was not nearly as packed as Tuesday. We stayed at the guest house most of the day. Our audience was 5 or 6 from the apologetics team from Ishaka Comm Church. I had about 35 minutes to give my presentation on where do we find purpose and meaning. Then tonight we were sent to a girls school and had about an hour to answer their questions.
PURPOSE AND MEANING
My presentation basically starts by showing that God’s exists. Then we ask if God has spoken which He has in the Bible. Then we looked at several passages that give insights into His purpose for our lives. It starts in Gen 1:28… be fruitful and multiply. I zero in on God’s design and plan for families. And the rest are based on the theme of putting God at the center of everything.
I think I am going to shut this off. It is almost 10pm and I still need to pack for our trip back to Banana Village to spend the night before flying on Friday. I fly back to Nairobi and they start for home.
I’ve put several more pictures into the album. The packed schedule has not left much time to do all I’d like to do to keep you in the loop. But hopefully you have gotten a taste of what we’ve done here.
Thanks for praying.
By His grace,
Steve
Thanks Dr.Steve you are having challenge’s but the same God who is in front you will continue walking with you
I wonder how serious it is but you never get tired because the mighty God is leading you and the strong apologetic teaching also it is well understand
The great God whose work you are doing will see you though
This is amazing, hoping your health is better