Ministry Monthly Update
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None of the work that I do can be done without the financial support of individuals like you. Along with helping promote the gospel and grow the Kingdom, both monthly and one-time partnership options are tax deductible.
Occasionally
around the city you run into those people standing at stop light
intersections who wear pinnies, carry
a clipboard and are often trying to get you to sign up or donate to
their cause. To be totally honest I'm usually trying to get from point A
to point B and (as politely as I can), smile, say "no thank you" and
keep walking. Recently however, I was walking
home and standing at the corner was a young woman with a pink "Because I
am a Girl" t-shirt holding a clipboard. She asked me if I had a
minute, and to be totally honest, I did.
Her cause was very noble: making people more aware of the social, economic, and educational plight of young woman globally. I agreed with virtually everything she said, we should in fact bring the injustice of all humans more to the forefront. The conversation took a turn however, when I switched the narrative on her.
"If you are burdened for better living conditions for girls, than you would be burdened for all girls everywhere right?" I asked. "Oh yes of course," she answered, "women everywhere deserve a better life, no matter where or who they are!" "Than you are pro-life I assume? Caring and standing-up for the lives of pre-born girls?" This sentiment made her visibly uncomfortable, and for a few minutes she tried to argue the usual talking points of the pro-choice movement. It didn't take all that long however, to point out the fatal flaw in holding such a high standard for girls living post-womb but not for those pre-womb. Nonetheless, I didn't push it too much, I had clearly put a proverbial stone in her shoe and so I changed the narrative slightly again.
"Would you say that you are religious?" I asked. "No" she said, "not particularly, I'd say that I'm an atheist. That religion stuff just never really made sense to me," she replied. "I'm curious," I responded, "why does it really matter that girls around the world deserve better lives?" This seemed to surprise her a little, and her following responses all went to the tune of, "because it's right," or "because it would be wrong to not." "OK," I said, "but where does that idea come from? Because you have already identified yourself as non-religious. As such, why does it matter that girls, boys, woman, or anyone receive fair treatment?" "Well because I believe we have self worth as people," she said. BINGO! I thought to myself. "But if you are an atheist, I'm curious, where does that come from?" I asked. "Well from... from... I guess I don't really know," she finally resolved, "where do you think it comes from?" she asked.
Her cause was very noble: making people more aware of the social, economic, and educational plight of young woman globally. I agreed with virtually everything she said, we should in fact bring the injustice of all humans more to the forefront. The conversation took a turn however, when I switched the narrative on her.
"If you are burdened for better living conditions for girls, than you would be burdened for all girls everywhere right?" I asked. "Oh yes of course," she answered, "women everywhere deserve a better life, no matter where or who they are!" "Than you are pro-life I assume? Caring and standing-up for the lives of pre-born girls?" This sentiment made her visibly uncomfortable, and for a few minutes she tried to argue the usual talking points of the pro-choice movement. It didn't take all that long however, to point out the fatal flaw in holding such a high standard for girls living post-womb but not for those pre-womb. Nonetheless, I didn't push it too much, I had clearly put a proverbial stone in her shoe and so I changed the narrative slightly again.
"Would you say that you are religious?" I asked. "No" she said, "not particularly, I'd say that I'm an atheist. That religion stuff just never really made sense to me," she replied. "I'm curious," I responded, "why does it really matter that girls around the world deserve better lives?" This seemed to surprise her a little, and her following responses all went to the tune of, "because it's right," or "because it would be wrong to not." "OK," I said, "but where does that idea come from? Because you have already identified yourself as non-religious. As such, why does it matter that girls, boys, woman, or anyone receive fair treatment?" "Well because I believe we have self worth as people," she said. BINGO! I thought to myself. "But if you are an atheist, I'm curious, where does that come from?" I asked. "Well from... from... I guess I don't really know," she finally resolved, "where do you think it comes from?" she asked.
That
was exactly the response I was looking for. You see, as an atheist she
had nowhere to ground her ideas of human
worth. In fact, the whole concept is an inherently Christian idea.
People are created in the Image of God, and because they are created in
the Image of God they have intrinsic value. But if you take God (the God
of the Bible specifically and not just any god)
out of the picture, you are forced to plant your feet firmly in
mid-air. The young woman I was talking to, and anyone else who tries to
deny the existence of God, was simply left floundering for moral
footing. If they want to posit innate value and worth to
individuals they have to steal from Christianity in order to do it;
atheism just does not allow for that kind of inherent worth. If your
perspective states that you are a product of time + matter + chance (to
use the phrasing of the late Christopher Hitchens),
just cosmic stardust dancing to your own DNA (as Richard Dawkins
states), than the social, economic, or moral situation of anyone else is
irrelevant. In the grand scheme of things they are no better or worse
than anyone, or anything, else. We are all simply
bags of DNA, and as Richard Dawkins states in River out of Eden, "DNA neither knows, nor cares."
