Collision Spring 2011

What might I be doing on a Friday night of March 18th? Watching a movie, perhaps?

Well, sometimes, but last night I spent a bit over 8-hours of discussion about the nature of belief, God and explaining and arguing his necessary reality to 30-40 college students.

This took place at our second "Collision" event, in which we partner with the atheist/agnostic student group on SDSU campus.

We came together last night to discuss the question, "What do you believe, and why do you believe it?" We first split into 7 small groups, where everyone shared their responses to this question. This was incredibly fruitful, for the intent was not to argue and convince one-another, per se, but simply to share one's personal beliefs and reasons for them.

We make very clear at the outset that this is not meant to be a debate in which we rip each other's heads off, but share why we believe what we believe about the nature of reality, God, faith, etc.

Many friendships began, many opportunities to truly understand each other, and lots of great conversations.

However, what makes this so unique, and, I think, what makes this such an amazing opportunity, is that we make very clear the point of this is not simply to have interesting conversation, but to want to arrive at truth. For my part, I told the students that "If Christ is not the truth, then I shouldn't want to believe in him, and dont' want to be a Christian...if indeed he isn't true". I mean this with all my heart, because the nature of faith is bound up with whether or not Christ is actually the "way, the truth and the life", and the apostle Paul leaves us little room for any other responses (1 Cor 15).

So, from about 7:00pm - 3:00am (this morning), I was interacting on these issues, explaining what the Bible says and sharing the gospel with people at Perkins till these wee hours in the morning, and it was indeed a very blessed time, not to mention very fun as well!

I am very thankful to be able to serve the students in this way, providing such a unique opportunity for the refining and challenging of their faith, as well as challenging and explaining the gospel and the teachings of Christ to unbelievers. Please pray that the future events are equally as blessed, but most importantly the relationships made will grow and produce many opportunities!