UNC-Raleigh: The Unwelcome Truth

Our last day on campus at UNC-Charlotte got rained out, so we headed for UNC-Raleigh, in the midst of much rain and darkness, where we would be set up the following Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, November 4-6. Upon arriving, we engaged in some incredibly competitive games of pingpong at Pastor Burke's house, got hooked up each with our different hosts, participated in the friday night prayer meeting, and toured the incredibly grand, very modern, robotically-run library which is the only one of it's kind in the world. We didn't do too much over the weekend, although Sat. night did involve a game of 4-on-4 frisbee with an overly sized light-up frisbee. Sunday afternoon saw us out on the frisbee field again, this time with more people as we engaged in the excited and exhilarating sport of racing a plastic disc from one end of the field to another. 

Monday morning saw us eagerly driving to campus with our precious cargo of truth-filled banners. After setting up in the Brickyard, I began looking for anyone to engage in conversation. I talked to Emily, who declared, 

          "I'm a Christian, BUT I believe in science." "Cool!" I told her. "So do I." (Translation: science for Emily meant evolution. Science for me meant creation). I began planting a few pebbles in her shoe of thought concerning evolution. Based off of her answers to my questions, I do not think she had genuinely ever considered these ideas before.
"What was the reason God created us?" I asked. 

"For us to love Him, and Him to love us," she replied. 

"I agree," I told her. "Now, I'm just curious as to why God would have waited billions of years for us to evolve in order to love us/be loved by us?" I also raised the question of original sin: Where did it come from? Because if evolution is true, then it has always been there. Even though Emily couldn't stay long and our conversation was brief, I was glad to have been able to talk with her and give her some things to think about. The more I learn and study, the more I'm excited to talk to people about science, creation and evolution. The reason? Because it makes total sense coming from the side of the Bible! The majority of the world accepts evolution as infallible, even with the incredible lack of evidence. As Mr. Short pointed out at dinner, evolution is the foundation of the majority's beliefs. If you disprove evolution, you are taking the legs of believe right out from under people, and they have no basis on which to stand. It is not fun watching someone fumble around for an answer, pulling whatever sounds good out of their behind. Instead, I want to be gently and humbly point out the errors in their arguments and help them come to an understanding of the Genesis account for creation through sharing the facts and evidences for such a belief. Emily took an Inspired Evidence book and said she was interested in looking into this more deeply. Lord, may you be glorified in her as she realizes who you are as the Creator of the universe, as well as her Savior!

One conversation I had with a student named MJ, a Muslim, involved whether or not atheists can go to heaven. Now, I know what you are thinking. Atheists don't even believe in God, let alone a heaven or hell. What would compel them to want to go there? Aptly put, my friend. Aptly put. MJ was confident in her role as a good Muslim who did everything she was able to do in following the teachings of Islam, and explained that the reason why she felt sure she would go to heaven some day is because she had been good enough. When I asked how she could know she had been good enough, she countered that everyone has different things they do that they feel are good enough, so surely God will see that we all tried our hardest. When I asked about Hitler's belief that he was helping bring good to the world by eradicating over six million people, she emphatically maintained that this was not the same concept. 

MJ continued to contradict herself about atheists going to heaven-"the ones who are good enough should be able to get in." She then waved her arms in the air and conceded that she did not know one atheist-and she admitted to knowing several-who was good enough. "No, they're all bad atheists that I know!" She laughed. MJ's own standard of righteousness repudiated itself. Indeed, I asked her why God would let an atheist into heaven if he or she denies that such a place exists-if God is all loving and all knowing, shouldn't he rather send them to another place, since allowing them into the place (heaven) which they've chosen to deny exists would be like punishing them by proving it's reality? MJ thought this was an interesting take on the whole perspective, and it was difficult for her to admit the truth in my statement, realizing that this meant that there was a moral standard. As we parted ways, I encouraged her to look more into the person of Jesus. She found it interesting when I told her that the Bible that Muslims believe is flawed, is in fact very wrong if Jesus is not who He said He was-the pure and spotless Son of God. 

1 Corinthians 15:14, 15, 17 And if Christ has not raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins.