My liewe vriende, ek het lankal besluit om aan julle te skryf. My plan was om met julle te praat oor wat dit vir ons almal beteken om in Christus te glo. Maar toe ek hoor wat daar by julle aan die gang is, het ek dadelik van plan verander. Nou skryf ek om julle aan te spoor – nee, om julle te smeek! – om wal te gooi. Julle moet keer dat die ware geloof deur allerhande vals stories verdraai word. Julle weet net so goed soos ek dat die goeie nuus oor Christus eens en vir altyd deur God se boodskappers aan ons almal in die kerk bekendgemaak is. Wat ons by die apostels gehoor het, is die volle waarheid. Niemand kan nog iets daarby voeg nie. Judas 1:3 Die Boodskap-vertaling
Bogenoemde klink nogal soos woorde wat baie onlangs deur iemand geskryf is om ons as mede-Christene aan te spoor. Hoe relevant is Judas se woorde nie vir vandag nie. Ware geloof word steeds deur allerhande vals stories verdraai en daar sal waarskynlik altyd pogings wees om so te doen.

In die woorde van die vertalers van hierdie verse in Die Boodskap: AntWoord is tans deel van ‘n inisiatief wat ‘n geleentheid wil aangryp om wal te gooi. As alle beplanning goed verloop sal hierdie walgooiery gestalte kry in ‘n konferensie m.b.t Christelike Apologetiek teen die middel van Julie 2008.
Hierdie skrywe het daarom ten doel om jou as gereelde leser van AntWoord se nuusbriewe onder die aandag te bring van hierdie beplande konferensie. Daar is twee maniere waarop jy kan help om dit te laat realiseer. Eerstens kan jy saam ons bid vir die organisasie daarvan, vir leiding oor spesifieke temas wat aandag verdien en spesifiek ook vir die sprekers by hierdie konferensie. Tweedens kan jy help deur ander moontlike belangstellendes van die konferensie in te lig.

Wat is die oorhoofse tema van hierdie konferensie? In antwoord op hierdie vraag vra ons dat jy die gedeelte hieronder, “Apologetics Conference” sal lees, veral André se brief in die heel laaste gedeelte van die dokument. (Van die belangrikste rolspelers wat hierdie konferensie ‘n sukses sal maak, is gelowiges uit die VSA wat spesifiek met Christelike Apologetiek gemoeid is – daarom dus die Engels.)
Ons hou jou graag op hoogte van sake i.v.m. hierdie konferensie. Vir ‘n inleiding tot wat jy by die konferensie te wagte kan wees, word jy ook graag uitgenooi na ons gespreksgeleentheid “Hoor wat sê die dominee daar...” (18, 19 April, Centurion.) Ons is oortuig dat jy oortuig sal word dat ons moet weerstand bied teen hulle wat, in Petrus se woorde, “‘n bespotting maak van ons Here wat hulle uit die mag van die dood en die sonde losgekoop het.” Petrus sê verder:
Ongelukkig was daar ook nog altyd ‘n klomp vals profete in Israel wat God se woord verdraai het. En nou het ek slegte nuus vir julle. Binnekort gaan dieselfde daar by julle gebeur. ‘n Klomp mense sal allerhande skewe sienings oor God daar by julle probeer insmokkel. Hulle sal ons geloof goedkoop maak. 2 Petrus 2:1 Die Boodskap-vertaling Apologetics Conference
To whom it may concern,
The following outlines the planning phase for an Apologetics Conference towards middle July 2008 to address some of the issues that liberal scholarship in South Africa promote and for which an adequate response is needed.
At this time the conference would probably be held at Kerk Sonder Mure, a Dutch Reformed Church in Centurion, between 12 and 19 July 2008.
Simon Brace, involved with Tactical Evangelism and Apologetics Mission at the Southern Evangelical Seminary (SES) in the United States, is helping to organize this conference at which some of the SES staff and students will be guest speakers and facilitators. Following is a compilation of excerpts from email letters written by Simon.
“Given the problem at hand we need a sound academic response as the antidote to liberal scholarship and hence I wish to bring a handful of Professors to lecture, teach or preach and address the issues at hand.”
“We will be looking to raise support for a TEAM of students to assist (most of whom have a Masters and one is in a PhD program) and a TEAM of Professors to handle the main event and academic issues.”
“So far I have three Professors who are willing to consider to travel to South Africa in July:

• Professor Thomas Howe, who is an expert in Biblical Languages and Hermeneutics, an outstanding Old Testament and New Testament Professor and has been published and written a number of responses to Bart Erhmann, Jame Tabor and many other critics here in the US. Dr. Norman Geisler himself said he would be the best person to take.

• Professor Jason Reed could tackle the philosophical issues. He is Professor of Philosophy here are SES and is completing his PhD at St. Louis University. His expertise are in the following areas: Skepticism, the Problem of Evil and the Nature of God. Having looked at the DVD [referring to the DVD made by Sarel van der Merwe: Nuwe Strominge in die Teologie] these issue are at the heart of many of the objections.

• Dr. Macfarland, the current seminary president of SES, has published a few books and as an evangelist for many years is well seasoned. He did a 50 states in fifty days apologetics event here in the US and is one of the best at apologetics for the layperson. He has work with James Dobson with Focus on the Family, and will be doing events this year with Greg Lourie and the Billy Graham association.”