However, deep down we all know that cannot be true. We can give lip service to it, but when the existential rubber
hits the practical road, injustice does
bother us. Why? Because we are fearfully and wonderfully made by a
Creator who loves and cares for us - from the begging of life to the end
of it. Part
of that love comes with being created in His Image, for, through, and
by Him. Yes, Girl's rights
are
human rights, and human rights flow from intrinsic worth, but that
intrinsic worth flows from an all-loving Creator.
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As always you can contact me at wesley.huff@p2c.com, or read my latest article at http://wesleyhuff.blogs
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As I do my work, Paul's words in Corinthians 4:6 have been clear and present in the back of my mind. "Act wisely toward outsiders," Paul says, "redeeming the time. Let your conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how to answer everyone." This is a powerful mandate for anyone, whether a small first century community of believers in what is now western Turkey, or to modern day believers in the 21st century. This is how I desire to treat my interactions, "redeeming the time... full of grace, seasoned with salt."
At the beginning of March, I had the opportunity to guest lecture for an apologetics class at Tyndale University. I did a session on evangelism and the barriers to doing apologetics with Muslims. Breaking down the differences and barriers that lie between Christianity and Islam is one of my favorite speaking topics. When I first endeavored to start dialoguing with Muslims I noticed a lot of misunderstanding and miscommunication taking place, on both sides of the equation. From that point on I have done a lot of reading, study, and preparation in order to figure out not only how to communicate the gospel most effectively, but also, to show that I respect another's worldview enough (in this case Islam) to present and represent it accurately.
Some pictures of my session on Islam at Tyndale University
Continuing
with the theme of Islamic evangelism, last month I had the privilege and
honor to participate in a Christian/Muslim dialogue that took place at
York University. This event was a joint effort of the partnership of P2C
York and the York Ahmadiyya Student Association (AMSA). The topic "Who
Was Jesus of Nazareth" particularly centered around the topic of the
crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus.
Within Islamic theology, the historical fact of the crucifixion is denied. Chapter 4:157 of the Qur'an denies the event even took place, and although there is much in-house debate among Muslims as to the exact details of what did take place, the Qur'an is clear, "they did not kill him (Jesus), nor did they crucify him." For this reason, the central act of Christianity is contested - no crucifixion, no resurrection, no Christianity. This made for a good back-and-forth between my dialogue partner, a PhD candidate in religious studies at York University, and I.
Within Islamic theology, the historical fact of the crucifixion is denied. Chapter 4:157 of the Qur'an denies the event even took place, and although there is much in-house debate among Muslims as to the exact details of what did take place, the Qur'an is clear, "they did not kill him (Jesus), nor did they crucify him." For this reason, the central act of Christianity is contested - no crucifixion, no resurrection, no Christianity. This made for a good back-and-forth between my dialogue partner, a PhD candidate in religious studies at York University, and I.
My dialogue partner, Mizra Ahmad, and I during the Christian / Muslim Dialogue Event at York University.
After the event, I had a number of interesting conversations with individuals who stuck around to interact and ask questions. An elderly Pakistani man asked, "You said that historians agree that Jesus was crucified beyond a reasonable doubt because of the historical evidence; where do you get that evidence from?" Having my iPad handy, I pulled up a number of quotes from ancient writers for him: two Greek, three Roman, and one Jewish. These were all independent, all from the late first or early second century, and all (rather mockingly) stating that this leader of a small Jewish group in Roman occupied Palestine, named Jesus, was crucified. Seemingly unfazed, he looked at me and said, "what Testament are these from?" I replied, "these aren't from a Testament sir, these are historians and writers from the time, I haven't gone to the biblical evidence yet. The Bible is our earliest and most reliable evidence for Christ's live, but I don't need it to prove that he was crucified." He seemed a little bit surprised as I went on to say, "this is why historians say that we can be sure of Jesus' death. The only writing that says anything otherwise comes from a book written 600 years after the event, on a different continent, in a different language, from a source that doesn't seem to show any knowledge of what actually took place. You call it the Qur'an."
