Steph writes:
‘Generation Wise’ was the theme of Reload for 2010. On the 19th-21st of March we headed up to Fitzroy Falls for ECU’s annual weekend away. Reload is about getting to know each other, welcoming 1styear students and being grounded in God’s word for the year ahead.
Our speaker Ben Pfalhert brought us talks on the topic of wisdom from the book of James. His teaching was really clear and challenged us to think about the kind of people we are going to be. Are we going to follow the world’s wisdom, chasing after careers, money, and status? Or are we going to follow God’s wisdom, living humble lives and broadcasting the gospel to the world. Over the weekend it was great to hear about what people were learning. One girl, Rachel, who I interviewed on the Sunday when asked, “What have you learnt from this weekend?” responded with her top 4 things that she’d narrowed.
Reload as always made for some shenanigans: hanging out with people, the engineering/science soccer game, singing round the fire, and this year we also had a photo hunt. We spent a couple of hours in groups running around taking some very creative photos. Under the category of ‘What The?’ came the photo you see before you where Shannon, one of our student leaders, and I display our spectacular ability to put our fists in our mouth. Always a crowd pleaser!
Matt writes:
2009 saw the birth of the Wollongong University Secular Society (affectionately known as WUSS). The description on their Facebook page describes them as:
“a club that can discuss religions from outside their own framework, that give a platform to those who ascribe themselves to a notion of god that doesn’t fit the norm, or don’t believe in a god at all… dedicated to promoting rational and evidence based enquiry into the things that matter in our lives. One that says it’s ok not being religious, in fact you should be proud of it.”
On the Monday night of Week 3, ECU and WUSS co-hosted a debate between Greg Clarke (Christian apologist, from The Centre For Public Christianity) and Dan Barker (prominent atheist and ex-preacher, from the Freedom From Religion Foundation).
The debate format, I think, is not a particularly great one for a Christian who is seeking to proclaim the truth of the gospel of God, without resorting to rhetorical trickery and poor reasoning. Greg, though a self-professed inexperienced debater, handled himself humbly and graciously, consistently referring us to the Jesus of history.
Dan Barker, on the other hand, sort to score points through the heavy use of rhetoric and by downloading far more information than someone could adequately process, without providing any real evidence for the majority of his references. A comment I heard quite a lot from the students present was that he failed to answer many of the questions asked of him and in the end failed to specifically address the topic of the debate. (Most of the debate can be found in 7 parts on YouTube, but the quality is not great.)
The debate achieved two really great things. Firstly, the ball has started rolling on the relationships between ECU and WUSS which hopefully will continue to God’s glory. Secondly, the interest and conversation of the over-crowded (and over-heating) room of 300+ people was stirred and many opportunities for the gospel have followed.
Proclaiming Jesus Christ at Wollongong University to present everyone mature in him. (Col 1:28)
looked like a high class debate – well done for getting the speakers.
so weird that there would be enough people who cared to make up WUSS. Great to have so many people trying to work out what they think.
cheers,
Thanks for the update folks. The debate format always attracts a big crowd – great to see that this was no exception.
Thanks for the update kidlets. God is doing lots of great stuff through you guys – huzzah!
The Christianity v’s Atheism topic has continued to be debated in the letters page of The Mercury over the last few weeks also. I seem to feel myself heartened by Atheists’ passion to defend their (non) belief, which may sound like a puzzling statement @ first… However, I’ve found that someone who has some kind of adamant belief/non-belief in something is easier to engage in conversation about Jesus, than someone who just never thinks about where they stand and simply sails through life, never thinking through these things / seemingly not caring about how they arrived on this earth and why they’re here.
Hey guys.
Really good to hear what you guys are up to. What a great opportunity with WUSS!
Will be praying for you both.
Great to hear from you guys. Good on you for all the hard work you put into Reload – sounds like it was a really encouraging way to start the year off(great photo, Steph!). Also, great to hear about the awesome debate opportunity.