This Week

This Week in OFF ROAD we concluded our series on apologetics. So far we have looked at the big bang and how that doesn’t disprove the bible, but actually points to greatness of God. The following week we discovered that Jesus is not just a character in the Bible, but is actually a historical figure and the authors of the Gospels have been archeologically and historically accurate in their accounts outside of Christ’s life. If they are accurate with their information outside of Christ, the rest of what they say has weight in being true. This week we looked into Evolution, exploring how the theory of evolution doesn’t contradict the bible in the process, but when added that it all happened by, “random chance,” which is not part of the theory, it does contradict the bible. In exploring evolution many people believe that it was random chance (something which is mathematically impossible) and some people believe that there is an intelligent designer (in our case God) who orchestrated the evolutionary process. The impossibility of this all just randomly happening points to a God who is fully engaged in creation, and who has made each and every one of us as a beautiful, unique, amazing, intricate, detailed, finely tuned, wonderfully designed miracle! In the end, if life is just random our life is purposeless, but with God we find our true value as His creation.

This Week

Hey Parents,

This week in Off Road we were in our second week in our Apologetics Series. A series designed to give our students some tools to deepen their own understanding of their Christian beliefs and to learn why they are warranted in believing them...as well as giving them some tools to defend their faith! This week we focused on the questions: Did Jesus Exist? How do we know if Jesus was a real person? and Is the Bible True? (Based on the book A Case for Christ student edition, by Lee Strobel)

We talked about the fact that the Bible was written by many different people, many eyewitnesses who saw Jesus, recorded his miracles, heard his teachings, and saw him after he was raised from the dead. We looked into the biography of Christ, the first 4 books of the New Testament written by Matthew, Mark, a historian who interviewed Peter and wrote his first hand report in the book of Mark, Luke, a physician and first century reporter (of types) and John. We also discussed the consistency of the New Testament, the fact that 24,000 copies of ancient manuscripts have been found... 5k in Greek, 8-10k in Latin, 8k more in Ethiopic, Slavic, and Armenian...99.5% of the manuscripts match up!

We discussed the evidence for Jesus outside of the Bible...in an ancient Jewish work called the Talmud, and from other ancient historical writers such as...Josephus, Tacitus and Pliny the Younger. And we learned a little about archaeological evidence that supports the New Testament. We wrapped up our time by chatting about the importance of not just knowing facts about our faith, and having arguments to defend our faith..but allowing Christ to transform our lives! That our greatest tool in sharing our faith is not our defense or our facts...but our very lives and how God is changing our hearts!

Chat with your child...
1. What did you learn this weekend in Off Road that you didn't know before about the Bible, the Christian faith or Jesus?
2. How do you feel like your life and heart are being transformed by God?

This Week

This Week in OFF ROAD we began a three part series on Apologetics, defending the faith. This is a topic that fascinates me as it has played a big role in my confidence in Christianity. The goal of this series is to address some of the topics that will come into question when discussion their belief in God. The week we dissected the Big bang, a theory that is often used to say that there was no creator, but instead the universe came to be by random chance. When we take this theory and compare it to the Genesis explanation of creation and our belief that there is a God then there is a conflict. In the biblical account we must first understand that Moses’ account of the creation of earth is not a scientific account so to say that is was most definitely a literal 7 days is difficult. We must also know that in another part of the bible it says that a thousand years is like a day to God. This does not mean that God could not have created the earth in 7 day, it just means that the bible and science don’t contradict each other in a time line of the formation of earth, they contradict each other in the cause (random vs. God) of the earth. With God at the helm of creation we have explanations for the literal impossibility of the perfect conditions for the big bang or beginning of time as well as we have explanations for the moral law that exists within us. Without God both of these mathematical and philosophical quandaries are left unexplained and confused. Lastly, if the big bang did happen one must ask how did the sub-atomic particle get there in the first place and what created the explosion to occur? I know this discussion will probably conjure up more questions so if you or your child have any questions please feel free to ask. A good resource is Case for faith student edition.