We need to pray for the Muslim world, both here and abroad. We need to pray that hearts will be opened and that they search for truth, not merely be content with the narrative they are constantly being told. As Easter Sunday is just around the corner and we meditate on the great work our Lord and Savior has done on our behalf, my prayer is that the 1.6 billion around the world whose worldview holds to an absolute denial of the truth and power of Easter, are reached. The Muslim world is dark but, "the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it" (John 1:5).
- Pray for me and the other speakers at the Apologetics Canada conference.
- Pray for many decisions that I will have to make going forward to further my education and development of the ministry.
- We continue to establish the building blocks of the P2C Apologetics ministry. There is still much to do with establishing relationships and networking within the academic community.
- I continue my efforts to raise my total support for my salary and ministry expenses. This process has both been trying and encouraging for me. Your continuous prayer for me during this time is appreciated.
Later this month I will be speaking at this years Apologetics Canada Conference on Saturday, April 29th, in Barrie. I will be giving two break-out sessions on the Reliability of the Bible vs. the Qur'an and on conversing with Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses. For more information, and to see all the other speakers, how to register, and more information about the venue or speakers see the poster linked below or go to the website by clicking HERE.
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| January Recap |
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Picture taken at my talk at Emmanuel Baptist Church during the second week. After presenting the historical case for the Christian faith I talked about Aristotle's three factors for making up one's mind, and why it is that some may still choose not to believe despite the evidence.
On Saturday January 21st, I was a guest speaker at McMaster University's LIFT Church Conference, doing a talk on my flagship subject, "The Historical Reliability of the New Testament". The Conference was great, with lots of young people coming out and a great reception overall. I did two sessions, both on the same subject followed with a portion of time allotted to Q&A.
After my second session, while I was packing up, I noticed a group of people in a circle in the middle of the conference room discussing some of the things I had talked about. I caught a few words of the discussion and made my way over, asking if they minded if I joined in. As was explained to me, one of the individuals was a young Shia Muslim girl. She told me that she was confused by some of the things I had outlined, that she had always thought that the Gospel was a book given to Jesus, not a book about Jesus. I explained that I totally understood where she was coming from, and agreed as someone who has read the Qur'an more than once that it is very different from the Bible. After a very respectful and in depth discussion I finally made my ultimatum and took her to the same place I take many of the Muslims I interact with - chapter 5:46-47 of the Qur'an. It states:
As much as I love teaching and equipping young Christians, there is always one person who is hearing the information for the first time. Who, like the Muslim girl in the audience that day, may be coming from a background that claims the complete opposite. As vitally important as it is to strengthen the faith of fellow believers, it is just as important to clarify that faith to the one alien to its message. That is what apologetics is all about: clarification of the Gospel message, communication of its beautiful truths, and the process of removing obstacles and barriers that many may not even realize exist. Pray for the young people in this country, that through the work that we do they might come to know Jesus and his saving power to change the world.
As always, none of this would be possible without you. Your prayers, your support, and your encouragement keep me going. I mean that sincerely. Your prayerful consideration and giving will carry me forward into the year ahead. Thank you for all you do. It means more than these words can express.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Prayer
____________________________________________________________________________________
To read more about the events that took place concerning our event at the University of Toronto please see the P2C's after-event report which can be found HERE, as well as RZIM's official post series blog which can be found HERE; or you can visit the series' official website which can be found here: RELEVANT SERIES,
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There are many things I love about my job. I love reading, researching, writing, but most of all I love presenting the truth in front of a crowed of young people hungry for it. In January I had many opportunities to do just that. It started off with two back-to-back Sundays at Emmanuel Baptist Church's Refuel youth service in Barrie; a series I called "A Doubter's Guide to the Bible". The advantage to having two Sundays gave me the opportunity to really stretch-out the topic; first talking about an aesthetic argument for God (highlighting the beauty and ugliness in the world and why the Bible answers humanity's deepest longings) and then immediately following it up with the historical evidence for the Bible the following Sunday. My constant worry when presenting to an audience of youth is that I'm presenting information that goes right over their heads. However, on the second Sunday I was pleasantly surprised with how much many of them managed to remember and take to heart.
As mentioned last month, the Power to Change Apologetics Team helped run and host the Relevant Series at the University of Toronto. These talks took place over 5 days during the week of January 16th and had as many as 4 talks per day on the university campus. Each of these talks were followed by an insightful Q&A with experts and panelists. I had the honor of participating as a panelist speaker for two talks, the first on Tuesday with former Canadian director of RZIM, and current director of SOLAS, Andy Bannister, and the second on Wednesday with RZIM itinerant speaker Logan Gates. Both sessions went very well, with good attendance and a full Q&A session afterwards.
