raving about ravi

music: immaculate - the wild swans
mood: anticipating

went to asian theological seminary to
hear ravi zacharias speak, it was my second
time. the first time i saw him he was in
up theater and i can't even remember his
topic back then. as an 18-year old then, i
was never aware about his reputation and the
extent of his impact in the philosophical
world. it was when i became much interested
in Christian apologetics years after that I
learned of his ministry and his works. this
guy is hardcore, arguably the greatest defender
of the Christian faith since c.s. lewis.

he used 2 kings 21 and 22 as his texts, contrasting
the lives of two young kings of israel, manasseh
and josiah who became kings at an early age of
12 and 8 respectively. the reign of these kings
were summarized as follows. for manasseh

"He did evil in the eyes of the Lord."

for josia:

"He did what was right in the eyes
of the Lord."

josia was able to restore peace and order in
jerusalem, and as ravi puts it, the key to
national transformation is "doing what was right
in the eyes of the Lord." in the course of his
lecture, he made references to the state of
other nations, particularly moscow and united
states. at the end of his lecture, he answered
questions about stem cell research and in vitrio
fertilization and argued about its moral impli-
cations.

***

while scouring for books at booksale, i was
able to find a book entitled resurrected, it
was a transcript of the dialogue between gary
habermas and tony flew. it as a theist / atheist
debate attesting the possibility / impossibility
of resurrection of Christ. it was a good read
and i was impressed at how these two gentlemanly
respected each other's beliefs. interestingly
enough, tony flew made headlines years ago when
he, a staunch supporter of evolution, abandoned
his "beliefs" and proclaimed his belief in a God
who made the earth. but he made reservations
about a personal God who is mindful about the
lives of His creation. google anthony flew to
learn more about him.