13 replies to this topic

[Evangelion]

The Adelaide City Bible Forum will be hosting a visit from Craig in August this year. The main event is a dinner at which Craig will speak on the subject 'God in the Public Space.'

I have received an invitation to the dinner via the local chapter of Reasonable Faith, a Christian apologetics group originally established by Craig in the USA. I met the director of RF at my summer school unit Apologetics and Contemporary Culture, and am now on their mailing list as a sort of unofficial member.

The dinner is $40; not huge but still a bit of a stretch in our current financial state. However, I do hope to attend and meet WLC.

[Ken Gilmore]

Wish I could go. I have a few questions about divine command theory that I would like to run by him.

[Ivastic]

This would be a great opportunity. Ken you should provide your questions here and Dave can pose them to WLC

[Evangelion]

I am happy to confirm that Ivastic and myself will be attending the dinner.

[Ivastic]

Stoked! This is going to be a fantastic night

[Ken Gilmore]

If I was to ask one question, it would be whether he believes a robust theodicy can exist only in an evolutionary creationist worldview.

[Evangelion]

Considering Craig rejects evolution, I think his answer to that would be 'No.'

[Ivastic]

This was an absolutely fantastic night - Ev can't thank you enough for getting me a ticket.

Fantastic food, great wine, really good company (there was about 250 people at the event, and we were on the table with the Adelaide branch of Reasonable Faith)

Dave and I were seated right next to Craigs table, so we both took the opportunity separately to sit down and have a quick one on one chat with Craig.

Edited by Ivastic, 09 August 2013 - 07:41 AM.

[Evangelion]

It was a fantastic night. I'll post a brief writeup tomorrow.

[Chris]

I'll post a brief writeup tomorrow.

Looking forward to it.

[Evangelion]

The dinner was hosted at the Adelaide Pavilion, a swanky conference and function centre often used for weddings. Food was included in the ticket price, though drinks were extra. The meal was outstanding.

The event was well attended, with about 250 guests. Tickets had sold out very quickly, so it's just as well I'd managed to reserve ours several weeks in advance. It opened with introductions for local members of the City Bible Forum (which had organised the event) and a review of their evangelism projects over the past 18 months.

While the general theme of the evening was 'God in the Public Space', Craig's talk was entitled 'Helping Christians to become everyday apologists.'

When you meet him in the flesh it's easy to see why Craig is such an effective debater. He is knowledgeable, supremely confident, and highly charismatic. As a public speaker he must have few equals.

The organisers helpfully provided a two-page summary of Craig's address:

Helping Christians to become everyday apologists

1. TEACH THEM LOGIC

A. Only about nine rules

B. What makes for a good argument?

• An argument is not quarrelling. It's a set of statements (called premises) leading to a conclusion. If you have good arguments, you'll actually be less argumentative!
  
• The arguments I share are deductive. What makes for a good deductive argument?
  
  

  i. Valid logic and true premises.
  ii. Premises more plausibly true than false.

• Plausibility is person-dependent.

C. Why is it important to have arguments?

• Increase in atheism/agnosticism among students. Often Christian background.
  
• No good reason for atheism. Slogan: "There's no evidence for God's existence." Masks laziness but works because Xns are so ill-equipped.
  
• These arguments work! Battle-tested.
  
  

  i. Some people say, "You can't argue someone into the Kingdom of God."
  a. But not working apart from or against the HS [Holy Spirit]. Fails to realise that the HS uses means to draw people.
  b. Arguments can give people intellectual permission to believe when their hearts are moved.
  ii. Result: Changed lives! Testimonies.

II. TEACH THEM SOME ARGUMENTS FOR GOD'S EXISTENCE (see On Guard or Reasonable Faith)

A. Cosmological argument.

i. Formulation

• If the universe began to exist, then the universe has a cause of its existence.
• The universe began to exist.
• Therefore, the universe has a cause of its existence.

ii Attributes of the First Cause.

A. Teleological argument.

i. Formulation

• The fine-tuning of the universe is due to either physical necessity, chance, or design.
• It is not due to physical necessity or chance.
• Therefore, it is due to design.

C. Moral argument.

[indent=1]i. Formulation

• Objective moral values and duties exist.
• If God did not exist, objective moral values and duties would not exist.
• Therefore, God exists.

III. TEACH THEM SOME EVIDENCE FOR THE HISTORICAL JESUS

A. Jesus' Radical Personal Claims.

• The Messiah
• The Son of God
• The Son of Man

B. Jesus' Resurrection as Ratification of those Claims

• There are four established facts concerning the fate of Jesus of Nazareth: his burial by Joseph of Arimathea, the discovery of his empty tomb, his post-mortem appearances, and the origin of his disciples' belief in his resurrection.
• The hypothesis "God raised Jesus from the dead" is the best explanation of these facts.
• The hypothesis "God raised Jesus from the dead" entails that the God revealed by Jesus of Nazareth exists.
• Therefore, the God revealed by Jesus of Nazareth exists.

IV. SHARING THE ARGUMENTS AND EVIDENCE EFFECTIVELY

A. Don't allow the arguments/evidence to distract from sharing the Gospel.
B. Start simply. A discussion of the arguments is only as deep as the two people involved. E.g. Jan's sharing.
C. Have a list memorised. Often that's enough!
D. Memorise the premises.
E. Have some awareness of the evidence for the premises. Be ready to refer to a book for further discussion.
F. Stay focused on the premises. Don't get distracted.
G. Never forget that our goal is to win people, not arguments

[Evangelion]

Following Craig's talk there was break of about 20 minutes while we got down to the serious business of eating dessert. I took this opportunity to meet Craig in person. He shook my hand—which I shall never wash again—and we discussed the importance of reclaiming reason as a legitimate domain of Christianity (contra the New Atheists, who wish to claim it as the sole domain of atheism).

During this time we were also invited to SMS questions for Craig to answer in a 10 minute Q&A session.

My question:

How can we advance a personal experience of God as evidence of His existence when this is, by definition, a subjective argument?

Unfortunately it was not chosen.

[daysha]

Is this talk or one very similar by him available on Youtube? I've looked there but can't find him discussing 'God in the Public Space.' or similar topics.

Do you have any recommended Youtbe talks by him on similar topics, please?

[Evangelion]

Is this talk or one very similar by him available on Youtube? I've looked there but can't find him discussing 'God in the Public Space.' or similar topics.

Do you have any recommended Youtbe talks by him on similar topics, please?

This particular talk is not on YouTube as far as I know, but you should be able to find something similar there.

Maybe this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=US_ZrXEw_a4