A Brief Word on the Reason Rally

In roughly a month from now, an event will take place in Washington that is being called “the largest gathering of the secular movement in world history”. It will feature big names such as Richard Dawkins, P.Z. Meyers, Lawrence Krauss, Dan Barker, and even guys like Adam Savage (from Mythbusters), Bad Religion (a famous rock band) and even high school activist Jessica Alquist, among many other names. You can read all about this event here at the website.

The timing of this event could not be any better, in my opinion. The Apologetics Renaissance continues to grow and grow, and I believe this rally is taking place as a natural reaction to this growth of apologetics amongst Christianity. It’s ironic that the New Atheists are heading this event, a group of people that have been routinely chastised, even by fellow atheists, for their lack of originality and their overload on vitriol and venom in their speech. No other group has caused reason and rationality to decline as much as the New Atheist movement, as its leaders (namely Dawkins) disciple their followers with bad information and bad arguments which fail to equip their adherents on how to defend themselves from serious critique.

The apologetics community has been preparing behind the scenes to be there, on the ground, as this event is taking place. A united effort, which is being led by organizations such as Ratio Christi, ThinkingChristian.net, Reasons for God, The Apologetics Blogger Alliance and the Christian Apologetics Alliance (the latter two are groups that yours truly belongs to), is being prepared under the group True Reason, which will engage the attendants at the rally with:

• Random acts of kindness (such as giving away free water).
• A 32 page mini booklet summarizing the content of an upcoming e-book.
• Other materials and booklets reflecting on Christianity and atheism.

As the True Reason website makes distinctly clear, the effort being prepped is not a counter demonstration. The goal is sharing Christ via apologetics, and as 1 Peter 3:15-16 makes clear, we are to give a defense of what we believe with gentleness and respect. Independent of how the rally attendees choose to respond to us, the Christians will respond in a way that shines Christ. For a explanation of what I mean by this, check out my recent post on Apologetics and Retaliation.

If you want more information, please check out the links above. If you are a Christian who wants to help out with the True Reason effort, please go to their website and you will see how you can help. Another Ascending Lark will be part of the blogging movement that is covering this event and the developments that occur with it.

There’s going to be quite a collision come a month from now. Lives will be changed one way or another. Get ready; it’s gonna be big.

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A Brief Word on Apologetics and Retaliation

Recently I have been thinking about retaliation and it's connection to apologetics. If you are talking with someone who is hostile, aggressive, or uncivil, what does one do?

It's rare when I write on apologetics that 1 Peter 3:15-16 doesn't come up, and it is going to do so again. Specifically, it is at the end of verse 15 that I wish to highlight:

   15 But in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,16 having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame. (1 Peter 3:15-16 ESV)

The "gentleness and respect" clause follows the command to be prepared to give a defense - it is the ethical precedent for how this defense is to be given. Anyone who studies apologetics has heard that so many times, it is almost redundant for me to even expound on it. But, I wish to point out a distinct feature of the "gentleness and respect" clause

I write this because I have recently seen a few examples of people who are apologists who have ignored this principle in their discussions. Notice that the ethical command "do it with gentleness and respect" comes with no qualifier, i.e. "only if the other person is nice to you, or doesn't say something that hurts you, ect". It stands by itself in that gentleness and respect is required...period. It is not optional. This entails that your responses are to be one with gentleness and respect regardless of what the other person is saying or how they are saying it.

This principle does not go away if the other person in the discussion violates it. Apologetic discussions (or any kind of discussion, for that matter) should never be discussions where "the gloves come off" if someone gets out of line; this is especially true for discussion amongst apologists. Just because person x responds in a hostile way does not mean person y has any right or obligation to respond in a similar manner. In fact, if person x responds in a hostile way, it is all the more reason why person y cannot respond in a similar manner. Why? Because person x has given person y a chance to grow or stumble as an apologist. Person y, by the situation given to him by person x, can either respond in a similar manner and thus stray from the command to do apologetics "with gentleness and respect", or person y can grow as an apologist by responding in the way person x is lacking. It is an opportunity too good to miss.

