Leading Christian Apologist Says '2016' Producer 'Cracked the Code' on Obama
'Truth for a New Generation' Apologetics Conference Begins Friday
Politics will take center stage on the first day of one of the largest Christian apologetics conferences in the U.S. when The King's College President Dinesh D'Souza, who co-produced "2016: Obama's America," will take part in a Q & A with leading apologist Alex McFarland after a showing of the movie.
The "Truth for a New Generation" two-day conference begins this Friday at First Baptist North Church in Spartanburg, S.C., and will feature some of the biggest newsmakers in publishing, documentaries and apologetics today.
D'Souza will narrate and hold a question and answer session as the movie discusses a paradigm to understand the president's domestic, economic, and foreign policy stances and also proposes ideas of what will happen in America should President Obama be re-elected in November, organizers said.
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"I really believe Dinesh D'Souza has cracked the code on how to understand our president and his worldview," said McFarland, who will be hosting the event along with North Greenville University. "The movie is not any kind of a bash-the-president hatchet job or anything like that."
McFarland told The Christian Post that the current political and social climate in the nation makes it imperative that Christians take a closer look at what is happening in this country.
"People who haven't seen the movie may ask, 'What does this have to do with Christian apologetics?' It has a lot to do with biblical worldview and the freedom that we have in America," he said. "Dinesh will be there to talk about what he perceives the president's worldview to be and how that worldview influences a lot of his economic policy, his foreign policy, and his positive nature as it relates to Islam.
"I think a lot of people, especially evangelical Christians, need to have – in the spirit of full disclosure – some facts that should have been reported by the mainstream media back in '07 and '08," said McFarland, who co-hosts the daily, live radio program "Explore the Word" on American Family Radio Network.
He said he believes that had mainstream journalists reported objectively and "were doing their job, we would have known these things (revealed in the movie) in 2008."
"I have talked to many Christians around the nation who have said they were ashamed to tell me that they voted for Barack Obama in 2008," McFarland explained. "Now he's alienated Israel, he's alienated Great Britain, and he's appropriated federal money for abortion. He says his stance on gay marriage has quote, 'evolved.' He's helped Mubarak get deposed from Egypt and now the Muslim Brotherhood is there.
"Clearly, Obama is a candidate of a secular left-wing media and even if they already knew a lot of what is revealed in the movie they probably would not have been open to reporting on it," he said.
The apologetics conferences, which began 18 years ago, are about helping young people understand the truth of the Bible, he said.
"In these conferences we are trying to show people that faith claims can be tested. They can be verified as true. They can be exposed as false. In bringing together scholars like Dinesh D'Souza, Josh McDowell, Eric Metaxas, and others, we are hoping people look through the issues and say, 'wow, let's look at the claims of Christianity versus the claims of Islam.' Let's compare and contrast and see which one really meshes up with the evidence," McFarland said.
When asked about how much of the conference will be devoted to political discussion, he said he wasn't quite sure, but knows that talk on the subject is necessary.
"It's because of where our political leaders have taken us that we have to do this. We need to talk about the nature of marriage and should we redefine the family? Should we redefine what marriage is? It's not that the church necessarily wants to get all political, but it's just that there have been so many political leaders that have chipped away at the Judeo-Christian milieu … what [Thomas] Jefferson called self-evident truth, unalienable rights, the laws of nature … those that believe in these things we have to talk about politics. The political regimes of recent years have done so much to erode the foundation that birthed and sustained this nation," McFarland said.
"If we are going to keep a democratic republic, if we are going to keep liberty and freedom, we have to speak up to a new generation about these things – that God exists and God has revealed himself and God can deny."
Giving the closing keynote at this year's event will be Eric Metaxas, New York Times best-selling author of the famed Dietrich Bonhoeffer biography, Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy, and famed Christian author and speaker Josh McDowell will also address attendees at what will be "an incredibly full, informative, and interesting conference," organizers said.
McFarland said that the conference speakers have "an incredibly important message to share with the country, from how President Obama's re-election will impact our freedom and liberty to how homeschooling your kids may create a stronger generation of rising leaders and everything in between. The 'Truth for a New Generation' conference will help those who attend to firmly, proudly, and articulately present and defend a Christian worldview, through the teaching and insights of some of the best names in apologetics today – and all of it is increasingly relevant to today's culture."
On the Web: www.alexmcfarland.com or www.TruthforaNewGeneration.com
