Crescent Project Video #1

Crescent Project is a Christian orginzation dedicated to sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ with Muslims.  I'd like to share some of their short video clips, which they have uploaded to youtube.

For the video you are about to watch, Injeel is the name Muslims give to what Christians call the New Testament.



It's pricey, but Crescent Project has a DVD series with a paperback, workbook to accompany the series. The goal of the series to teach Christians about the Islamic faith, as well as show "bridges" to connect the Gospel of Jesus Christ to Muslims.  It might be worth checking out if you'd like to lead a group class on witnessing Christ to Muslims.

Apologetic Movie

Did you know that Dolph Lundgren has been in a Christian movie?

He has a co-starring role in The Final Inquiry.  

The movie has a very interesting premise and demonstrates how a person living after Jesus' resurrection could have investigated the resurrection to see if it was true event.  In the film, Roman emperor Tiberius sends one of his trusted centurions to investigate the resurrection.  The emperor notes that there was a great earthquake and strange solar eclipse witnessed all over the world that coincided with the death of Jesus of Nazareth.  He knows that Jesus claimed to be God and that his followers claim he has raised from the dead.  The centurion's mission is to find out if there is any truth to the matter.  The film features Paul before his conversion, Peter, Pontius Pilate, Stephen, and other biblical characters.  

It's filmed to not be offensive to the Christians but to also be entertaining to a secular audience.  To me the quality was one par with the Xena or the Kevin Sorbo Hercules TV shows in terms of effects and the fight scenes. 

It might be worth a shot to check out.  I liked it. 

Does God Exists Debate

The following is a trailer for a DVD called Does God Exist?  It is a debate between William Lane Craig and Christopher Hitchens.  The entire debate can be found on Youtube.

The following video is a summary of some of the arguments made by Hitchens in the debate.  There are some brief rebuttals to these arguments, and then a briefer closing that mentions Craig's arguments. 

Does God Exists? can be purchased online from Amazon.

CPH's New Apologetics Book

In a book published by Concordia Publishing House (CPH) written to answer questions teens ask about life, the answer given to the question "How do I know the Bible is true?" is "You know the Bible is true because it says so".  Are you serious?  That's the answer in a CPH book?  Is that really the best Lutherans can come up with on this one?  Then the author of this book admitted that his answer isn't really proof, because "[p]eople say things that aren't true all the time."  However he says it doesn't matter in the case of the Bible, because God doesn't lie.  That's not a great answer, because Mulsims could say the same statement concerning the Koran.  The book I'm quoting from was published in 2006.

Things have certainly changed!  And for the better.  This year, CPH has published Life's Big Questions God's Big Answers by Brad Alles.  I've only skimmed it so far, but it's awesome.  CPH has come a far way from the previous book I've mentioned.  In fact, I think the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod has made some great recent improvements in apologetics.  I attended part of an Apologetics seminar this summer at Hepatha Lutheran church in Southern California that featured Kenneth Samples and J.P. Moreland.  I know a Lutheran church in Huntington Beach, CA, which is having an apologetic lecture given by guests speakers.  I know another Lutheran church which went through Case for Christ this summer.  Faith Lutheran in Oak Ridge, TN, is adding a year of apologetics to their confirmation curriculum.  Crean Lutheran High School in Irvine, CA, has their seniors go through a final theology class which consists of World Religions and Apologetics before graduating.  Hopefully, the study and focus of apologetics at these Lutheran churches and many others, along with the excellent addition of CPH's Life's Big Questions God's Big Answers is a sign that the Lutheran church is moving beyond, "becuase the Bible says it's true."

I know the "because it says so" answer is what I received when I was in high school from 1996-2000.  I'm glad that the material  being put out by CPH now has much better answers.   Seriously if you haven't read much apologetics or would like to have a good, concise apologetic book written by a Lutheran on some tough questions which are commonly asked, not just by high school students, but by adults too, then check out Brad Alles' book.



Some of the questions covered in it are: "Does Evolution Explain the World?", "Does Creation Explain the World?", "What is the Canon?", "What about Dinosaurs?", "Did Jesus really Exists?", and "What is Postmodernism and the New Tolerance?"