The second day had some amazing speakers as well.
Ergun Caner – Islam
This guy was Muslim, attended VBS and became a Christian! His two brothers are now also Christians and all three work in reaching the Muslim people. They have been rejected by their families for converting to Christianity! Now that is persecution people.
In our culture, people are either religious, and if not religious, then they call themselves spiritual.
Religious = believe there is an endpoint (heaven/hell), there right/wrong and generally an operation manual
Spiritual = its all a journey
While most people would say that Islamic, Jewish and Christian believers all believe in the same God, but Islamic people would disagree. I know that I disagree as well.
We all may use the name God or use similar language, but it’s the nature of God that matters, not the name of God. If we go to the nature of God, then Islam and Christians do not have the same God.
Islam is a medieval Mormonism. Mohammed (7th century) did the same thing Joseph Smith (9th century). Caner laid out several parallels between the two. There are over 45!!
Both believed that all true religion had died on earth until they arrived
-Both had visions with angels
-Allah doesn’t communicate directly with man and in Mormonism, God communicates through prophet to the people
-If you speak of the Spirit, Islamic people will think you are talking of the Angel Gibrael
Judaism had the truth and lost it, so Islam corrects that. Christianity had the truth and lost it, and Mormonism is to fix it.
Built their texts on redaction and abrogation
-HUGE words that mean they picked and chose what they wanted from the Bible and other texts, put in what they wanted and changed some of what is in there
-Also believe you need their book to properly read the Bible
Both replace Israel
-Islam believes they are genetically related to Abraham and believe they are the promised children through Ishmael
-Mormonism is the lost tribe of Israel
Have Jesus testifying from birth that He is not God
Have Jesus testifying that their prophet was coming, which automatically makes Jesus the lesser prophet
Strong control of women
-Islam – female jihadin
-Mormonism – sister wives
-Both allow polygamy
Both have women as sexual slaves for all eternity
Salvation is all of works
-Have to have more good than bad
-Can therefore lose salvation
-Even Mohammed stated he wasn’t sure if he’d go to heaven
Based on pure theocracy
No non-believers allowed in the temples
Both had holy wars
-Sept 11, 1857 – Mountain Meadow Massacres
-Sept 11, 2001 – Twin Towers
Most of this is new information to me! I would not have been able to draw those parallels.
Norman Giesler – Is God a Moral Monster?
Moral Charges
Charges in the Old Testament
God commanded what is morally evil
How do we know what is morally wrong if we don’t have a standard? You can’t, you have to have a standard
Sacrifice of Isaac
Not everything that is wrong for us is wrong for God. For example, it is wrong to worship someone else, but not wrong to worship God
He who created life has the right to take life
Gave government the right to use capital punishment
He can give the command to take a life
God never intended that Isaac would die, it was a test of faith
Cursing Psalms
The judgment was based on divine judgment
David didn’t take the revenge, he committed it to God
Killing of the Canaanites
God commanded that all the Canaanites (men, women and children) in the cities be killed as the Israelites took over the promised land
It wasn’t their ethnic origins that made them to judged, it was their iniquity
They were offered peace before destruction
Women and children generally had already fled, so they wouldn’t have be included in the city
Rahab and others that were kept as servants were spared when they repented
God is sovereign over life
God had given the Canaanites 400 years to repent
Most battles were won by direct acts of God, like Jerico
Were directed by God, not the Israelites own ideas
Necessary to destroy the idolatry to cleanse the Holy Land
Mauling of the 42 children by bears (Elisha in 2 Kings 2)
Original language indicates youths, not children
42 teens against 1 man
They were challenging God’s chosen prophet
They threatened Elisha’s life
God intervened and He is sovereign, so He had that right
Charges in the New Testament
Jesus cursed the Fig Tree -It wasn’t the tree’s fault, it wasn’t the time of fruit
It was the time of the early fruit
It wasn’t random anger, it had a purpose
God and therefore Jesus is sovereign over His creation
Jesus was vindictive when he pronounced woes on His enemies
It is not wrong to say evil is evil
Jesus unnecessarily drowned pigs
Jesus didn’t drown the pigs, the demons He cast out did
Jesus valued the person more than the animal
As their Creator, He had a right to their life
Jesus threatened people with eternal hell, so He lacks kindness
Since there is a hell that people will go to if they don’t turn, it’s the highest level of kindness to warn them
God is not a moral monster
Mercy is mentioned 261 times, of which 70% of those are in the Old Testament
Jesus willing offered Himself to die in our place for our sins
He won’t force us to believe, He respects our free will
Ron Rhodes – 10 Keys to Answering Cultists
What is a cult?
