Wrapping up the Summit portion

Well, I'm almost finished with the Summit portion of my studies here. We've discussed Biblical prophecy, spiritual warfare, global warming, Islam, atheism, new spirituality, cults (a.k.a. pseudo-Christian religions) and the historical reliability of the Bible. I can't believe it's going by so quickly. I'll really miss seeing the Bywaters every day or so. I may make my class notes available online, though some I'll be retaining. There's probably some stuff that would be very confusing or misleading without the understanding of context. As we've been learning about scriptural interpretation, context is King.
We have one more day of Summit Worldviews, and after that we'll meet once a week to discuss worldviews, etc, so the Summit aspect isn't really ending. It's going to be a drawn out part of the program where we engage the culture and then discuss it in weekly meetings. I'm getting my tutorials coordinated soon. I'll be taking tutorials in British Literature (19th century fiction to be exact) which I'm excited about. I'll be studying Dickens and other authors. I will also have a tutorial in German to continue my education in my second language. I'm interested to see how well I learn in a tutorial setting there. I will also be taking rhetoric from Mr. Le May, who worked for Whinston Churchill as a speech writer during WWII. I'm truly blessed to be studying here.

Tomorrow we'll be reviewing what we've learned. We'll also be discussing a film we watched, V for Vendetta,which is a film oozing with worldview ideas and philosophies. I'll enjoy nitpicking that.
This weekend before term starts, some of us will be going up to Scotland. It should be terrific!

What I am loving about Summit Oxford

I thought it suitable to write a brief entry enumerating, so to speak, my loves of this new programme.

This picture is a picture of Blenheim Palace, where Winston Churchill was born. While it was one day's outing, it gave me time to reflect on the three things I love about Oxford. First off, the culture. There is so much history here and is truly moving to one's soul. I am speaking of experiences ranging from eating at the pub where Lewis and Tolkien often met to standing in the same street where three bishops were martyred for their faith. I have friends in the U.K. who find it amusing when Americans go ga-ga over the cathedrals and such. Perhaps it is to them, but I find it amusing that many (but not all) Brits take these amazing things for granted.


There are also the people. My roommate, Josh Hynie, is a great guy. We often talk about our thoughts of the day and what we learned. We both have a love for Scotland and for the history here. He's got a great love for art and architecture, so this place is heaven for him. There's also three other men living in our flat: Daniel, Nik and Tommy. Tommy is quite the business man. He has his own company and is extremely knowledgeable on issues of economics. It's really fascinating to me. Nik is a humanities and philosophy student and gets so much out of JP Moreland than I ever will. I feel like I'm able to tag along in the rudimentary philosophical discussions and if I'm quick on my feet, I can remember to throw in the word epistemological or ontological at just the right moment to give the illusion I understand him. Daniel also has a lot of great theological and philosophical insight. He has a great knowledge of scripture as well as his history. One thing I love about this group is that all of us guys have different skills and strengths. When I hear one of them talking outside my field, it encourages me to want to study more of that subject, and it also humbles me, reminding me that we all have our gifts and abilities and we all compliment the body of Christ (1 Cor. 12).

Perhaps the greatest thing about these guys I live with is the household discussion. Maybe once in twenty we'll be discussing a movie or an activity. The rest of the conversations revolve around our readings, philosophy, cultural criticism (sometimes ours and sometimes Britain's), and our own thoughts and insights to arguments and discussions. This leads into the next topic, and that is the programme itself.

I love the intense studies. Just today at a pub, I made a comment about being born again. Kevin asked me to explain, to flesh out the idea. I had actually never done that. He would ask me "Is that really what Jesus meant? Can you show me? What about this?" He wanted to draw out the ideas that we often package up to the point of becomign cliché but rarely expand upon. While we go through powerpoints on various worldviews, we often will go deep into the situations of scripture. We went in depth into Matthew 24 where Jesus prophecies all these things like earthquakes, stars falling, the Son coming into his kingdom, trumpets sounding and then Jesus says that all these things will come about before "this generation" passes away. We spent a great deal of time studying just that chapter and resolving the seeming problems therein. It's difficult, and it's fun. Another amazing part of this programme is that we get to have phone and video conferences with various authors like Hugh Hewitt, J. P. Moreland, Gary DeMar, Richard Abanes and Francis Beckwith.  I wish that we could go at least twice as long. We already have just one more week of the Summit session before the term starts up.

