'Why does God allow suffering?'
A conference that enables young people to ask difficult questions of Christianity is taking place again in September
Reboot is a day-long youth apologetics conference for 12-18 year olds run by the Zacharias Trust. Through its mix of worship, talks and question and answer sessions, it gives young people the opportunity to investigate different perspectives, raise objections and receive coherent answers to ask the tough questions they face on a day to day basis, using the Gospel to provide evidence.
Reboot is taking place in London's Emmanuel Centre on 24 September.
‘Reboot is our youth apologetics day where we’re seeking to give our best resource in Christian apologetics to teenagers,’ said Amy Orr-Ewing, one of the speakers and director of the Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics.
‘The vision of Reboot is to put the tool into the hand of the young person; to be able to answer, to be able to speak for Christ, and lead their generation to him.’
The event looks to answer questions such as “Can you believe in science and God?” “Why does a God of love allow suffering?” and “How can God exist?”
The speakers at the event are all part of the Zacharias Trust team and are international apologists and evangelists. Most of them have spoken at Reboot before, as well as countless other events: a number of the speakers have appeared at BMS Catalyst Live, while Amy has been a keyote Baptist Assembly speaker.
Sharon Dirckx is an Academic Tutor at the Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics. She has appeared on BBC Songs of Praise, Premier Christian Radio and BBC Radio 2. Her topics of interest include the interface between science and faith, and suffering. Her book, Why?: Looking at God, Evil and Personal Suffering won best book at the 2014 Speaking Volumes UK Christian Book Awards.
Tom Price is an Academic Tutor at the Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics. He has spoken at universities and churches, including ones in Hong Kong, Europe and South Africa. Tom has appeared on Premier Christian Radio’s ‘Unbelievable?’ and was the Founding Editor of UCCF’s website bethinking.org. He is interested in topics including worldview and missiology.
It is Professor John Lennox’s debut at Reboot. His interests include the link between science, philosophy and theology. He has written books on the topic, including God and Stephen Hawking. His most recent publication is Against the Flow: The Inspiration of Daniel in an Age of Relativism. He has also debated a number of prominent atheists, including Richard Dawkins.
Amy has written two books Why Trust the Bible? and But Is It Real? as well as contributing to publications and appearing on Blue Peter and Songs of Praise, and radio. Her areas of interest include ethical dilemmas and the nature of truth.
Michael Ramsden was raised in the Middle East. Among other things, he taught Moral Philosophy and has been invited to lecture at locations including the White House and Brussels. He is involved in several initiatives to train emerging leaders and evangelist in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Reboot is taking place at London’s Emmanuel Centre on Saturday 24 September 2016. It runs from 10am-5:30pm with doors opening at 9:30am and costs £8 with an early bird deal of £5 until 31 August.
Alongside its annual conferences, Reboot has resources on its websites, including videos from previous events, to help and equip young people to understand the Bible. Visit http://www.reboot.org.uk/ for more.
Compiled by Kira Taylor
Baptist Times, 15/08/2016