ALBANY, N.Y. (BP) – Responding to culture’s toughest questions about the faith was the focus of the first-ever apologetics conference presented by the Baptist Convention of New York (BCNY), April 24-25, in Albany. More than 250 attended.
Frank Williams, BCNY executive director, welcomed attendees saying he hoped they would leave better prepared for Gospel conversations marked by skepticism and hard questions.
“Apologetics as a tool is helpful in that it prepares believers to share their faith with a population of diverse beliefs or persons who … have challenging questions for the Christian faith … questions such as ‘Is Christianity good?’ and ‘Is God good?’” Williams explained in interview.
While apologetics comes from legal terminology for providing a defense as well as “vindicating” the faith, Williams urged listeners in the opening sermon to heed 1 Peter 3:15 and respond always to hard questions with “gentleness and respect.”
Co-sponsored by the North American Mission Board and New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, the event featured noted apologists, NOBTS professors, church planters and pastors as speakers.
Attendees received the book “Moral Apologetics,” co-authored by James K. Dew Jr., NOBTS president, and Jordan Steffaniak, The London Lyceum president, and published by B&H Academic.
Why God allows pain and suffering is the question Williams has encountered in recent Gospel conversations, he said. The opening plenary and a panel discussion that followed were devoted to the question.
Gary Habermas, renowned resurrection scholar and author of numerous works on the problem of evil and suffering and dealing with doubt, spoke in the opening plenary, “Jesus’ Resurrection: The Answer to Our Worst Suffering.”
Other plenary speakers were Tawa Anderson, NOBTS associate professor of philosophy and apologetics and director of the NOBTS apologetics program, and Robert Stewart, NOBTS professor emeritus of philosophy and theology.
Breakout speakers included Todd Brandt, pastor, Calvary Baptist Church, Aberdeen, N.Y., and former international missionary; Ramny Perez, church planter and lead pastor of Fordham Community Church, the Bronx; Ryan Rice Sr., church planter and lead pastor, Connect Church, New Orleans; Mahlon Smith, pastor, New Hope Baptist, Watertown, N.Y.; Jade Turner, co-founder of Women in Apologetics and cohost of Clarity Over Chaos podcast; and Alycia Wood, full-time apologist with Apologetics Inc. and host of the podcast Hey Alycia.
The resurrection: The answer to suffering
“The Gospel makes no effort to hide the sad parts of life,” Habermas said. “Suffering is at the very center of the Gospel, without any effort to deny, cover up, or avoid it.”
Habermas spoke to attendees via internet due to caring for his wife as she battles cancer. Habermas said his wife’s diagnosis is the same cancer that claimed his first wife’s life years ago when his children were school-aged.
Jesus suffered, Habermas explained, and gave as examples Jesus’ rejection by his family [Mark 3:21]; endangerment of life [Luke 13:31]; and a sense of abandonment by God [Mark 15:34].
Habermas then asked the crowd, “Do we deserve to suffer less than Jesus?”
Habermas cautioned that believers must be “exceptionally careful” in what they say to themselves and to others about their suffering. When believers tell themselves God has abandoned them, they will believe it is true, despite “being horribly wrong,” Habermas said.
“There are promises of sickness, death and martyrdom [in Scripture],” Habermas admitted. But pointing to Jesus’ prayer for His disciples in John 17, Habermas added, “God will be holding your hand through it all.”
“Jesus’ resurrection is the answer to our worst suffering, Habermas said. Noting Philippians 3:1-10, 21b and Phillippians 4:6-9, he added, “Celebrate the resurrection.”
In a moving moment, Habermas spoke personally about the pain and unexplained suffering he and his family have experienced.
“I don’t know why, but I know the One who knows. I trust the One who was raised,” Habermas said. He continued, “Was Jesus raised? Yes. It’s true … Jesus was raised. Christianity is true.”
As to his own unanswered questions, Habermas explained, “Jesus was raised. I can wait.”
Engaging hard questions
Difficult questions asked by culture were the topics of plenary and breakout sessions.
Tawa Anderson in his plenary “When Science and Scripture Collide” noted that the popular charge that Scripture and science are incompatible is false. Instead, science shows a universe that is fine-tuned for life and that has a beginning point, both of which point to a Creator.
Anderson drew from cases in history and in contemporary research to show moments when science has supported faith and moments when science required Christian faith.
Anderson pointed out that evolution “can only take place in a finely tuned universe.” He explained that if Darwinism – the belief the life emerged from blind, purposeless forces – were true then human senses could not be trusted as reliable, thus corroding the idea that evolution produced life.
Robert Stewart in his plenary “Did Jesus Claim to be God?” drew 12 examples from the synoptic gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke) to address the false claim that Jesus never claimed to be God. Rather, Jesus “demonstrated an awareness that He possessed an authority equal to that of Israel’s God,” Stewart said.
“Jesus acted in word and deed in ways in which only Israel’s God had authority to act,” Stewart said.
Stewart’s examples included these claims made by Jesus: authority to forgive sins (Matthew 9:1-8); Son of Man and co-ruler with the Father (Matthew 26:63-66); covenant-making authority (Matthew 26:26-29); Lord of the Sabbath (Matthew 12:1-8) and other examples.
Breakout sessions included: Mahlon Smith, Deconstruction and Reconstructing Faith; Ramny Perez, Does Christianity ‘Work’?; Alycia Wood, God of the Old Testament: Is He for Real? and Is Christianity Good in 2026?; Ryan Rice, Missional Apologetics; Todd Brandt, Unpacking Unbelief; and Jade Turner, Using Logic and Critical Thinking to Defend Our Faith and What Happens to People Who Never Hear the Gospel?
Starpoint Church, Clifton Park, N.Y., and pastor Roscoe Lilly, hosted the event.
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