Picture taken at my talk at Emmanuel Baptist Church during the second week. After presenting the historical case for the Christian faith I talked about Aristotle's three factors for making up one's mind, and why it is that some may still choose not to believe despite the evidence.
The Q&A panel discussion with RZIM's Ivy Tyson (moderator), SOLAS's Andy Bannister, and myself.
On Saturday January 21st, I was a guest speaker at McMaster University's LIFT Church Conference, doing a talk on my flagship subject, "The Historical Reliability of the New Testament". The Conference was great, with lots of young people coming out and a great reception overall. I did two sessions, both on the same subject followed with a portion of time allotted to Q&A.
After my second session, while I was packing up, I noticed a group of people in a circle in the middle of the conference room discussing some of the things I had talked about. I caught a few words of the discussion and made my way over, asking if they minded if I joined in. As was explained to me, one of the individuals was a young Shia Muslim girl. She told me that she was confused by some of the things I had outlined, that she had always thought that the Gospel was a book given to Jesus, not a book about Jesus. I explained that I totally understood where she was coming from, and agreed as someone who has read the Qur'an more than once that it is very different from the Bible. After a very respectful and in depth discussion I finally made my ultimatum and took her to the same place I take many of the Muslims I interact with - chapter 5:46-47 of the Qur'an. It states:
“And we sent, following in their footsteps, Jesus, the son of Mary, confirming that which came before him in the Torah; and We gave him the Gospel, in which was guidance and light and confirming that which preceded it of the Torah as guidance and instruction for the righteous. And let the People of the Gospel judge by what Allah has revealed therein. And whoever does not judge by what Allah has revealed - then it is those who are the defiantly disobedient.”
"As a 'person of the Gospel'", I said, "when I judge by what I have therein (the Gospel) I find the Qur'an denies everything that is outlined there - the divinity of Christ, the Trinity, even Christ's death on the cross! Therefore, if I try my hardest to obey the Qur'an, to not be one of the 'defiantly disobedient' I find the Qur'an false by its own standard. How then," I asked, "do I, as a person of the Gospel obey this mandate, directed to me within the Qur'an?" I then outlined who the Bible said Jesus was, and that whoever the Jesus of the Qur'an was, it wasn't the Jesus we know of history; and that whoever the author of the Qur'an was, they didn't understand what the gospel (or the Gospels) was (were). I reassured her that the gospel of Jesus Christ did in fact "confirm that which came before it" and that it was indeed filled with "guidance and light." But that that light was Jesus Himself, and that he not only claimed to be God, but was God.
Many of the LIFT Conference sessions took place at Westdale United Church in Hamilton, where both my talks took place. This photo, of the sanctuary, was taken shortly after my plenary session.
As much as I love teaching and equipping young Christians, there is always one person who is hearing the information for the first time. Who, like the Muslim girl in the audience that day, may be coming from a background that claims the complete opposite. As vitally important as it is to strengthen the faith of fellow believers, it is just as important to clarify that faith to the one alien to its message. That is what apologetics is all about: clarification of the Gospel message, communication of its beautiful truths, and the process of removing obstacles and barriers that many may not even realize exist. Pray for the young people in this country, that through the work that we do they might come to know Jesus and his saving power to change the world.
As always, none of this would be possible without you. Your prayers, your support, and your encouragement keep me going. I mean that sincerely. Your prayerful consideration and giving will carry me forward into the year ahead. Thank you for all you do. It means more than these words can express.
Prayer
____________________________________________________________________________________
- Pray for my upcoming talks and outreach opportunities.
- Pray for many decisions that I will have to make going forward to further my education and development of the ministry.
- We continue to establish the building blocks of the P2C Apologetics ministry. There is still much to do with establishing relationships and networking within the academic community.
- Thank you for your prayers regarding our official office downtown. Due to some financial hiccups we may have to find an alternative location but God is good nonetheless and a few viable alternatives have popped up.
- I continue my efforts to raise my total support for my salary and ministry expenses. This process has both been trying and encouraging for me. Your continuous prayer for me during this time is appreciated.
- As of January I hit just over 35% of my total support goal. While this is heartening, the sooner my support reaches 100%, the sooner I can devote my full effort to the mission field.
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To see previous newsletters you can go to the Ministry Monthly Update page on my blog.
