REASONS TO BELIEVE Conference

WHILE THE CATHOLIC PERSPECTIVE WAS NOT THE SPOTLIGHT OF THE APOLOGETICS CONFERENCE YESTERDAY ON REASONS TO BELIEVE... The Catholic representative, me, closed the conference with the point that you need to trust the messenger first before you even begin to digest, understand, and trust the message.


If you are interested in my contribution to the apologetics conference yesterday I put together the time stamps of the topics as well as my questions and comments in the panel discussion below. 


The Protestant presenters pointed out that the Bible was put together in the 3rd century. So, I put a little bow on it at the end without mentioning the Catholic Church, that you need to trust the group that put the Bible together in the third century, if you're going to trust what the Bible says today.


REASONS TO BELIEVE Conference

Symposia Covenant Church

1127 N. San Antonio Avenue, Ontario, CA

April 13, 2024 ||||| 1:00-4:00PM


Full Video: 

https://www.facebook.com/symposiachurch/videos/959788575586353/?mibextid=w8EBqM


Welcome

00:00:00


Opening: Dr. Fidel Arnecillo, “Why Apologetics?”

00:01:50


Presentation 1: Ash Leatherwood, “Does God Exist?”

00:11:00


Question & Answer

00:56:00


Laurence Question 1: The intelligent design argument, namely the anthropic principle, is held by a small minority of professional natural scientists, so what's the gap where apologetics has failed to reach these non believers?

00:57:00


Question 2: Bad design and whether we are moving away from God because of internal biological anomalies

01:01:00


Laurence's Question 3: isn't the only difference between Godless evolution and God-directed intelligent design, that God is behind the evolutionary process? So you wouldn't really expect any difference in what you observe from the biological sciences. 

01:07:45


10-minute Break

01:10:00


Presentation 2: Chris Gutierrez, “Resurrection: History or Hoax”

01:31:00


Summary by Dr. Arnecillo

02:22:30


Announcements: Alyssa Blancas (Symposia)

02:24:30


Panel Discussions / Question & Answer: Dr. Fidel Arnecillo (moderator), Ash Leatherwood (presenter), Chris Gutierrez (presenter), Laurence Gonzaga (Roman Catholic), Eduardo Blancas (Symposia), Sebastian Alonzo (Symposia), and Johnathan Barreto (Symposia / Christ Church-Episcopalian)

02:26:00


Laurence's Question: What is your theology of conversion, since that would probably be the foundation upon which apologetics would sit upon and how you go about using it to facilitate the conversion process. Secondly, it seems like intellectual apologetics towards atheists aren't really geared towards that group but rather individuals who were believers or are believers and are experiencing a crisis of faith and are exploring the rational basis for belief as a way to salvage their faith in crisis. It doesn't seem like actual atheists are asking the questions that the intelligent design apologists are providing answers for.

02:46:40


Dr. Arnecillo responds to Laurence that the early Christians seem to be using apologetics to respond to early doubters of the resurrection by giving testimony to what was seen and heard and touched, and Laurence responds by affirming that while it's true they did use apologetics, a lot of what apologetics really is about is establishing the believability, credentials, authority of the messenger and not only the message. We need to trust the authority and credibility of the messenger first before we ever even consider trusting the message. So, we do need to give credence to whatever group of individuals put together the Bible in a third century. Hint hint Roman Catholic Church. I didn't mention the Catholic Church, but the bread crumbs are there for them to pick up and study further. :-) 

02:58:00

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