Give new interpretation
Give reasons why they are right
Feel-good
They are deceptive – many don’t realize they are wrong
Wolves in a sheep’s clothing
A cult is a group that emerges out of a major religion, claim to be the true way and deny or change a major doctrine. For example the Trinity
1) Don’t assume that they all believe the same thing
They have the divergent too
Ask what they believe then deal with what they believe
2) Know your Bible
Know the truth so you can recognize the counterfeits
3) Beware that cultists are trained to answer and deal with objections
So don’t get flustered, take them to the Bible
4) Always check Scripture verses
They are likely taking them out of context
They may have a slightly different version, looks like ours, but a word may be changed
5) Always define the terms
They have the same terms, but with different definitions
6) Ask strategic questions
7) Be loving
8) Use the deity of Christ
9) Emphasize the Gospel of Grace
They have sense of unworthiness
Mormons speak of perfects with leads to despair
Cultists are generally works based, not grace
10) Give your own testimony based on Jesus
Wayne House – Homosexuality – Biblically, Legally, Medically
In American, if you voice a disagreement with homosexuality, you are labeled homophobic. But this is incorrect as, I am not afraid of them, I am offended as God is.
Biblical View:
Genesis 1:27-28 – God made them male and female….go forth and multiply.
Two judgments in the Old Testament – Sodom (Genesis 19:1-11) and Gibeah (Judges 19:22-30)
There is a difference between a lifestyle of any sin and a single sin.
Moral View:
Where things are done, whether public or private, does not change whether its right or wrong. Many advocates state, its my business and choice. Bad behavior shouldn’t give you special rights. It doesn’t make you a minority of the population.
Medical View:
Its a learned thing, not genetic.
10 to 15 times as many health issues
More disease
Ron Rhoades – The Resurrection of
How Its Viewed Wrongly-
Jesus Seminar
-Pure fiction
Liberal Christianity
-Bible is inspired like Shakespear was inspired
-2nd coming was discovering of Christ in my heart
-God never intended for Jesus to die
-All religions lead to God
-Deny the resurrection was physical if it happened at all
Unitanian Universalists
-science proves that dead men stay dead
-Resurrection is a symbol of new life
Islam
-Jesus was not crucified
-Judas was crucified with Jesus’ face
Jehovah’s Witnesses
-Resurrected spiritually only
-Appeared to disciples in various different bodies, like angels
Bahai Faith
-Jesus is just a manifestation of God
-Resurrection was in the disciples mind
Why Does (should) the resurrection matter to us?
1) No Christianity with it! What good is a dead Savior?
2) Key component of the Gospel
3) Our faith is worthless without it, as we’d have no forgiveness of sin, so we don’t get into heaven
the Evidence:
1) It was predicted in the Old and New Testaments, even by Jesus Himself
2) Tomb was empty
-the seal on the tomb was broken, a crime punishable by death
-the guards fled, a crime punishable by death
3) Based on reliable witnesses
-40 days of appearances
-over 500 people at once
-Roman and Jewish leaders would have stopped the growth of Christianity of they could have by just showing them Jesus’ body (but they couldn’t)
4) The ring of authenticity
-Jesus appeared to a woman first, who were not valued in the culture, so if the story had been fabricated, Jesus would have appeared to one of the men first
5) Only the resurrection could account for the change in the disciples
-They ran away at Jesus’ arrest
-They were killed for their faith
6) Only the resurrection could account for all the Jewish converts
7) Only the resurrection could explain the skeptics conversion
-Doubting Thomas
-James
-Paul
8) Explains the survival of the early church under the massive amounts of persecution
