This week we had what has definitely been my favorite speaker so far. He was crazy good. His name was Jonathan Morrow and he has written many books on apologetics including one with Sean McDowell (Josh McDowell's son) called, "Is God Just a Human Invention?: And Seventeen Other Questions Raised by the New Atheists". So if you were counting, that is 18 questions answered in his book. That's a pretty good deal if you ask me. He also has a website called, "thinkchristianly.org". Pretty good stuff right there. Anyway, I should probably briefly go over what he taught us on Tuesday through Thursday.
For Tuesday he talked about what truth and faith actually are and how they relate to culture and the debate on God. He also talked about how important knowledge is to the Christian faith. You need to know what you are talking about. That was pretty cool to hear because a lot of Christians will try and pray they can love God with all their heart, body, soul, and strength, but the only problem is they forget the "mind" part in that verse. On Wednesday Jonathan went into a much more apologetical defense of God through the Kalam Cosmological Argument and the Design Inference. These are both really good and effective deductive arguments for a creator. Finally on Thursday Jonathan talked about the Moral Argument for God and the Historical Argument for Jesus. This was really helpful because a lot of times atheists will say there are no actual facts for Christ living, yet there are more documents showing Jesus of Nazareth lived then there are for Tiberius Caesar. That is pretty crazy to think about.
So in conclusion I would say I definitely enjoyed this week's speaker more than any other. Jonathan is a great communicator and a great defender of the Bible. Really encouraging to see someone so down to earth like Jonathan. But quickly here are five things that stood out to me this week and that I learned.
1) This is actually something that happened Tuesday night when Jonathan did an optional Q&A in the Ala Moana. Only about 10 of us were there but it was well worth it. I forget what the question was, probably something along the lines of desire and feelings, but Jonathans answer is what stood out to me. He pointed out how in Jeremiah 17:9 it talks about how the heart is deceitful and wicked so we cannot trust the desires and feelings we have. But then he followed that up by pointing to Psalms 37:4 which talks about how if you delight in the Lord, he will give you the desires of your heart. He said that you reconcile these two verses because the more and more sanctified you become and the more you trust the Holy Spirit in your life, the more your feelings and desires will line up with God's purpose. Interesting stuff right there, haven't heard that put that way before.
2) On Wednesday Jonathan briefly brought up Antony Flew and how he was once a hardcore atheist but has since changed his mind to believe there is a God. This was really cool to learn and encouraging because it showed me that no matter how far a friend of mine may be from God, he can be turned around. Not by my arguments, but by the Holy Spirit working through my words. Nothing of my doing, but it was still really cool to hear that and be reminded of it.
3) Another thing I learned that was really cool was how intricately designed the universe is. If the initial mass of the universe varied by as much as plus or minus one grain of table salt there would be no universe. That is crazy. Just think about that for a little bit. Mind boggling. It's good to know because it gives me another "awe factor" to tell others about how amazing God is with his creation.
4) This one is really cool. Get ready. Ready? Alright here it is: The one place in all the universe where there is life is also the best place to discover everything else. The "place" being earth. You understand what that means? If life was on any other planet we would not be able to have discovered and know all that we do about the universe. For reason such as comets, dust and debris in space. But I think that's pretty amazing yet again and another thing I'll use in my life when I talk to others about the awesome creation of God.
5) This final thing is something that will require more research on my part, but it will be well worth it I know. So one of the objections that Jonathan said atheists will bring up against the existence of God is something called the 'God' Gene. This is a relatively new published idea (I believe it was first publicly talked about in 2005). Because of this I did not know much about it or how to defend against it. Basically the 'God' Gene says that all humans are born with a gene that predisposes us towards a spiritual experience. Like I said before, I must read up on this more and shall be doing that as soon as I can afford a book about this.
Well that is all folks. Well done for sticking with me this far, you get a prize. Just don't ask me for it or you lose it. Anyway, if you couldn't tell I really enjoyed Jonathan Marrow this week and will be supporting him through buying of his books and such. This is honestly the only week where I could have written more then 5 things I learned so I am understandably excited to read more of his books. Great things to learn from them I am sure. I'm Timothy Wright. You stay classy, San Diego.
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