A sea of students turn their faces to the light of the stage in front of them, an old basketball floor under their feet and the dark room pressing on their backs, as one of their peers reads a prayer to the group. The soft piano music playing under his words seamlessly transitions into song as the band jumps to life and sings of God’s love for them as their voices fill the space.
This was the start of the Emporia State Christian Challenge’s Jan. 26 meeting, the second in their “Arguments against Christianity” series.
The series is a four week look into the arguments that the leadership of the recognized student organization hear the most against Christianity, according to their pastor Jason Huebner.
Huebner said in an interview that he felt it was important to make people “uncomfortable” by asking the hard questions in order to consider what they believe and be prepared to have conversations with people with other beliefs.
The subject of last Thursday’s meeting was the question “Can there really only be one true religion?”
After the worship team sang a few songs about their faith and led some prayers, Huebner took to the stage and spoke to the now seated crowd first of the arguments against Christianity being the one true religion and then his beliefs as to why those arguments were false.
He spoke of how there can only be one truth, citing how if it were Friday, it could not possibly also be Saturday. Then, he broke down Christianity, Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism in order to explain their founding, purpose and their beliefs about what comes after life.
“There are great reasons to learn about the world’s religions,” Huebner said, bringing his thoughts to a close. “There are reasons to love and respect the followers of all the world’s religions, but there aren’t convincing reasons to believe that all the world’s religions are true.”
He continued to say there is a “great and convincing reason to believe that Christianity is the one true religion,” saying it is unique in its purpose, teachings and in its founder.
While this series is meant to talk through why Christianity is the one true path, Huebner and others in leadership said everyone is welcome to come regardless of what you believe.
“I got plugged into Christian Challenge my sophomore year of college and this is the first community I’ve ever found that fully knows me,” said Jack Jewett, a staff member and senior studying English and creative writing. “They know everything about me and they fully love me. I feel accepted and welcomed here.”
The final two Thursdays in the series will be covering “If God is good and powerful, why is there suffering?” and “If I can be morally good without God, why do I need God?”
