Setting up Shop in the Marketplace of Academia #2

My last blog post featured a video of UCLA Lutheran Pastor, Mark Jasa, speaking with a student at a "Religion is for the Weak" table which he regularly sets up on the UCLA campus.

The following is an article I copied from the UCLA Radio website about Mark and his work on the UCLA campus:

"Religion Is For The Weak" Man

Tuesday, 13 January 2009 01:38

 
Have you seen the man out on Bruin Walk with the the signs posted on the three corners of his table that read "Religion Is For the Weak?" Meet Mark Jasa. Tune in to hear who and what he's all about without having to approach him, and you may find yourself wanting to be in the hot seat (the chair next to his).


Once raised Catholic and now a professed atheist, 1st-year Kevin Porea is one of hundreds of students on Bruin Walk that have actually stopped to look and think twice at the sign that screams  “Religion is for the weak.”

Kevin asks the man, "Religion is the weak, are you part of the religion?"

The response is from the man behind the sign.

Meet Mark Jasa, once a fellow Bruin in the 90s, he has been back on Bruin Walk fairly regularly in the last three years, coming out about 20-30 times a quarter. He comes out in the mid-afternoons, parks his table, lawn chair, and signs near Pauley Pavilion, ready and willing to defend his argument till sundown.
After talking to him for a few minutes, you’ll find that he is also the pastor of University of Lutheran Chapel.

But don’t let his pastoral title make you think that a healthy debate can’t come about. He may have once been in your shoes…

As an undergraduate studying Anthropology at UCLA back in the early 90s, Mark was agnostic, and didn't know if God existed.

But he was in a search for truth because his parents raised him to believe that truth is the most important thing. Also from CS Lewis, "If you search for truth you may find comfort, if you search for comfort you may find neither."  However, when Mark would ask his Christian peers why he should be a Christian, they didn't give him a good reason to believe.

Mark says, "Many Christians neither know how to deal with people who have questions nor are they doing anything to learn how to answer people who have questions. So most people on campus think there is a blind faith thing that you either have it or you don't."

Though convincing answers did not come from his Christian peers, Mark for many years have claimed to realize Jesus to be the true God.

Somehow through the question of one’s will and one’s intellect, Mark became convinced that Christianity wasn’t just a blind faith, put was backed with truth and historical validity.

Pastor Jasa believes that Jesus rising from the dead is the question of the intellect, because it can be proven through applying standard historical procedures.

But when it comes down to accepting Jesus, he believes it’s not just the question of the intellect, but also a question of the will."Unless you’re lost, unless you're weak, unelss you see that you're helpless, going to need the thing he claims to be giving to you. Jesus came to seek and save the lost."



So why does Pastor Jasa spend countless hours on his lawn chair ?

It’s mainly to challenge professed Christians in the way they should think about their faith,I think very few people know what the Good News is. A pastor here at UCLA came up to me and didn't know if he was saved. And I said, 'what is the Bible about?'"

He is also learning about the questions people are interested in. His audience include mostly Atheists, some Muslims, few Hindus, skeptical/athetistic Jews, and Christians.


Because religion is often shielded on educational grounds, subconsciously or not, it’s important to remember the freedom we each have in religion, and the opportunities we have in America to learn about the different perspectives that make this nation a nation for all nations. Stay tuned in to next week to hear a Muslim’s view on my new feature “Religion is for the Weak.”

Setting up Shop in the Marketplace of Academia #1

Here's a video of the Lutheran campus pastor at UCLA.

Two to four times a week, he'll set up a table on the UCLA campus with a sign attached to it which says, "Religion is for the weak."  I hope to not misrepresent his approach, but I believe his point with this intro to a conversation is to say that people who are religious acknowledge that they are facing death and their religion is an acknowledgment of a need for a "good" ending after this life besides just death and non-existence.

The breakdown however is that all religions besides Christianity are not free.  In Christianity, salvation is free for us, because Jesus has paid the price and fulfilled God's righteous requirements on our behalf.  Other religions put work on the individual to reach the next "level", rather it be observing the law in Judaism, following the eightfold path in Buddhism, practicing some form of yoga in Hinduism, obeying the five pillars of Islam, or whatever a religion "requires" of its adherents to do.

His goal is always to present the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  With a lead in such as "Religion is for the weak," Christians, Muslims, Jews, Hindus, and other religious adherents generally approach him wanting to defend their religion.  The statement is not, "Religion is for the weak-minded," it's just "Religion is for the weak."  Also some atheists or agnostics approach him because of this sign wanting to know more and I guess they are shocked to find out that he's a Christian who is admitting that he is weak and that he needs God, and that in fact we're all going to die and that we all need Jesus as our Savior.

Here is a sample conversation that he has on Youtube:



Check Out University Lutheran Chapel!

Awakened Generation

A former on-line student of mine has started a website called, "Awakened Generation"!

