Ratio Christi Philippines 2017
I just had the privilege of meeting, training, equipping, praying with, praying for, and ministering with many Filipino pastors, missionaries, and students through Community Baptist Church, Philippines, and Baptist Bible College Asia as they hosted members of Ratio Christi and myself to equip the church to pierce the darkness of the Philippines. Below are summaries of the talks I gave as well as my PowerPoint. I will upload videos and link them in as soon as I get back to the states. Click the link above the pictures to download PDF copies of my slides. Feel free to email me questions and dialogue with anything you see.
Jesus said in Luke 6:40 that a fully equipped student would be like his teacher. In Ephesians 4:11-12, God gives the church leaders to fully equip the body for the work of ministry. And Paul told Timothy in 1 Timothy 3:16-17 that the Word of God is beneficial for equipping the believer for every good work. But what does a fully equipped believer look like? The church has often treated discipleship as a class or book study while apologetics is left to the scholars. Jesus left the church on earth to make disciples, and in the 21st century, apologetics is the vehicle to make this happen. The goal is to offer a model of discipleship for a local church that incorporates apologetic thought throughout the process so that the church can produce believers who are fully equipped for ministry and who look like Jesus. Not every believer can be a scholar, and not every believer can be a missionary in a foreign country, but every believer can be fully equipped by the church and learn to “think apologetically” about his or her faith to be the kind of people that love God with their entire heart, soul, mind, and strength (Luke 10:27)
Have you ever wondered why we have so many different translations of the Bible in English and why they read so differently in some places and why some translations don’t even include all the verses of the others? Do you see differences between the English Bible and the Filipino version? Have you ever heard people say that the Bible has been translated time and time again, and there is no way to know what it really said? I will demystify the history of how we got our Bible as well as make a case that the Bible we have is the most trust worthy book of all ancient history. Even if you are brand new to the Bible and especially if you are brand new to Christianity, you will walk away with a new appreciation and a new confidence in the Bible.
The PROBLEM of Evil.Does the Existence of Evil Disprove the Existence of God
The number one reason people give for not believing in God is the “Problem” of Evil. The problem people have is that if God is all powerful and all loving, he would destroy evil, but there is evil in the world. So God must not exist. The movie “Batman vs. Superman” clearly gave this argument through the monologueing of Lex Luther, so the issue is one that is still fresh and is very very old. My goal is to not only demonstrate that evil posses no problem for the existence of God, but to demonstrate that we as people have viewed the entire issue of God and evil in the wrong way. Using Scripture and logic, I will make my case not only how we should Think about the concept of God and evil, but how we should Feel about it as well.
“That’s just your truth.”
“Everyone is entitled to their opinion.”
“Belief in God is like choosing a favorite ice cream.”
“No one standard is correct.”
“it’s all a matter of perspective.”
If you have heard phrases like these and just don’t know how to respond, or you don’t seem to get anywhere when you do, then you absolutely need this primer on the relative claims made in today’s society. We will examine the shaky grounds of relativism, make the case for the foundation of absolute truth, and provide some basic tools to use in everyday conversation with those who deny absolute truth.