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YourGod is Healer?

Your God is  Healer? 

Another thing, on the way home from the Your God event, at Chatswood station I was met by a familiar scene - people in matching outfits handing out flyers (naturally I thought nothing of it). But as I got a bit closer I realised I knew one of them, it was the Korean cleaner who I see bi-weekly (not being racist!). They were advocating some sort of prayer outreach, no idea what was going on but by the time I knew it I had been moved to their makeshift "Prayer Stall".

They asked if there was anything they could pray for, my eczema was acting up a bit today so they started suggesting my health, and for my studies (At this point I was still pretty clueless about what was going on mind you). Then it got a bit weird, I know Korean churches are known for being quite spiritual, and even myself being in a Church context I'm used to prayer (to an extent).

These people I didn't know at all (apart from the cleaner), started putting their hands on me and praying in a language I didn't understand (someone even may have been praying in tongues, didn't sound like Korean at one point...). Either way, not gonna lie I was pretty freaked out - if someone who has been in  Church context is feeling a bit on edge I wonder how a complete random would feel (though at the same time I can imagine how it could be comforting during difficult times).

The mood created by the guitar man in the distance, and the hummings and constant prayer was a bit unnerving. When I could finally understand what was being said I heard phrases such as

"pray for success in his life and his studies, that he will be healed, he will have everything you need in this life because you provide O Lord"

  I mean, not to say that it's wrong to pray for things you geniunely want (or is it, James 4 prayer desires?),  I think it's just been very different for me maturing in a Baptist conservative church.

Either way, as I left I felt quite stunned and (still) a bit confused about what actually happened. It was a bit of an eye opener about the different types of outreach and attitudes people have even in Sydney alone

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YourGod is Debater.

YourGod is  Debater?

Just came back from one of the UTS - Your God Mission events, and I was quite surprised at how well done it was. The whole event felt polished and professional (free catered food always helps too ^^). The focus was on the resurrection of Jesus Christ, involving scholars William Lane Craig (who has been uni hopping during the recent mission festivities) and Peter Slezak, a professor from a world renowned university ;) The debate/Q&A event was well mediated by the coordinator Paul Winch, despite the whole thing being held by a Christian group, there were no obvious biases or favours towards the Christian argument by him. In fact, towards the end of the night (I'd come with a carte blanche attitude), in all honesty I was more convinced by the pro-atheist arguments of Peter Slezak. Not to say that Craig's propositions were rubbish, they were reasonable - however were presented poorly imo.

One thing that Slezak continually referred to was the legend/story/history (whatever you will call it) of an ancient Aztec god - Quetzalcoatl. In the same way that as Christian's we treat any stories regarding this god as complete trash, others see Jesus' resurrection as a mere children's story or fairy tale. Why was this so? Probably the most compelling argument proposed by Slezak was that (paraphrased):

out of all the explanations for the facts which are presented during the time of Jesus' burial and (possible) death, why would you choose the one that defies the laws of nature itself

I don't remember exactly the words of the argument, but it was something along those lines. There are many other reasons for the explanations of the post crucifixion events: Jesus' disciples stole the body,  Jesus' followers had a hallucination (Elvis is still in the building anyone?), Jesus himself wasn't crucified on the cross - or even a combination of them all.

Since when was it logical to claim the validly of a supernaturalistic event before exhausting every single other rational possibility. 

Otherwise we'll be simply claiming that Santa Claus put the presents under the tree of every home in a single day because it's easier to say (also cooler).

  And I think that's just it, we haven't yet been able to say CONCLUSIVELY that every other hypothesis was false.

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FOCUS (Fellowship of Overseas Christian University Students) talks are so good. They are short, in simple english and can’t be too complicated conceptually because they are aimed at international students who have generally poorer english and little understanding of the context of the Bible....

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Next stop. #MYC2013 #pleased #easterislandchanman #igerssydney #iphone4daily #like4like #youreawizardrohan

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No cups? No problem. #engineer #innovation

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Free textbooks. Get them while they last, they're practically jumping off the shelves @ UNSW ASB

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How to open a jar1101 (at Okaeri)

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Eggplant 1101 #unsw #education (at UNSW Science Theatre)

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Double egg on top of each other! #eggsperiment #lol #masterchefbrah #pikachu (at Homebush Bay)

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Giant! #earlyriser #perspective ...really cold out here (at Sir John Clancy Auditorium, UNSW)

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Hometime! #unilyfe #depature (at UNSW Main Walkway)

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What do you fear? #Godisbigger #nsgbiscf13 (at Eltham Park)

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Packed and pumped for #nsgbiscf13 (at Okaeri)

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Random knob in my table becomes a makeshift penholder! #procrasination or #innovation ..? (at Okaeri)

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Journey across the northern shore of ancient Sydney #Google #maps #revamp #treasure (at Okaeri)