Presenting the Reason for the Hope Within
February 5, 2012 by Steve Pogue
Filed under Recent MMMs, Sharing Your Faith, Student interaction, Tolerance
Ray Townsend, M.D.,
Renal Division, School of Medicine,
University of Pennsylvania,
[Feb 12, 2012] –
I am privileged to lead a weekly Bible study with undergraduates. This began with a few students I met at church – a “God-thing” since I am a medical professor and they are mostly in non-medical majors. Akin to a pick-up basketball game, a core of them attend regularly while others attend more sporadically. It’s always a blast!
It got very interesting when a student with a Jewish background joined our discussion one Friday. He seemed quite informed about the New Testament scriptures. He invited me to present at the Secular Penn Friday Tea — a meeting for atheists, agnostics, etc. The ground rules were that the presenter has 20 minutes and the attendees have open minds. Period!
A Very Different Audience
The Friday following Easter, I presented reasons why the resurrection of Christ is critically important to Christians. The room was full of both Christian and non-Christian students. I presented the case as made by Paul in First Corinthians of the primary importance of the resurrection.
Reviewing some of the Biblical evidence of the witnesses to the resurrection, I mentioned that if it is not true we deserve more pity than scorn. What followed over the next three hours was an “open-mic” discussion covering just about any objection one could make to the claims of Christianity, including the exclusivity claims (John 14:6), election (Romans 8), and intolerance of sin.
Two things caught my attention:
-the willingness of secular students to engage in and discuss a range of issues: autonomy and free will, the authority of scripture, the source of morality, truth, and a host of other issues – nothing seemed off the table.
-the depth of their well-thought-through positions.
A Challenge to Better Prepare
This revealed my limited ability to give an account of Christianity in the face of such thoughtful opposition (I Peter 3:15). I am grateful for the sharpening effect of this interaction. I hope that my presenting as a scientist and a professor who believes deeply in spiritual things caused students to consider the reasonableness of Christianity.
At the end of the evening one of the students thanked me for participating. He confided that he had drifted away from his Christian roots, but that the give and take of the past 3+ hours had served to “reconnect” him.
God be praised for the powerful “foolishness” of the gospel (1 Cor 1:25) — particularly in an academic setting. I think it was C. S. Lewis who said the point of preaching is not so much to instruct us in new things, but to remind us and reinforce for us those things we know already.
Just curious — what has helped prepare you to present the reason for the hope within you?
S.D.G.
© 2012 Ray Townsend
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Coarse Objectives
December 11, 2011 by Anne Wenger
Filed under Discipleship, Priorities, Recent MMMs, Sharing Your Faith, Student interaction
Phillip A Bishop,
Exercise Kinesiology,
University of Alabama,
[Jan. 8,2012]–
They have to be a bit coarse, because I’m not sure how the class will go. If I can see the target I want to hit, I may still miss, but if I can’t even see the target, any success is pure luck. I need objectives.
It is the start of another academic term. I need a target here too. For newer faculty, the objectives are pretty clear: do those things that will earn a permanent spot on the faculty of this fine institution. For those of us who have been around a while, the objectives may be more flexible, or at least simpler.
Nor long remember…
I contemplate my own long career in the University, the papers written and the talks given. And as I reflect, Abraham Lincoln’s words at Gettysburg come to mind. “The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here.” Lincoln was wrong about his own words, but I suspect that my words won’t be remembered very long. So setting goals of papers published and grant proposals submitted, though important, usually does not have value for long.
Here are some more important goals from which we can choose:
- Show the love of Christ in our classes.
- Encourage Christian students.
- Identify ourselves as Christians on campus at appropriate times and places.
- Invite students to our homes for pizza and discussion of the Big Questions in life.
- Contact the leader of a Christian student group and offer to be of service.
- Start a prayer meeting.
Volunteer to…
- Meet with Christian colleagues.
- Mentor a younger faculty member academically and spiritually.
- Give a service talk with a minor or major Christian apologetic to fraternities, sororities, etc.
- Go on a Christmas break, spring break or other retreat that a Christian student group has planned.
- Help an international group.
- Go on an international mission trip with a Christian student group.
- Speak to students or in the community when you take an international trip. (Contact Faculty Commons for more info).
I have tried all of these but one, and they have all proved enjoyable and productive, at times. Don’t be intimidated by the list, just pick out a few objectives for the year, and go with those.
As professors we have numerous opportunities on one of the best mission fields in the world. Let’s set some objectives and ask the Holy Spirit to bless our efforts.
© 2012 Phillip A. Bishop
© istockphoto