Former Forti Education student Jonathan Wright recently attend R.C. Sproul's Ligonier Conference in Orlando. Upon his return, he shared his thoughts and observations with us. Jonathon was one of our brightest students last summer and we hope to see him back again this year. Enjoy!
Kyle
To Give A Defense
by Jonathan Wright
Ligonier Ministries was founded by Dr. R.C. Sproul, one of the most influential Bible teachers of modern times. My family and I attended the 2011 National conference in Orlando, Florida, while touring the newly founded Reformation Bible College. Located in a huge Baptist church in Orlando, the Ligonier conference was packed. The first day we arrived, we walked into the mega-church, was filled thousands of men, women and children. The amazingly high ceiling complemented the huge number of people who attended conference entitled “Light and Heat: A Passion for the Holiness of God”
As I was handed the program, I gazed at the caliber of men speaking at the conference. Of course, R.C. was scheduled for the first talk, and then came Steve Lawson, R.C. Sproul Jr., and John Piper. These people truly amazed me, not to mention Sinclair Ferguson and W. Robert Godfrey. This was, in reality, the major Reformed Bible conference of the year.
One speaker, Steve Lawson, influenced me regarding how I view worship. On the second day, he spoke on worship, and what it should be like. He exhibited power and ambition in his delivery. Admiring his manner of speaking, I noted that the content was completely biblically sound. Worship services, he said, should be a reflection of what we do in heaven; since it is clear we will be worshiping God there. As worshipers, we should be focusing on what will be a pleasing aroma towards God. Worship should not be focused on ourselves, but on God, because self-focused worship will not lead to true worship. Since I lead worship for our church youth-group, I grasped the importance of this call. This influenced my way of thought from then on about the subject.
Also speaking that day was R.C. Sproul on Christian apologetics. As a premise, he said that when defending the Christian faith, there are two things that need to be verified: the existence of God, and the authority of the Bible as His word. Through philosophical reasoning he led us to the conclusion that because we are finite, there has to be something that is not. In other words, for something to be created there has to be a creator. Through that, he believed, we can understand that there is a being higher than ourselves that has always existed. He did not go into fine detail about the authority of the Bible, during this particular talk. But R.C.’s points were clear and he made an extremely effective case for the existence of God.
Last summer, I attended the Forti Education Class in New Hampshire, where we examined apologetics of the Christian faith. One of the main points of the class was to have facts behind our faith. In reality, the goal is to be able to factually and logically prove Christianity. Without these tools, Christians are left with blind faith, which is not Biblically correct. To sum up our Christian call, Paul says in 1 Peter 3:15 to “honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you.”
Jonathan Wright is 15 years old and lives in New Hampshire. 