In our pursuit of the "what" of apologetics, we must never lose sight of the "how" in terms of how we present our defense. If the "how" is compromised or faulty, the "what" suffers with it. And in light of eternity, the "what" matters just as much as the "how". Show good behavior in Christ, that your adversaries might be put to shame.

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A Brief Word on Stephen Hawking's Birthday Present

In the January 11th issue of New Scientist, an article by Lisa Grossman appeared, entitled "Why Scientists Can't Avoid A Creation Event". The article highlighted a recent paper by Alexander Vilenkin that came at a very untimely occurrence for a popular scientist: the celebration of Stephen Hawking's 70th birthday. What made this paper's appearance untimely was Vilenkin claiming, in conclusion, "All the evidence we have says that the universe had a beginning."

Hawking made a pre-recorded phone message which said, quote: "A point of creation would be a place where science broke down. One would have to appeal to religion and the hand of God."

I briefly wish to point out that what Hawking meant by "science" breaking down, he was more or less meaning "naturalism". A point of creation would challenge naturalism (the belief that the natural world is all that existed), but it would not challenge science if such a conclusion (namely, that the universe had a beginning) was made via the scientific method. It's ironic that he claims that a creation event is a "place where science broke down" given that his statement came as a result of Alexander Vilenkin, who is a renowned scientist himself, and his paper. Hawking is making a philosophical conclusion about a scientific observation, not a scientific statement - statements concerning religion and "the hand of God" are not scientific statements.

Science, contrary to populist belief, is not the supreme discipline for knowledge. It is a first order discipline that examines it's various subject matter, but philosophy - the overarching discipline for all knowledge - is a second order discipline that studies science. Hawking, who said in his recent book "philosophy is dead", would do well to recant that statement and supplement his abilities as a scientist with those as a philosopher, as his recent statement shows his confusion between the two.

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A Timeline Of Resources That Got Me Started As An Apologist

Apologetics can be a difficult field to get into. There are so many books, podcasts, and subjects to study that it's hard to know where to start! While this post isn't meant to be a "getting into apologetics" guide (that's a post for another time), I thought I would share the six apologetics resources that helped me get started as an apologist. These resources are listed chronologically, from late 2009 to mid 2010.

1: The Apologetics Study Bible (Late 2009)

My very first exposure to apologetics was this Bible, which I found in stack of other Bibles my dad owned as he was going through seminary. I knew what the word "apologetics" meant, not much in terms of apologetic content. Once I cracked this open, I spent several hours reading and re-reading the articles and other material of this study Bible. Some of it was really enlightening and helpful - some of it was way too confusing and hard to understand. It introduced me to the names of people who were actively defending the faith and it helped clarify questions that I had as a young Christian. While nowadays I would recommend the ESV Study Bible over the Apologetics Study Bible, this is still a good study Bible and I am very thankful to it for exposing me to apologetic materials.

2: The Apologetics.com Radio Show Podcasts (Late 2009)I had heard of this website through an appendix in a book on Islam, so I checked it out one afternoon and found out that they hosted a radio show every week that was made available into a podcast. After going to iTunes and downloading a few podcasts, these guys became regulars on my iPod. Far and away my favorite apologetics podcast, I would listen to these guys during the 5 AM Wednesday shift at my previous grocery store job, sometimes listening to each radio show twice. Deep, thought provoking, and incredibly relevant, the Apologetics.com radio show is still going strong and still provides rich and challenging, yet accessible, material.

3: "The Ten Most Common Objections to Christianity" by Alex McFarland (Early 2010)

One day at Lifeway Christian Bookstores,  I found this in the clearance bin and since it was so cheap, I thought I would pick it up and give it a shot. I ended up devouring it pretty quickly. Very straightforward, clear, and well written, Alex covers a wide range of objections in this book that will help a newbie not feel overwhelmed. I left this book with a student of my church's youth ministry before I went off for the summer, and recently he asked me if he could give it to one of his friends to read. Of course I said yes.