To read more about the events that took place concerning our event at the University of Toronto please see the P2C's after-event report which can be found HERE, as well as RZIM's official post series blog which can be found HERE; or you can visit the series' official website which can be found here: RELEVANT SERIES,
The video from the events that were live streamed can be found by clicking HERE. Much of the video take in still in the editing process and I will post it as soon as it is made available to me.
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As always you can contact me at wesley.huff@p2c.com, or read my latest article at http://wesleyhuff.blogspot.ca.
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A Year in Review| December Recap |
This last year has truly been an adventure. 2016 saw a good deal of change in my life, ministry, and education. The year started off with my final semester of my Masters in Theology at Tyndale Seminary, from which I graduated in April. I was accepted to do further graduate-level studies at the University of Toronto's Wycliffe College in New Testament textual critical studies.
I also had the opportunity to participate in a number of events over the spring and summer. At the annual Toronto Thinking Conference (May) I had the opportunity to be the chauffeur of New Testament scholar Craig Evans and apologist J. Warner Wallace. Driving around both speakers gave me the unique opportunity of being in a vehicle for extended periods of time with them, allowing me to ask questions, interact with, and glean some valuable advice. In July I was able to attend the RZIM Summer School in Langley, BC. During the week I was there I was able to sit down and talk with a number of prominent thinkers and evangelists such as Abdu Murray, Mike Licona, and Paul Copan, as well as meet Ravi Zacharius himself. I also had the privilege of being a guest speaker for the online Apologetics Academy webinar, where I spoke on the subject of popular critique Bart Ehrman, and his New York Time's bestseller "Misquoting Jesus" (you can find my talk here).
Myself along with Dr. Paul Copan and Ravi Zacharius
From left to right: me, J. Warner Wallace, Jordan Weeks
In June, my wife and I moved from Richmond Hill to Scarborough. She works in the High Park area of Toronto, and after my acceptance to U of T we decided that the commute was just too much, eventually moving to Toronto's east end. However, it was only a couple of weeks out from my first entrance exam at U of T that I was contacted by a few individuals from Power to Change (University of Toronto). Only a couple of weeks out from stepping into my first entrance exam, I was hired with the P2C Apologetics Team, and contacted the University staff to put my degree on hold. Not only this but in September I started on as a pastoral intern at our home church, West Toronto Baptist.
2017 marks the beginning of something exciting, of minds changed and hearts opened to the gospel because of the work that is being done through the growing development of the P2C Apologetics Team. This work however, can only be done through the financial and spiritual help of like-minded individuals. The work we are doing at P2C is both encouraging and rewarding but it means that we are always in constant need of your prayers, your support, and partnership.
I also had the opportunity to participate in a number of events over the spring and summer. At the annual Toronto Thinking Conference (May) I had the opportunity to be the chauffeur of New Testament scholar Craig Evans and apologist J. Warner Wallace. Driving around both speakers gave me the unique opportunity of being in a vehicle for extended periods of time with them, allowing me to ask questions, interact with, and glean some valuable advice. In July I was able to attend the RZIM Summer School in Langley, BC. During the week I was there I was able to sit down and talk with a number of prominent thinkers and evangelists such as Abdu Murray, Mike Licona, and Paul Copan, as well as meet Ravi Zacharius himself. I also had the privilege of being a guest speaker for the online Apologetics Academy webinar, where I spoke on the subject of popular critique Bart Ehrman, and his New York Time's bestseller "Misquoting Jesus" (you can find my talk here).
Myself along with Dr. Paul Copan and Ravi Zacharius
From left to right: me, J. Warner Wallace, Jordan Weeks
In June, my wife and I moved from Richmond Hill to Scarborough. She works in the High Park area of Toronto, and after my acceptance to U of T we decided that the commute was just too much, eventually moving to Toronto's east end. However, it was only a couple of weeks out from my first entrance exam at U of T that I was contacted by a few individuals from Power to Change (University of Toronto). Only a couple of weeks out from stepping into my first entrance exam, I was hired with the P2C Apologetics Team, and contacted the University staff to put my degree on hold. Not only this but in September I started on as a pastoral intern at our home church, West Toronto Baptist.
2017 marks the beginning of something exciting, of minds changed and hearts opened to the gospel because of the work that is being done through the growing development of the P2C Apologetics Team. This work however, can only be done through the financial and spiritual help of like-minded individuals. The work we are doing at P2C is both encouraging and rewarding but it means that we are always in constant need of your prayers, your support, and partnership.