Briefly, a word about the Bywater family since I have oft mentioned them. Kevin and Angela Bywater live in Eynsham, north of Oxford with their four children: Elizabeth 9, Katherine 6, Emaline 4, and Roderick who's about 18 months. Kevin is currently pursuing a PhD at Durham University. They truly are an amazing family. They are so comfortable opening up their home to us students. They're even opening up their home to us during term time so that we can have it as a sort of getaway place to go and study. I can't imagine how different the Oxford experience would be without them.

An update on studies: Islam

Well, week before last, we studies cosmic humanism and the new age movement, but perhaps my limited time would best be used giving you an update on our studies that greatly fascinated me for this week: Islam (which means "submission").

We read the Qur'an over the weekend (it's roughly the size of the new testament), and studied more about the Islamic worldview, current activities in the Muslim world and spoke with a Sheik from the middle east.

Reading the Qur'an answered many of my questions. I learned how they affirm the virgin birth but not the sonship for instance. And in some ways, Allah is very similar to Jehovah but he never, ever takes the role of a father figure (nor the role of a forgiving husband to his idolatrous Israel). I had always wondered for myself what the Qur'an said about living with non-Muslims and the nature of God. It was very fascinating. The Qur'an has some verses that teach to live in harmony with the Jews and Christians, and there are some saying to "slay them" wherever they are found. This confused some of us until we learned more and discovered that the Qur'an was written over a period of over 20 years. The Qur'an itself teaches abrogation, where if there are two contradicting verses, the one that was revealed more recently is the one given priority. For instance, before A.D. 622 Muhammed and his followers were living in Mecca and were a bit of a minority. The Surahs (or chapters) written during that time instruct the Muslims (which means "one in submission") to live peaceably with their non-believing neighbors since they are "people of the book" and that if they desire peace, then you should live in peace with them. Later, Muhammed had to flee to Medina, he gained much more power (both politically and militarily) and it was at that time that the later and more violent Surahs were written.
The meeting with the Sheik was very interesting. He gave us an introduction to the religion of Islam and stressed very much their respect for Jesus. It was somewhat frustrating listening to him and asking questions. Many times he would emphasize our need work together and live in peace, Jews, Muslims and Christians together, like they are doing in "Saudi Arabia and Iraq." That was an eye opener for sure. When we asked him about certain practices being right or wrong, he took a quasi-moral relativist point-of-view. He wouldn't criticize our practices because "Who am I to judge?", and he also wouldn't criticize the situations of honor killings. At one point, he mentioned the situation with the Danish cartoons and how horrible the situation was that the prophet was mocked and people died. What stunned us was that he placed the blame for the deaths on the cartoonists, not on the enraged Muslims and that he was relieved that after learning the lesson that they are shown respect. When asked if it was alright to killings, he said "For the health of the society, we have to sacrifice some, I’m not saying killing, we say eliminate some, for the health."

It was very fascinating. It has given me new insight into the Muslim world and into the feasibility of establishing a free society in Iraq. People often draw parallels between the peace loving Christians and the peace loving Muslims and how there were also war-crusading Christians and war-Jihadist Muslims. I enough history to see that members of Christian and Muslim society have been involved in liberty and unjust war. But here's the rub: The crusaders in the Middle ages were not following through with the Christian message; the radical-Jihadists are following the Islamic teachings and tradition.

Fun quotes from Winston Churchill and others

Today, we studied Winston Churchill, learning how a Christian world view influenced a man who was not (as far as we know) a Christian himself. Here are some powerful quotes from him and others that I wrote down from our session today.