4: "On Guard" by William Lane Craig (Early/Mid 2010)

Shortly after I bought "The Ten Most Common Objections to Christianity", my trial by fire as an apologist came about: the Pray for an Atheist event (which you can read about here). Brought to my attention indirectly via an Apologetics.com radio show podcast, this was the one event that tested and tried me as a budding apologist. What a better way to learn apologetics than being thrown into a den of angry and hostile atheists, where the Christians are easily outnumbered 10 to 1? During the midst of this trial, I ordered several books from Amazon, and this was one of them. Aside from being the first book I read by one of my favorite apologists, it opened a new world to me by introducing the various arguments for God's existence and the arguments for the Resurrection. This book came in handy at the start of my first semester of college, when I gave it to a struggling Christian in my World Religions class. While at first he was a borderline atheist, he is now a passionate Christian who has been diligently representing Christ where he goes.

5: "Who Made God?" by Ravi Zacharias and William Lane Craig (Mid 2010)

By the grace of God we were able to take the students to youth camp for the first time in a really long time. While at Panfork Baptist Encampment for one hot week in June, I used my afternoons to read while the students were blobbing and swimming and rock climbing and doing all sorts of crazy stuff. Nicely structured into topics and issues, this was a well written Q&A book handling questions that I was having as I was reading and listening and feeding myself apologetics. While I never finished this book (and I gave it to a different student to read while I was gone), it is definitely a helpful one - in fact, I think I'm going to go buy it again, in Kindle form, once I finish this post....

6: "I Don't Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist" by Norman Geisler and Frank Turek" (Mid 2010)

I brought several books with me on my family vacation to Colorado, but once I started reading this one, I had a hard time stopping! This was a huge turning point in my life as an apologist, because I had a comprehensive case for Christianity in my hands - where "On Guard" was more defending to objections to Christianity and "Who Made God?" was all over the place in terms of content, this was the first book I read that started from a point of complete skepticism and moved forward to conclude, one step at a time, that Jesus Christ is God and the Bible is His word. Other than Greg Koukl's "Tactics", this is the one book I recommend the most to a wide range of people.

If you are an apologist, what resources helped you get started?

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Album Review: "Give Us Rest Or (A Requiem Mass in C [the happiest of all keys])" by David Crowder Band

David Crowder Band

"Give Us Rest Or (A Requiem Mass in C)[the happiest of all keys])"
Rock, Pop, Bluegrass, Various

Buy It: www.amazon.com

See Bottom for Score

Before I begin this review, I must give some explanation behind the name of this blog.

"Another Ascending Lark" is based off the closing track of "A Collision Or (3+4=7)" by a group of guys known as the David Crowder Band. The album is one of my favorite albums from all the albums I own. It is a fantastic work of art that is aimed at the praise of God while rooted in the grief and pain that comes from the loss of loved ones. Why do I mention this? Because the last album from the David Crowder Band just so happens to be a continuation of "A Collision Or (3+4=7)". Therefore, it follows that the following review is related to the album from which spawned the title for this whole blog.

Without getting into the details that make the David Crowder discography remarkable at it's most basic level (seriously, what other band plans their whole career and their albums on the basis of the theology pertaining to the days of creation in Genesis?), "Give Us Rest ..." must be viewed in relation to "A Collision...", or an incredible amount of impact will by lost. By itself, "Give Us Rest ..." is a masterpiece of masterpieces, but when taken together with "A Collision...", the album shines even brighter. The album itself is massive - over 34 tracks long clocking over 100 minutes long. This is no small feat for any band. Adding to these impressive numbers is the fact that the album is structured like a modern day Requiem Mass. I did not do any reading into the structuring of Requiem Masses before I wrote this, so unfortunately I must not comment on that. Irrespective to this oversight, this album is not structured like a standard album - there is a definite structure and theme as the album goes on.

