About 200 EKU Students Bring Hard Faith Questions to Seminary Professor for Two Hours
Questions on suffering, the Bible and Catholic teaching filled a campus 'Ask Me Anything' night that opened a week of Kentucky Baptist outreach in Richmond, Ky.
See where this is ›RICHMOND, Ky. —
About 200 students filled Brock Auditorium in the Coates Building at Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond, Ky., on Tuesday night, Nov. 3, to put their hardest questions about faith to Timothy Paul Jones, a professor of apologetics at Southern Seminary, Kentucky Today reported.
See where this is ›Jones answered questions for nearly two hours. Students asked what the Bible says about in vitro fertilization, whether people in remote places who never hear the gospel are lost, why Christians should trust the Bible, how the New Testament books came to be gathered together, why evil and suffering exist, and how Christians should think about mental health.
“The problem of evil is a huge thing for them in their lives,” Jones told Kentucky Today. He said he was surprised by how many students asked about Roman Catholic doctrine and how it differs from Protestant belief. One student, Tory Kissel of Burlington, asked why people believe in purgatory when it is not in the Bible. Jones described Catholic teaching as “a defective gospel, a false gospel” and pointed students to justification by faith alone.
The night was organized by Jake Hancock, Baptist Campus Minister at EKU, with help from members of local churches and Baptist Campus Ministry students who spent the day inviting people. Kentucky Today reported that 83 student leaders took part. “It's not necessarily an evangelistic event. It's more of a let's get your thoughts going,” Hancock said.
Hancock said he believes about 95% of students at EKU and other Kentucky colleges “aren't walking with Christ,” and he hopes the evening sparks conversations on campus that lead to the gospel and to salvation. Jones said he hopes Christian students leave more confident in their faith and that skeptics begin to doubt their skepticism.
The question night opened Hope for Central Kentucky, a week of outreach led by the Kentucky Baptist Convention and area churches. Its main event, a crusade, is set for 7 p.m. ET Wednesday, Nov. 4, at the EKU Center for the Arts, with doors opening at 6 p.m.; the convention lists evangelist Ken Freeman as the featured speaker. A multi-language event follows Saturday, Nov. 7, at 4:30 p.m. at Red House Baptist Church, and a CrossCourt basketball clinic and a “Parents Who Fight” session are set for 2:30 to 5:30 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 8, at Madison Central High School. The Kentucky Baptist Convention's annual meeting opens in Richmond on Nov. 10.