“Mike Licona, a student of dr. Gary Habermas, is completing his PhD at Tukkies and said that he is prepared to debate.”
“The team can preach and teach in churches of the weekend of the 12th and 13th of July. The following week we can schedule evening sessions on a topical basis with each session being followed with a Question and Answers session. The main event can be Saturday 18th with workshop and main plenary speakers. Sunday 19th July the professors can preach again.”
“What I believe would help at the moment, is a formal invitation from yourself and some of your other contacts to SES from individuals or churches. Some of the items in the invitation should include the need for apologetics in general within the church, as is universally the case, and specifically the necessity for an academic rebuttal and refutation of some of the recent liberal teachings. You may wish to comment on the influence that this has had upon the church in South Africa. This will have tremendous clout over here amongst the American. In addition to this we can also use these letters to assist with raising support for the event. Again, any invitations will help to drive the point home and establish a commitment on both sides of the pond.”
This is an appeal to help make this conference possible by simply responding to Simon’s request. Any responses from churches, individuals or organizations will help gather momentum for the conference and will be greatly appreciated (please contact André van Zyl or Udo Karsten at antwoord.org.za@gmail.com)
Kind regards,
AntWoord Ministry
www.antwoord.org.za
PS: The letter below has recently been sent to SES to explain the need for this conference.
To the TEAM members and SES staff
I am a South African Christian and a member of the Dutch Reformed Church (DRC). The DRC has a wonderful and long, though sometimes unhappy history within the Christian community in South Africa. The DRC has done a wonderful job in missions work in the whole of Africa. Sadly the DRC also supported the political doctrine of Apartheid and created different “sister” churches for the different racial groups during this time. This caused a lot of pain and rifts within the church from which we are still struggling to heal.
The training of pastors in the DRC became progressively academically orientated during the church’s history. During the 20th century the theological training was integrated into “secular” universities with the normal pressure to “publish or perish”. The mainstream theology stayed more or less evangelical although there was a growing influence from the German and other mainly European theologians (Bultmann, etc.). The influence of liberal ideas and higher critics started to become part of the theological training for students, but very few professors or pastors had the guts to speak up in public about having adopted these new ideas as their own.
After the first democratic elections in 1994, people started speaking up about many things that were kept hidden in the past. This is a good thing, but the implication for theology was that a variety of liberal scholars suddenly popped out of the woodwork. The most liberal group gave themselves the presumptuous name of “the New Reformers” and they propagated many of the same ideas of the Jesus Seminar. They do not believe in the resurrection or the historicity of the Biblical documents. They were, however, too liberal for the rest of the church and most of them have left the DRC, although they still teach and speak publicly. They do not have a big following and they do not influence the theology in SA that much.
The more serious problems have occurred in the mainstream theological seminaries at places like the Universities of Pretoria and Stellenbosch. Together with the seminary at Bloemfontein (the most conservative seminary in the country) these form the mainstay of the theological training for pastors in the DRC. There are some wonderful evangelical professors at both of these seminaries, but they also include a variety of liberal scholars with some very strange ideas. Some of them do not believe in the historicity of the Bible; others do not believe in the bodily resurrection of Jesus, etc. Their teaching is often based on post-modern ideas and situational ethical theories. The students are being taught (and have been for the last 30 years) that these unbiblical, improvable and liberal ideas are fact. The result of this is that many pastors believe at least some of the liberal ideas, although, at the same time, the vast majority of DRC pastors also confess to be evangelical believers.
Because of these clearly contradictory ideas they hold (liberal, as well as evangelical) and because of using a rigorous Reformed approach to apologetics in their training, the response to the liberal stream has been weak. Most pastors and church members have not been taught how to use their reason in matters of faith. If and when they have asked questions, they have traditionally been told to “just believe”.
A friend and I have been involved in an Afrikaans Apologetics ministry for a number of years called “AntWoord” (Answer) ministry (www.antwoord.org.za). We try to provide material in Afrikaans and to visit cell groups etc. helping people think through their honest questions. I have found Afrikaans members of the DRC very hungry for rational discussions and the opportunity to voice honest questions. They hunger for more authoritative and well thought through responses from church leadership. Many are confused by the strange ideas they often read about in the media and which they hear proclaimed by some church leaders. A well prepared response from church leadership however, is still absent. Many Afrikaans speaking people don’t think they are even allowed to have doubts and they are definitely not allowed to voice these doubts. When they hear reasoned and reasonable Christian answers to their objections and doubts they usually respond very positively.
I think a conference involving TEAM members and SES professors could make a big difference in showing people that they are allowed to think and doubt and that, at the same time, there are well reasoned Christian answers to all their questions. They do not have to “just believe”. The trust they need to have in Christ is not a blind leap of faith. There are good reasons to take the leap of trusting Christ. I think the external voices from the USA will be able to reach more people more effectively than what we are able to do on our own. People will see and experience the freedom of being allowed to ask questions and raise their doubts. I have listened to and seen some of the course material from SES and I think the need is great in SA for such well reasoned, well presented evangelical inputs.
My hope and prayer is also that we would be able to build a partnership that will allow us to do follow-up conferences. I am sure a taste of what we will be presenting in July, will awaken the hunger in many people.
I would like to extend an invitation to you to come and visit us in South Africa. Come and share your passion for the Gospel and your knowledge with the people of our country. We need the Gospel to be defended clearly and decisively at a time like this.
God bless and I look forward to welcoming you to South Africa in July.
André van Zyl
andrevz@uj.ac.za