Hi Everyone,
I am settling in for the night in Bulawayo, Zimbabwe. Many of you have probably heard of Harare but I doubt that many if any have heard of Bulawayo. Well, this is the second largest city in Zimbabwe.
Even after 26 years of traveling to Africa, I still appreciate “smooth sailing.” Zimbabwe might be best known for it’s former revolutionary and president, Robert Mugabe who served as Prime Minister from 1980-87, and president from 1987-2017. According to Wikipedia, he identified as a Marxist-Leninist in the 1970 and 80s, and a socialist in the 1990s and thru the remainder of his career.
I am not too aware of the current political situation here but as an outsider, I like and appreciate what I see and experience. Here are a few examples: English is spoken commonly (used in education, government, and commerce) and from to an American ear, it is easier to understand than some other African countries where English is spoken. They use the USD ($) as their primary currency, no exchange rates to navigate. The airports are clean and easy to navigate. The Harare (capital city) airport is one of the best I’ve had to use in Africa. Visas are available upon arrival, no applying in advance, and getting through immigration on your way into the country is not cumbersome. Oh, and there are stop lights in the cities and people obey them when driving.
I will be here two days and three nights before heading to Rwanda on Thursday. For the next two days I will be speaking at an Apologetics Seminar. My four topics Monday will be 1) An Intro to Apologetics 2) Worldview Matters 3) Is Christianity a White Man’s Religion? 4) If God, Then Why Evil? And Finding the Answer in God’s Story (i.e. Creation, Fall, Redemption, Restoration).
My goal is not just to pass on knowledge but to, hopefully, help questioning believers strengthen their faith, answering the questions of skeptics and unbelievers, and helping believers learn to answer the questions of skeptics simply, and quickly, using questions to answer questions (as opposed to an hour long lecture).
Here’s a quickie for you: Someone says, “If God exists and is all powerful and all loving, and evil exists, then God isn’t all powerful or is unloving, or doesn’t care that people suffer.
The first point is that they just admitted that God exists. Hmm? What? How? If they state that evil exists then they are acknowledging that good exists. Because without “good” the opposite of good, “evil” cannot exist. So, if good
and evil exist, some transcendent being has to be the one to define what is good. Otherwise, it is just the opinion of one person or a group of people, and people and groups can differ on what is good and what is evil. I’ve heard it said that one culture teaches to “love your neighbor.” Another teaches they are to “eat their neighbor.” Both claim that they are teaching “rightness” and “goodness.” There has to be a transcendent definer of “good” and “right” for it to apply to every person and culture.
So, if someone says to you God doesn’t exist because if He did, He would stop the evil. Our response, then, is to ask: So are you saying that both good and bad exist? (Yes) Then who is it that has defined whatt is good and what is not? I had this discussion with a friend months ago on Facebook and he had no answer.
· Pray that this seminar will be more than an academic exercise.
· Pray that those in attendance will see the practical value and be interested in learning ways to be more effective in defending the truth claims of Christianity.
· Pray that I’ll be able to make it practical for them.
All for now. I’ve added some pictures from today to the photo album. CLICK HERE.
And if you want to comment: Reply to me here.
By His grace,
Steve
ITEM Next Gen Speaker/Apologist