Some other highlights from this year's journey include meeting Robert Spencer, founder of Jihad Watch, listening to and meeting with Islamic scholar Dr. Shabir Ally, and Skyping with great, great granddaughter of Brigham Young, Sandra Tanner during a world religions class at Tyndale.
____________________________________________________________________________________________
January Events________________________________________________________________________________________
The New Year marks the advent of a number of exciting events that I am taking part in. On January 15th and 22nd I will be speaking at Emmanuel Baptist Church's Refuel youth service in Barrie, Ontario. I will be doing a two-part series on apologetics and practical faith. Specifically in regard to the Bible and the firm foundation that we have as believers in the hope that we have.
This January, the Power to Change Apologetics Team is helping run and host the Relevant Series at the University of Toronto. These talks take place over 5 days during the week of January 16th and will have multiple talks every day, each followed by an insightful Q&A with experts and panelists. I will be participating as a panelist speaker for a number of talks, including a talk on "Jesus: Man, Myth, Prophet or More?" (hosted by the former Canadian director of RZIM, and current director of SOLAS, Andy Bannister), and "The Bible: Fact or Fiction?" (hosted by RZIM's Logan Gates).
On January 21st, I will be a guest speaker at McMaster University's LIFT Church Conference (more info to come). I will be doing a talk entitled "Doctrines Dates and Dead People: A Doubter's Guide to the Bible," where I will briefly go over what the Bible is, its significance, why we can trust it, and how it impacts our lives.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
PrayerThis January, the Power to Change Apologetics Team is helping run and host the Relevant Series at the University of Toronto. These talks take place over 5 days during the week of January 16th and will have multiple talks every day, each followed by an insightful Q&A with experts and panelists. I will be participating as a panelist speaker for a number of talks, including a talk on "Jesus: Man, Myth, Prophet or More?" (hosted by the former Canadian director of RZIM, and current director of SOLAS, Andy Bannister), and "The Bible: Fact or Fiction?" (hosted by RZIM's Logan Gates).
On January 21st, I will be a guest speaker at McMaster University's LIFT Church Conference (more info to come). I will be doing a talk entitled "Doctrines Dates and Dead People: A Doubter's Guide to the Bible," where I will briefly go over what the Bible is, its significance, why we can trust it, and how it impacts our lives.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
- Pray for my upcoming talks and outreach opportunities.
- We continue to establish the building blocks of the P2C Apologetics ministry. There is still much to do with establishing relationships and networking within the academic community.
- We are in the final stages of procuring our office space at the Toronto School of Theology building at the University of Toronto. Pray that the financial aspect would come through and that we would be able to get in and outfit the office as soon as possible.
- I continue my efforts to raise my total support for my salary and ministry expenses. This process has both been trying and encouraging for me. Your continuous prayer for me during this time is appreciated.
- As of December I hit 33% of my total support goal. While this is heartening, the sooner my support reaches 100%, the sooner I can devote my full effort to the mission field.
_______________________________________________________________________________________
Media Update_______________________________________________________________________________________
A number of the talks from this last summer/fall are now available on Youtube:
- New Testament Reliability Talk (Cedarview Community Church - Newmarket, Ontario)
- Contenders: the "Lost Gospels" (Emmanuel Baptist Church - Barrie, Ontario)
- Responding to Bart Ehrman's Misquoting Jesus - Online Apologetics Academy
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As always you can contact me at wesley.huff@p2c.com, or read my latest article at http://wesleyhuff.blogspot.ca.
A Christian, a
Muslim, and a Mormon walk onto a Subway Car
| November Recap |
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As mentioned in last week’s letter, this month I had the amazing opportunity
to speak at Cedarview Community Church in Newmarket. I spent three Wednesday
evenings sharing and teaching about the reliability of the Christian Scriptures
and exactly why it is we can have confidence that what we possess today is what
the authors wrote back then. Likewise, I got to speak to a collection of youth
from my home church, West Toronto Baptist, about worldview issues. We discussed
Buddhism, Hinduism, and Islam. Talking about why Christianity is the only
worldview that can lead us into a true relationship with God.
