Setting up Shop in the Marketplace of Academia #4

I thought I was going to be finished with this series, but I'm not.  If you look back at the other posts in this series you will see that I'm sharing a ministry that takes place on UCLA's campus.

I attended a seminar led by Pastor Mark Jasa and his vicar at the time.  I found a piece of paper recently with some notes scribbled on it from that meeting.  I thought I'd share some of the bits of information I gleaned from that seminar.

When witnessing, "Don't talk about Christianity - Focus on Jesus!"

Don't try to win the argument if someone says death isn't a problem.  If someone says, "I don't fear death.  I haven't done anything wrong," then an appropriate response could be, "Then you don't need Jesus.  Jesus forgives sins and rescues from death.  You don't need him."

If Jesus rose from the dead, his claims are vindicated.  Matt 12:39-40 and John 2:18-19, 20:28.

Emotions don't cause truth.

Probability, not possibility.  Lots of things are possible.

What's the procedure to verify the historical claims concerning Julius Caesar?  Take the same procedure and apply it to the resurrection.

Don't convince about God, convince about Jesus.

Define the it (Gospel) first, then show proof.

Quote movies.

If Jesus rose from the dead, what would that mean?  Reverse the question: If Jesus did not rise from the dead, what would that mean?  Christianity is falsifiable, for it's based on facts.  Jesus can be tested. 

Wow!  I think that each of these one liners can be pounded out into full blog posts!  Enjoy the final video post from University Lutheran Chapel for this blog series posts.

Setting up Shop in the Marketplace of Academia #3

OK, I think this is the final blog post on the work that Pastor Mark Jasa is doing at the Lutheran University Chapel, UCLA.

Here is a link to all of their online media resources: Lutheran University Chapel Online Media.

Here is one more video of Pastor Mark Jasa speaking with a college student on the UCLA campus.  He is setup on the campus with a table like this multiple times every week.  He would love to see similar setups like this on campuses all over America.  He's willing to help train people to do it.  I think in the next week or two, I'll setup a similar table on the UCI campus.  You can pray for me about doing that. 

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!