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The Point @ UBC -- Debate between Dr. William Craig and Dr. John Shook

Suzanne Perry, Rich Carruthers, Kyle Reese and Lynda Reese are leaders of  The Point @ UBC, a university community church that meets at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, BC.

In January, 2008 they participated with other Christian ministries at UBC to host  a number of lectures by Christian apologist Dr. William Craig, and then a debate between Dr. William Craig and Dr. John Shook.  An intense hostility toward Christianity that exists at the UBC campus became apparent at this debate

Suzanne Perry provided this report:

 Here are the numbers from the Association of Christian Clubs events earlier this week: approx.
 

• 175 people attended the 4 lectures on Monday/Tuesday
• 1207 tickets were sold to Tuesday night's debate. Everyavailable seat was filled, and at least 100 people were turnedaway due to lack of space.
• 40 volunteers served as event staff (ushers, ticket sales,book sellers, security, etc.)
• 2 prayer teams prayed throughout the debateover
• 200 people turned in comment cards with their phonenumbers asking to be contacted (= one out of every 6 people who attended the debate)

At the debrief of the event organizers Wednesday afternoon, it wasreported that God answered our prayers and that for the most part, logistics went smoothly. Rich, Kyle, and I were responsible for ticket sales & money counting, and Lynda participated in the prayer team.

Those who actually heard the debate reported that although the atheist side was unable to decisively prove the Christian view as wrong or untrue, Dr.Shook still presented a fierce rejection of belief in God. This was intensified during the Q&A. Dr. William Craig later commented that our campus showed the most hostility to Christianity out of any of the debates he has done on campuses across North America.

We are thankful to God that some people's rejection of Him does not change the fact that He exists. He has shown many mercies this week, and we continue to trust Him to open hearts and reveal the truth of Jesus to people at UBC. We were already aware that this is "hard soil" and that there is a spiritual battle on our campus. The debate has served to bring this reality to the surface and raise more conversations about God on campus.

We trust that the Father is working out His plan to draw people to Himself, and must continue to pray and work earnestly for His kingdom to come.The task at hand now is to follow up with those who turned incomment cards. our BFM group has received 16 new names to contact.  Please continue to pray for us as we debrief students and followup during this time of increased spiritual conversation on campus. Pray for the name of the Lord to be honored, and for the salvation of many at UBC.

Thanks,Suzanne

The Debators

William Lane Craig is Research Professor of Philosophy at Talbot School of Theology in La Mirada, California.

At the age of sixteen as a junior in high school, he first heard the message of the Christian gospel and yielded his life to Christ. Dr. Craig pursued his undergraduate studies at Wheaton College (B.A. 1971) and graduate studies at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (M.A. 1974; M.A. 1975), the University of Birmingham (England) (Ph.D. 1977), and the University of Munich (Germany) (D.Theol. 1984). From 1980-86 he taught Philosophy of Religion at Trinity. In 1987 he moved to Brussels, Belgium, where Dr. Craig pursued research at the University of Louvain until assuming his position at Talbot in 1994.

He has authored or edited over thirty books, including The Kalam Cosmological Argument; Assessing the New Testament Evidence for the Historicity of the Resurrection of Jesus; Divine Foreknowledge and Human Freedom; Theism, Atheism and Big Bang Cosmology; and God, Time and Eternity, as well as over a hundred articles in professional journals of philosophy and theology, including The Journal of Philosophy, New Testament Studies, Journal for the Study of the New Testament, American Philosophical Quarterly, Philosophical Studies, Philosophy, and British Journal for Philosophy of Science.

www.reasonablefaith.org
www.ultimatequestions.org

John Robert Shook is Vice President and Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Inquiry Transnational in Amherst, N.Y. He received his PhD in philosophy at the University at Buffalo and was a professor of philosophy at Oklahoma State University for six years. Among his current responsibilities are the Naturalism Research Project, the Ed.M. degree in Science and the Public. Shook’s research and writing spans across American philosophy, naturalism, philosophy of science, epistemology, ethics, and political theory. His most recent book is the Blackwell Companion to Pragmatism, edited with Joseph Margolis.

www.shook.pragmatism.org