A couple of
pictures of me in action speaking at Cedarview Community Church in Newmarket
It was however, an interaction only a few days after my talk in Newmarket that remained one of the highlights of the month. I was on the subway on a Monday morning flipping through some pictures of manuscripts on my ipad. The man next to me, who had been looking over my shoulder for the last few minutes, looked at me and said, “I’m sorry, are those biblical manuscripts?” “Yes!” I replied, a little surprised. “They’re pictures of second and third century manuscripts of the Gospel of Luke; some of our earliest surviving testimonies of the Christmas story. Would you like to see?” As I handed the ipad over to him he explained that his name was Mohammad, but he went by Mo. He was studying engineering at the University of Toronto, but what he really wanted to be was an Imam (Islamic pastor). He told me he had done some informal study in the Bible online but hadn’t actually seen any pictures of the manuscripts themselves.
I explained who I was, and why I was flipping through such manuscripts. While I was telling him about what I did he happened to scroll one image past the last biblical manuscript. The next image was a picture of an ancient Qur’anic manuscript I used in my presentation in Newmarket. “This is Arabic!” He said surprisingly, “Is this a Qur’an?”
I explained that only the previous week I had done a talk at a church comparing the transmission of the New Testament to that of the Qur’an. Mo seemed surprised at this. “Why would you do that?” he asked. I clarified that the two books had very different histories; pulling up a few slides from the presentation I’d done to show him. While all of this was going on a man sitting across from Mo and I seemed to be staring. When he realized I noticed he apologized, “Sorry, I was eavesdropping. You two are having a very interesting conversation.” “Are you a religious man?” Mo asked, “Oh no,” he replied. He said his name was Pryce, and that if we didn’t mind he’d much rather just be a third party observer and listen.
The conversation progressed and Mo and I started to talk about the differences between the Qur’an and the Bible. The things both books claim about themselves, and how that impacts both of us as believers in our own worldviews. At one point however, Pryce looked at me, “You know a lot about the Bible!” he said. “Thank you, it’s kind of my job,” I jokingly replied, “As both a Christian and in regard to the work I do.” “What do you think of the Book of Mormon?” he asked.
I explained to him that some of the nicest, most sincere people I’d ever met were Mormons. That I’d met with quite a few Mormon missionaries in my time and that I’d even Skyped with Sandra Tanner, the great, great granddaughter of Brigham Young, the second in command to Joseph Smith, the first prophet of the Mormon Church (I didn’t mention that she is no longer a Mormon but an evangelical Christian). Despite all this, I explained that while I believe people can be sincere, they can likewise be sincerely wrong. I briefly tried to describe some of the historical issues that plague the Book of Mormon, along with the glaring issues that beset the Mormon Book of Abraham. I ended by saying most Mormons are great people. But if their intent is to discover and follow the truth, they should probably look elsewhere, because Joseph Smith was a false prophet.
I realized at that point that Pryce had a very uncomfortable look on his face. “Why do you ask?” I said. He replied, “Well… I’m a Mormon.” Surprised I replied, “I thought you said you weren’t religious.” “Oh. I thought you meant by occupation,” he answered. Pointing to Mo he said, “He said he wants to be an Imam, and you. You’re an… evangelist?” “I’ll take that,” I said.
The conversation drastically changed after that, I not only had the opportunity to tell a Muslim about the Bible, and likewise encourage him to read it for himself. But I got a Mormon thrown into the mix as well. I was able to encourage both individuals to seek the truth, and that ultimately Jesus claimed to be The Truth. I made it clear that neither the Jesus’ of Islam or Mormonism could save them.
Pray for Mo, pray for Pryce, and pray for so many out there looking and searching for truth. Although I don’t usually have such in-depth conversations on public transit, both Mo and Pryce represent a much smaller picture of a bigger issue – young people searching for the truth.
“Sanctify
them by the truth; your word is truth.”
-
Jesus, John 17:17
Praise
___________________________
Praise
___________________________
-
Your
prayers for my talks during the month of November were undoubtedly felt. The
talks went without any technological hitches and there was a very encouraging
reception from the audience.
-
As of last week I have hit 30% of my total
support goal
-
I was
asked to speak on the subject of apologetics at a conference at McMaster
University put on by LIFT Church.
Prayer
This is the confidence
we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he
hears us.
1 John 5:14
_________________________
Ministry:
-
We
continue to establish the building blocks of the P2C apologetics ministry.
There is still much to do with establishing relationships and networking within
the academic community at the U of T and beyond.
-
Pray
for my upcoming talks and outreach opportunities.
-
Pray
for the upcoming P2C plus conference that takes place on Dec. 28 – Jan. 1 (info
here: http://toronto2016.p2cplus.com/speakers/).
-
We
are still waiting for the paperwork to clear concerning our space for a formal
P2C Apologetics office at Wycliffe College on the downtown University of
Toronto St. George campus. Pray that everything there goes with minimal issue.