This former student said, "What my main goal for Awakened Generation is to have speaking engagements with high schools and youth groups. Now I don't know how long it will be until Awakened Generation is at that point of regularly speaking at places but we will see what God does. I am not going to be the only speaker for Awakened Generation because I have this vision of speaking with a team of guys who want to share their testimonies about how far away they were from God and how radically He changed their lives. I feel like its really powerful to see a couple of young guys and a couple of young girls share their testimonies with teenagers a year or so younger then them."

If you want to check it out, here is the site for "Awakened Generation".

Hindu Influence in Western Culture #3

Lately, I've written several posts about Hinduism.  I think it is good for Christians to be aware of what other religions belief and to even study them to some degree.  I've tried to start with the teachings of Hinduism and present bridges to presenting the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Similar to that of Paul in Acts 17, although, I'm sure not as well as Paul presented Christ to the men of Athens.  I've also shown some ways in which Hinduism has had influence in Western culture, so far showing "My Sweet Lord" by George Harrison and the movie Avatar.

Now, on to yoga.  Many in America don't know that yoga is influenced by Hinduism.

Here's an article to read about this influence: click here for the article.

Two Religions - Grace, or not Grace.

This can be an interesting coversation-starter:

"Hey, how many religions do you think there are?"

"I don't know, like a couple hundred."

"Well, I bet there are more than that, but did you know that no matter how many religions there are, we can pretty much boil them down to just two religions - Grace, and Not Grace."

The following video illustrates this point. 

Clarification on Christianity #1

It seems that a good number of people who are not Christians see the Bible as a rulebook for life.  That it is a set of moral codes and ethics which need to be adhered to in order to be Christian.  For defending the Christian faith, Christians need to help people get beyond this view of what the Bible is and what being a Christian is.

The Bible is not a rule book.  It is a love letter from God to us.
Christianity is not a way of life - it is life!  

For clarification I have copied the following from a written manuscript by my high school's retired congregational pastor, entitled "Christianity 101":

The Bible: God’s Love Letter – not a secret code book; a living Word, not dead letter.
a. Old Testament -- 39 books
       i. The Canon or Pentateuch (5 books): Genesis – Deuteronomy
               1. Message: God created the world, sin entered, God began a plan to save the world through a                            Savior to be born.
       ii. His-story books (12 books): Joshua-Esther
               1. Message: Humans cannot save ourselves. Kingdoms come and go – so do wars and sin.
       iii. Poetic books: Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon (5 books)
               1. Message: God loves us.
      iv. Minor Prophetic books (17 books): Isaiah-Malachi
               1. Message: Turn (repent) or Burn (live in sin). The Savior is coming.
b. New Testament -- 27 books
       i. Gospels (4 books): Matthew-John
               1. Message: It’s all about Jesus. All four biographies about Jesus.
        ii. HIS-story (1 book): Acts of the Apostles
               1. Message: How the Christian Church was born (after Jesus’ resurrection) & spread.
        iii. Letters (21 books): Romans-Jude
               1. Message: Letters written to real churches, cities, people about living as Jesus’ disciples.
        iv. Victory book (1 book): Revelation
                1. Jesus comes again – Judgment – Those who trust in Jesus as Lord and Savior are saved                          and will  live together forever with God in Heaven with resurrected bodies and recognition of    
                     each other, all glorifying and worshiping the Lord Jesus.

 I believe that clarifying more specifically what the message of the Bible actually is and what Christianity is will go along way in leading people to a relationship with Jesus Christ.

Hindu Influence in Western Culture #2

I think it's good for Christians to be aware of the many religious influences in Western Culture which are not Christian. It's good for us to to know these influences so we don't accidentally glorify or lift up false religions. It's also good for us to know to use as a starting point of conversation with friends when a religiously influenced song or movie is playing. It's simple to say, "Hey did you know that this song is talking about ______." It would then be a good opportunity to explain why Christians disagree with that belief and segue into what the Bible teaches on the issue.

I'm sure this example of Hindu influence in Western culture has been overkilled.  But, hey, why not share it again?

The James Cameron directed Avatar was certainly influenced by Hinduism.  Cameron has even shared this in interviews.


The incarnations of the Hindu god Vishnu are referred to as avatars.  There are ten avatars of Vishnu.  The most known avatars are the ones I mentioned in the last post I made on Hindu influence in Western culture, Krishna and Rama.  Both of these avatars are depicted to have . . . BLUE SKIN!

The picture above is a depiction of Lord Rama.  Do you see any resemblance of this figure with those of the ones in Avatar?  I think so.

Also, in Avatar there is a divine nature which is in all things on the foreign planet, apparently even in the military marines who are visiting the planet.  This is very similar to Brahman, the divine essence that is in all things in Hinduism, making all things in this universe sacred, just as they are in Avatar.