“The Dark Ages may return. The Stone age may return on the gleaming wigs of science…Beware I say.” ~ Churchill


“Two worlds are in conflict, two philosophies of life, one of these two worlds must break asunder!” ~ Adolf Hitler, 1936


“Barbarism to civilization requires a century. Civilization to barbarism needs but a day.” ~ Will Durant
“It has come to us to stand alone…I have nothing to offer you but blood, toil, tears, and sweat…” ~ Churchill


“…fight on the beaches. We will never surrender! (with hand over the mic) And if that doesn’t work, we’ll hit them over the head with bottles.” ~ Winston Churchill

“Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.” ~ Churchill after the battle of Britain “Upon this battle depends the survival of Christian civilization…If we fail, then the whole world will sink into the abyss of a new dark age…Let us therefore brace ourselves for our duties” ~ Churchill


“The sleep of democracies can only be awaked by the gong of self-preservation.” ~ Churchill
“Real leaders of men do not come forth offering to lead. They show the way. And when it has been found to lead to victory, they accept as a matter of course the allegiance of those who have followed.” ~ Lord Randolph Churchill (Winston’s father)

“What through the radiance which was once so bright—Be now forever taken from sight.
Though nothing can bring back the hour—of splendour in the grass, of glory in the flower;
We will grieve not, rather find strength in what remains behind.” ~ William Wordsworth

“What would seem to you as a heritage must now become a quest.” ~ Michael Bauman


Tomorrow, we'll be visiting Blenheim Palace with the Bywaters. This is the location of where Churchill was born and close to where he's burried.

Advancement of Britain

This is going to be a brief blog post. It's just a reflection I've had after living here a week or so and learning more about the culture. After learning more about Great Britain and reading one of the required texts, Life at the Bottom by Theodore Dalrymple (an atheist by the way), I'm beginning to see Britain as a forerunner to the United States of America. Maybe not dead set, but very similar. It seems to me that many of the advancements that America goes through, Britain had already experienced a generation or two earlier. Here are some examples.

• Revolution (the Great Revolution of 1688-89 and the American Revolution of 1775-83).
• Spiritual Revival
• Abolition of Slavery
• Industrial Revolution
• Decline as a World Power
• Strengthening grip of Socialism with increased secularisation

I would be interested to hear thoughts on this. Perhaps this could be a good topic for an in-depth essay, but when I look at Britain today, I see America 20 years from now. Possibly less. It may be that if we want to see where we are headed as a nation, we should take a look into this other English speaking nation with which we share much of our history and culture.

Obituary to Common Sense

This ran in the Summit Journal and found it a compelling read.

“Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was, since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape. He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as: Knowing when to come in out of the rain; why the early bird gets the worm; life isn’t always fair; and maybe it was my fault. Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don’t spend more than you can earn) and reliable strategies (adults, not children, are in charge). “His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well-intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place. Reports of a 6-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student only worsened his condition. Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job that they themselves had failed to do in disciplining their unruly children. It declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer sun lotion or an Aspirin to a student; but could not inform parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion. Common Sense lost the will to live as the churches became businesses, and criminals received better treatment than their victims. Common Sense took a beating when you couldn’t defend yourself from a burglar in your own home and the burglar could sue you for assault. “Common Sense finally gave up the will to live after a woman failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a little in her lap and was promptly awarded a huge settlement. 

Common Sense was preceded in death by his parents, Truth and Trust; his wife, Discretion; his daughter, Responsibility; and his son, Reason. He is survived by his 4 stepbrothers; I Know My Rights, I Want It Now, Someone Else Is To Blame, and I’m A Victim. 

“Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he
was gone. If you still remember him, pass this on. If not, join the
majority and do nothing.”
—Author Unknown

Definition of Science: A Letter to the Editor

The following letter was published in the Lawrence Journal World in September 2005.

To the editor,

In response to the many articles concerning the "anti-science" attitude of conservatives, and how the big debate is science vs. religion, I would like to address the definition of "science".

Evolution is not really science. And to be frank, neither is creationism. Science is evidence that we can observe. We cannot scientifically prove that Caesar Augustus ever existed. We may find evidence (documents, tablets, ect.) that support the idea of his existence, but it is still simply a belief, though it may be supported by science.

Now, evolution may be factual. But unless we can observe evolution taking place, it is not science. The oxford dictionary describes science as "the intellectual and practical activity encompassing the systematic study of the structure and behavior of the physical and natural world through observation and experiment." If we cannot examine it, then we cannot call it 'science'.