Support:
-
I
continue my efforts to raise my total support for my salary and ministry
expenses. This process has both been trying and encouraging for me. Your
continuous prayer for me during this time is always appreciated.
-
As of
this week I hit 30% of my total support goal. While this is heartening, the
sooner my support hits that golden 100% mark, the sooner I can devote my full
effort to the mission field.
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
As always you can contact me at wesley.huff@p2c.com, or read my latest article at http://wesleyhuff.blogspot.ca.
______________________________________________________
Starting Things Off!
| October Recap |
The last two months have been a whirlwind! In all honesty I’m not even sure where September and October went. Since beginning work on the Apologetics team with Power to Change lots has happened!
Things started off quickly with jumping into support raising, but along with
all that that has entailed I have had some great opportunities to speak at a
number of venues. At the end of September I was asked to speak at Tyndale
University’s Dorm Church. Dorm Church is made up of a group of students who
live on residence at the Tyndale campus and meet every Wednesday evening to
worship and learn from God’s Word. It was very encouraging to not only share
with them, but likewise to stay and talk with the group afterwards. Seeing the
hunger that God has placed in so many young individuals lives, especially at a
key juncture where many are still trying to figure out where their lives
direction is heading is always encouraging.
Two pictures of me
in action, presenting a case for why we have a firm confidence in the
historical and inspirational reliability of the Bible
Likewise, along with Tyndale I was also able to do a
number of presentations concerning my field of study, the reliability of the
Bible. My own faith journey included many conversations with people of other
worldview perspectives while I was doing my undergraduate degree at York
University. During this time I would often encounter a pattern. It didn’t seem
to matter who I was dialoguing with, Muslims, atheists, Mormons, etc., the
accusation of the reliability of the Bible kept coming up. “It doesn’t matter
what you say” they would often retort, “your belief is based on a book, and you
can’t trust that book.” This was an accusation I took seriously, because I saw
the strength of their argument. For this reason, I truly love to help others
within the formal settings of the University and College find resources concerning
the issues surrounding the foundation of their faith.
October was a special month for this. Early in the month I was able to go and speak on the campus of York University, the very place where my “trial by fire” concerning my own faith took place. My talk titled “Is what we have now what they wrote back then?” about the Bible went very well, highlighted by the excellent Q&A afterwards, along with a time of discussion that ended up spilling past the allotted time and for nearly two hours afterwards.
October was a special month for this. Early in the month I was able to go and speak on the campus of York University, the very place where my “trial by fire” concerning my own faith took place. My talk titled “Is what we have now what they wrote back then?” about the Bible went very well, highlighted by the excellent Q&A afterwards, along with a time of discussion that ended up spilling past the allotted time and for nearly two hours afterwards.
Prayer
Let your
gentleness be obvious to everyone. The Lord is near. Be anxious for nothing,
but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your
requests to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will
guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 4:6 (NIV)
____________
____________
Ministry:
-
In
November I am doing a three-part series on the reliability of the Bible and how
it pertains to the gospel at Cedarview Community Church in Newmarket. These
will take place over the next three Wednesday evenings of the month. Please
pray that the truth of my message will truly impact that of my audience. And
likewise, that technology issues will be kept to a minimum (an issue that seems
to follow me when I do public presentations).
-
Every
year Power to Change holds a big conference for students in December. This year’s
P2C+ conference takes place on Dec. 28 – Jan. 1. The Apologetics Team in
particular has made an effort to get a number of speakers who are knowledgeable
in a number of academic, evangelistic, and apologetically related fields.
Please pray for the impact of this conference, and the work that it does to
break down spiritual and intellectual barriers (info here: http://toronto2016.p2cplus.com/speakers/).
-
Our
team is trying to procure space for a formal P2C Apologetics office at Wycliffe
College on the downtown University of Toronto St. George campus. The paperwork
has all been filled out and we are just waiting for everything to be finalized.
Please pray that this process goes quickly, and that things come together.
Support:
-
I
continue my efforts to raise my total support for my salary and ministry
expenses. This process has both been trying and encouraging for me. Your
continuous prayer for me during this time is always appreciated.
-
As of
this week I hit 28% of my total support goal. While this is heartening, the
sooner my support hits that golden 100% mark, the sooner I can devote my full
effort to the mission field.
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
As always you can contact me at wesley.huff@p2c.com, or read my latest article at http://wesleyhuff.blogspot.ca.
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