It's so tempting to give a track-by-track analysis of this album - but that would make for a long post. Simply put, "Give Us Rest ... " takes the things that made "A Collision ..." a remarkable album and builds upon them. The amount of genre diversification is extremely broad. Pop, rock, techno, folk, bluegrass, classical, and even - gasp - progressive metal; the genre mashup that was found in "A Collision ..." is taken to new levels. Don't assume that such a wide range of genres means a schizophrenic listening experience, as the boys of the Crowder band know how to make the album flow without making the experience disconnected. In fact, given all the genres this album features, it is a very cohesive sound that flows throughout the whole CD.

The albums features tracks that work very powerfully on their own (Oh Great God, Give Us Rest, Come Find Me, Oh, Great Love of God) but also features a few multi-part songs. The Mumford and Sons inspired Oh My God and I Am A Seed flow into each other, with the latter borrowing a bit of song structure from the former, while the last four tracks flow seamlessly into each other as a live recording. Without a doubt, the highlight of the multi-part songs are the seven Sequences, the instrumental-driven tour de force of progressive metal, classical orchestration, rock, and more. The seven Sequences are amongst the best of the best when it comes to the creativity of the Crowder band - it will leave you speechless at best, impressed at worst.

"A Collision ..." had several tracks that were seemingly random or pointless, and "Give Us Rest ..." follows lockstep with this regard, only they make it a tad more interesting this time around. A bit more polished and refined, the seemingly meaningless non-music tracks give an artistic flair to the album that was somewhat lacking in "A Collision ...". From the opening track Requiem Aeternam Dona Eis, Domine (which perfectly mirrors the opening track of "A Collision ..."), the profound A Burial, the eerie The Great Amen, and both reprises, the non-music tracks are not to be skipped over, as they contribute to the unique feel of the whole album. That being said, it would have been nice to have more music tracks in this album in ratio to the non-musics or instrumental tracks. That is probably the one flaw that I will grant - the non-music tracks and the numerous instrumental tracks can be distracting even while they contribute to the album.

The closing tracks are interesting. If you want to listen to the new bluegrass recordings that the Crowder band is known for, skip straight to the end, where you get three nicely redone hymns with the bluegrass flair behind Crowder's hit "I Saw The Light". It's interesting the band chose Because He Lives as the closing song for their last CD - at first glance, it is nowhere near as powerful as the closing track from "A Collision ...". If you dig into the context, though, this could not have been a better choice. Aside from being a hymn with absolutely fantastic theology, the exhortation that "life is worth the living just because He lives" captures the whole essence of both "A Collision ..." and "Give Us Rest ...", that in the midst of death and grief at the loss of loved ones, we are reminded that for those of us who have trusted in Christ for eternal life, death is not the end and nothing that happens in this life can take away the joy of what comes after death. A life lived without Christ is one not worth living, a principle that is seen in times of loss and death. Musically, it is simple; lyrically, it is deep; symbolically, it is profound.

It's hard not to crown this album the best of the band's canon, even on a single listen. It is clear that they put more effort into this one album than any of their past releases, and the result is something that is hard to find in any music scene. It's also not hard to understate the impact that this band has had on countless numbers of people, whether they are fans, casual listers, worship bands, or people like me who aim to think critically of how we worship in retrospect to the God we praise - Crowder's influence in my life is vast and large on that regard. His work will be studied and used for decades to come, and in the annals of history his role in shaping the Christian market will not go unstated. It goes completely without saying that this is the worship album of the year, and I'm willing to bet that I will end up crowning this the 2012 Album of the Year. With that, I wish to close this review with the lyrics that gave birth to this blog, which poignantly paints a picture of the past career of an remarkable band:

"And I'm trying to make you sing, from inside where you believe, like it's something that you need and it means everything. And I'm trying to make you feel that this is for real, that life is happening and it means everything. I'm just trying to make you sing."

10 out of 10

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Passion 2012 and Richard Dawkins: So, you want to destroy Christianity?

If there is one staple of American Christianity amongst the youth/college aged believers that is worth holding on to, it would be the Passion Worship Conferences. Drawing a great multitude to Atlanta, Georgia and via online web streaming, the Passion Worship Conferences have been a megaforce for leading students to worship and authentic change in both lifestyle and beliefs. With speakers like John Piper, Francis Chan, Louie Giglio, and more, the fluff factor is almost nonexistent as the rally cry of the Gospel is proclaimed.

