Kenya Apologetics

This post has two parts, the first is about the class I have been teaching. The second is about what I have been up to for the last few days. Choose your own adventure!

First: the church where I have been teaching is here: (S 1 18.235 E 36 44.776). There are more coordinates throughout.

Today is the last day of the apologetics class. It’s been very interesting. Everyday I go some issue comes up that I had no idea was going to be a controversy, or cause so many problems, or be difficult to understand. You really have to think on your toes. Here are a few of the apologetic issues that I have found need to be covered here, which were not covered in any of the materials I brought. Some of them still come up in America, but they seem to be areas someone coming here to do apologetics should be especially prepared for:
1. Fideism - Does something become true because I believe it? Or do I believe something because it is true? Many students in the class (particularly pastors) strongly believed that the first case was the most noble or spiritual.
2. Miracles - What are miracles for, and where should we expect to see them? Of course, the SES stance is that "apostolic gifts", like miracles, no longer happen, so any material we have produced is hopelessly unprepared to handle all the questions in this area. (Not to mention a pretty indefensible position. Sorry guys! It’s true...) In Africa, everyone has a story of some miracle or another happening, and not all of them through the hands of God's people. We spent about 2 hours going over and over just this one area.
3. KJV vs. other translations - Is the KJV historically accurate, or are other English translations better? I know that this still comes up in the States but it seems to be a fringe issue now.
4. Tradition vs. Scripture - Legalism is pretty rampant here, with many churches still observing a mix of Old Testament and New Testament morality. Along with that, elders are incredibly respected (which is good) even when what they are saying is not true (which is not good). The result is a lot of questions, and even protests, about what is right, wrong, true, false, good, evil, etc. etc. Yesterday I spent over and hour and a half talking about just the issue of drinking alcohol. The thing that touched it off? A mention that Jesus drank wine for communion. Incredible.
Today we are going to have a question and answer time, most of which is going to be consumed by two major issues that have come up over and over and over again. 1. Why shouldn’t we observe the Old Covenant? 2. How do predestination and free will go together?
Whew. But it will be fun. We are also going to have a short “graduation” ceremony. All the people who came every day will get a certificate. I think we have about 40 of those. Pretty cool.

Ok. Part II
Besides teaching for four hours a day, I have had to spend a lot of time studying. I am going to be teaching the gospel of John at my next stop, and getting all my notes ready has taken a significant amount of time. That hasn’t given me much freedom to do too much exploring.
I did get a chance to get out on my own on Saturday. I went and visited Nairobi National Park (S 1 20.190 E 36 46.785). That was fun. I was trying to hitch a ride into the park itself, but that was far too expensive. They have a small animal sanctuary nearby. This was pretty cool because one of the groundskeepers hooked me up and gave me a behind the scenes tour. I got to see a Rhino from about a foot away and pet a cheetah. Unfortunately, my camera got smashed on the way here (more on that later) and none of the pictures actually took. But I got to see it anyway. The other cool thing they had there was a raised boardwalk that goes out into the park itself a short way. It overlooks some big watering holes. I got to see a whole ton of baboons, some warthog, and two or three kinds of gazelles. I sat and watched the baboons for a while.
After the park, I caught a bus into town. I was trying to find the National Museum (S 1 16.449 E 36 48.871). It took some doing, but I got to see a lot of downtown in the process. Nairobi is a big city. I finally found it, and spent a good 3 hours walking around. They have some pretty good displays on African animals, and some really interesting information of Kenyan culture. They had a special exhibit on African rock art. They also have an entire wing devoted to human evolution. Many major discoveries of “missing links” have turned up in Kenya, and they had many of them on display in the museum. I could include a major editorial here, but I will only say that I found the displays disappointingly unconvincing and the depictions of early human beings strange.
After a good day out, I came home.
Monday I went out with a group of guys from the church to go street witnessing. I let my buddy Meshach do all the talking, of course. Afterwards, we had lunch at his house. It was really, really good. His house is here: (S 1 18.119 E 36 44.471).
Yesterday I went to Kabira slums, the biggest slum in Africa. It is roughly 8 sq. km, and is home to over 1.2 million people. The church has some projects in the slums, supporting schools and helping children. It is a pretty amazing sight to visit. Most of the major violence during the election were in Kabira, because it was their MP that was (allegedly) robbed of the presidency. They burned a lot of surrounding buildings, and a lot of the damage was still being fixed. There was a lot of really cool street art in the area.
I finally broke down and bought a new camera. I got a good price, but still, it was frustrating to have to spend the money. I figure the pictures are invaluable, and my church in Charlotte insisted I take a lot of pictures, so it’s justifiable from that side. Pray that God protects this one!
So I got pictures in Kabira, and I will be taking a lot today of the church, the class, and the people I have been working with.

The plan from here: Tomorrow I leave to Narok to visit a bible college there that my friend Ester told me about (Hi, Ester!). I will be there about a day and then I take a little “vacation” into Masaai Mara National Park. My friend David here in Nairobi got me a killer deal on a 3 day camping trip into the park. I will be tagging along with a group of folks. After 2 weeks of hard work here it will be a nice breather before 2 hard weeks in Sudan. I get to Kampala Uganda on the 4th, and my plane leaves the 5th for South Sudan.

I don’t know how much access to the internet I will have for the next three weeks, but I will try to keep thing updated as often as possible.