Isaac McPheeters

Lawrence

The Real World: A Letter to the Editor

The following letter was published in the Lawrence Journal World on Thursday, May 31, 2007.

To the editor:
In response to Craig Tucker’s and Judy Northway’s letter to the editor, “Sheltered lives,” on May 22, I would like to give them my insight as a home schooler now in college. Their concern about sheltering children from the “real world” is understandable, so allow me to address it. 

Our U.S. military shelters its trainees a great deal. When you first join the armed forces, you aren’t going to be sent to Iraq right away. Why not? Iraq’s the real world, and they need to be prepared for it. Yes, but they first need training. The school environment is a place for children to learn and grow before weathering the effects of the world.
Tucker and Northway imply the public school is the “real world.” I would agree with Haskell University Professor Smokey McKinney when he said that public schooling is a “fake world.” The kids have a bell telling them when to move on, they have assigned recess time, and their homework is handed to them. In my home school world, I had to monitor my studying, make sure the work got done on time, and learn how to get a year’s work done on schedule. 

With all of this said, do I “resent” my parents for my lack of exposure to the public school world? No, I don’t. My lack of exposure to the public school world has much better prepared me for exposure to the real world.
Isaac,

http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2007/may/31/real_world/

A reflection on my first week

Well, it's not really my first week, but it's my day off. I've been reading up for this week on Winston Churchill since we will be doing a conference call with the authoress of a book about him. We're studying how a Christian worldview influenced a man who did many great things but was not, as far as we know, a Christian.

At the top of St. Mary's

Yesterday Josh and I climbed to the top of the St. Mary's cathedral. Afterward, we spent the afternoon and evening at the Bywater house. It was our first class time. We had a good conversation over the phone with Dr. David Noebel. He's going to try to come up here if he can. We also had a bit of a review session on worldviews. The highlights were the discussions that we might have in reponse to comments or questions from the group. This was an aspect very much lacking from the Summit in Colorado. While there were open forums, they were more Q & A rather than discussion.

After class, we spent the evening together and had dinner. Kevin and his wife, Angela, and their four children, Elizabeth, Catherine, Emaline and Roderick were all very glad to have us there. It was a delicious meal with pasta, pizza, Italian bread, wine, squash (a fruit juice here in the U.K.) and fudge. They were so very hospitable. It was incredible. They have a beautiful house. I'll post pictures later. The children are absolutely delightful and love to climb things.

Emaline climbing

We visited St. Ebbe's church. It was a decent service, but for me the real highlight came afterwards. Joshua's best friend Tim is also studying here at Oxford at Wycliffe College for this Michaelmas term. So Tim, Josh, myself and one of the college interns named John had a very good discussion afterwards on the theoligies of Armenianism and Calvinism. I believe we're going to meet at a pub later this week to continue the discussion.

After day 4 in Oxford

I believe that the fact I'm in Oxford has finally sunk in. When I first arrived, I knew I was in England. I had been here before, and I didn't feel too out of place or anything. Then the information began to sink in. I learned more about the university and the various colleges. I'm going to be in New College by the way. You might be wondering why it's called New College. It's because it's the second one. So there. Nevermind it was founded in 1379.

We took a walking tour yesterday and learned about the various architectural styles of the different colleges. Today, Mr. Andrew Atherstone gave us a tour of the religious history of Oxford. We saw the site where three remormed bishops were burnt at the stake, where John Wesley lived and two of C. S. Lewis's favorite pubs. The natural history museum is something I plan to visit. I was surprised to hear that there is quite a bit of tension at Oxford in terms of the creation/intelligent design/macro-evolution debate between various head professors. Apparently Kansas isn't the only place with an educational system being given this as a subject of discussion. We also visited a couple of the local churches that we could visit during our stay here. After that, I began to finally realize the full ramifications of my stay. How I will learn not just new material but also new study methods and ways of thinking.