Then there is Richard Dawkins. If you are even remotely involved with evangelism to atheists today, you most likely know how he is. Author of the runaway bestseller "The God Delusion", he has become the undisputed kingpin of the New Atheist movement. Known for his bombastic and hostile rhetoric to any thing remotely religious (mostly aimed at Christianity), he recently dropped this line in his recent interview with the late Christopher Hitchens:

"Do you ever worry that if we win and, so to speak, destroy Christianity, that vacuum would be filled by Islam?" (1)

Ignore the part about Islam; that's not relevant. It's the "if we win and, so to speak, destroy Christianity" part that is the focus. Most of us in the apologetics community just laughed. This is the same Dawkins who had the opportunity to debate William Lane Craig in his European book tour last year but repeatedly declined. He isn't the first to want to destroy Christianity, and isn't the last.

Now, back to Passion 2012. The weeklong conference just concluded this past Thursday, and here are some staggering numbers and statistics from the faith group that Dawkins wants to destroy. Here is a tweet from Passion's official Twitter account:

"Totals from #passion2012!! $3,066,670 to #endslavery, 36K towels/156K pairs socks for homeless, $148K to Passion WT dates." (2)

 From the faith group that this prominent atheist wants to destroy, over 3 million dollars was given to end global slavery and a staggering number of towels and socks were given to the homeless of Atlanta, Georgia. Keep in mind, the majority of participants of the Passion conferences are college students and young adults. No elaboration is really needed on these facts, except for the fact that if anyone claims these numbers are false, the burden of proof is on them to demonstrate that they are wrong.

I don't particularly care if Dawkins knows about this or what his response is. He would still want to destroy Christianity even if these numbers were made aware to him. He will continue to proclaim the moral evils and dangers of belief in God, and he has every right to do so. But, if there is a single reason why he will fail in his quest to destroy Christianity (just as countless others before him), its precisely because of instances like this where beliefs are transformed into powerful actions.

    'What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.' (James 2:14-18 ESV)

 1:http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-2073985/Professor-Dawkins-makes-festive-vow-destroy-Christianity.html#ixzz1ino733aH

 2: https://twitter.com/#!/passion268/status/155716529474912256

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The Spirit, Isaiah 6, and God's Timely Calling.

I write this post just after having my personal devotional time. It is late in the evening, about the time that I need to go to bed. My phone's alarm wasn't turned up loud enough for me to hear it this morning, so I slept through the morning time I normally set aside for my personal devotional time.

All part of God's plan.

At the start of the year I began working through a devotional book that has been a major staple of my spiritual life ever since a late teenager. The book is David Nasser's "A Call to Die", and if you have never heard of it I implore you to buy a copy and go through it. The premise of the book is that you take something you enjoy and fast from it for 40 days while you go through a hard hitting and discipline comprehensive (prayer, Scripture memory, meditation, personal responses) set of daily devotionals. It's intense. The first time I went through this book, midway through I was absolutely shattered in a way that I had never experience and have not experienced since. That's a post for another time.

At the end of this particular devotional, based on Isaiah 6:1-8, the devotional concludes by asking the reader to pray while reading Isaiah 6:1-8, using each verse as a sort of guide for the content of your prayers. As I was praying, an event came to my mind that I had not been thinking about recently. Each year, there is an annual mission trip to South Padre Island that college students can go on, and while I wanted to go, I was unsure of myself as to whether or not I would go.

As I got to Isaiah's famous words, "Here I am; send me!", I can confidently say I heard the Spirit tell me "You are to go on this mission trip." This wasn't on my mind beforehand, and no extenuating circumstances recently have brought it to attention - it truly came out of the blue, in a time God saw fit to reveal his will for me, even in a way I hadn't been seeking for.

God reveals his will to us in his timing, not ours. And tonight, after a delayed time in the Word, I have been reminded that when God calls, who are we to say anything but "yes"?

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