Now, for prayer requests since I know many of you are interested in knowing. Please pray that God will open doors for various opportunities we are planning here and that finances will not be a barrier. God has already brought about amazing circumstances in opening doors for us. Kevin Bywater (who is our director) asked us to pray for a house months ago. The house they found was the most inexpensive and also the largest (at 4,500 square feet). So there's nothing God can't do. I have to read up for tomorrow's class in worldviews and critical thinking. Starting tomorrow, my semester begins in earnest.

Before I go. Here are the names of our group for your prayers. Andrea, Nik, Emilie, Joshua (my roommate), Daniel, Jessica, Tommy, Lindsey, and Kevin (our director). I'll hopefully write a bit more about my amazing team later. They truly are great and we all are learning so much from each other already. Thanks for your prayers!

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything with prayer and petition with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6-7

Studying in Oxford for Fall Semester 2008.

As many of you have probably heard by now, last May I was accepted to attend the Summit-Oxford program this Autumn for my study abroad experience. http://summit.org/institutes/oxford/ The Summit is a program based in Manitou Springs, CO that trains young Christian leaders in apologetics so that they know how to Biblically defend the scriptures in debates with Islam, Secular Humanism, Cosmic Humanism, Marxism and the like. Last Summer, while I was there in Colorado, Dr. David Noebel told us that Oxford wants Summit graduates to attend Oxford for study abroad. Naturally I soon applied for the first semester of the program.
My studies at Oxford will be tutorial based and very different from any institution in the United States. The majority of my time will be meeting with tutors, writing essays and doing research. My extracurricular activities will include spending time with the ten or so other Summit students that will be with me. Kevin James Bywater, who is working on a PhD with Durham University, will be leading our group.

Needless to say, I am very humbled by this chance to go and study at one of the finest universities in the world. Not only that, but it is through a Christian program, and I will be spending a lot of time with other Christians from across the U.S. with different backgrounds and experiences. During my phone interview for the program, Judson told me, "Isaac, it sounds to me that at this point in your life you are very eager to learn." That is exactly where I am, and I am thrilled with this opportunity. I will fly out on Sept. 1st and return, Lord willing, on Dec. 22nd.

My first day in Oxford

Well, I just finished my first day in Oxford, September 3rd. I'll try and post pictures tomorrow. I'm still getting into the idea of carrying a camera around again.

We went to Orientation in the morning, but Mr. Robert Shudinger gave us the introduction to Oxford. It was very informative and helped me realize why Oxford is one of the leading institutions in the world next to Harvard and Yale. For instance, if you are a Brit who's trying to attend Oxford, you are interviewed by the people who will be teaching you (as opposed to here where you're considered maybe by a bunch of bureaucrats). Also, the tutors will intentionally disagree with you so as to draw you out and make you defend the argument in your essays. They will never give you a study guide; they will require you to do all the work yourself. I am getting more and more excited for this new challenge, and I am getting ready to rise to meet it. Afterward, Kevin Bywater got up and spoke about his background. Lots I'd heard but lots I had not. We're meeting his family on Saturday, and I'm very excited.

The way the term will work out is that we'll be doing the Summit work for the month of September. We'll be reading the Qur'an, Life at the Bottom, A Guide to Christian Ambition, the Victory of Reason, The Outrageous Idea of Christian Scholarship, Faith, Reason, and the War Against Jihadism, Understanding the Times, and What's so Great About Christianity? After that, we'll be starting up our Oxford term come October. After that, Kevin won't be involved with us quite so much due to our busy study schedules. We will be meeting with him one on one every two weeks, and we'll be going over to his house a few times a week for dinners.

My living situations are as follows. I live in a flat with four other men who attended Summit at various points. Their names are Josh (my roommate), Tommy, Nick and Daniel. There are also four women who are here: Lindsey, Andrea, Emilie and Jessica who live in a flat about a block away. Almost everyone has their own room. We have our own kitchen where we plan to make our dinners and lunches. There's a store close by where we can buy our food stuffs.

Today was my birthday, and I had a couple beers at the Red Cross. One was a Bass, and I forget the other. Neither were very good at least for my taste. I think I'm going to be a wine person. It was a good birthday.

I'll write more about my flat mates later, and more about Kevin Bywater. For now, though, there's his website in case any of you would like to know more about him.
http://www.kevinbywater.com/weblog/