By Tyler White | Reporter
Oso Logos is a Christian apologetics organization on campus that focuses on providing Christians with the knowledge to answer why they believe what they believe. In their meetings, they focus on what was said throughout history about Christianity and how church fathers and theological debates have shaped their faith today.
This semester, Oso Logos has focused on going through the various Creeds and councils in the history of Christianity. In their weekly Tuesday evening meetings, various members of leadership have presented on each of these events.
Waco senior and president of Oso Logos Carl Schubert said he began the semester off with a presentation on “Creator God” from the Apostles’ Creed to set the foundation for the year. He said he wanted this semester to be an opportunity for people from different denominational backgrounds to come together and understand where their beliefs came from.
“The main purpose is to define our beliefs as an organization in a way that establishes ourselves well within the universal Orthodox Church, while still giving our members who are not necessarily all part of the same church the liberty to express their beliefs, but in a way that’s Orthodox and well thought out,” Schubert said.
Monroe, La., junior Cason Oglesby, vice president of Oso Logos, said the organization allows believers to come together and study under the shared history of Christianity. He said rather than focusing on the theological differences denominations have, Oso Logos allows Christians to share in their similarities.
“I feel like as Christians sometimes we get a little too focused on our differences and not focused on our similarities,” Oglesby said.
In one presentation, Oglesby discussed the Council of Chalcedon and its Creed. He said he grew up Roman Catholic and learned a lot about church history, but this topic was one part of church history that he never learned, so he chose to present on it.
“I took it because I thought it would be a challenge — a fun challenge — and I thought it would fill that gap for me in Christian history,” Oglesby said.
Schubert said this challenge of learning about the creeds and presenting their importance is necessary for the teachings of their organization. He said the history of these creeds help reveal the true beliefs that lie within Christian faith, regardless of denomination.
“All of us might be different in how we approach the scriptures and how we approach doing church and how we interact with God in a lot of ways,” Schubert said. “But the creeds, the creeds are something we can all agree on.”
Oglesby said presenting on these creeds and councils allows Christians to set aside their differences and look back on what established their beliefs. He said it gives believers the opportunity to study and understand what leads to faith today.
“You look back at the creeds for that,” Oglesby said. “You get a lot of insider knowledge about the choices our church fathers made and how we got to how we believe currently.”
What sets Oso Logos apart from other Christian organizations is their emphasis on apologetics. Schubert said the goal of the organization is to prepare Christians to answer the hard questions about their faith, rather than just saying what they believe.
“Bible studies, a lot of the time, are very focused on how we personally interact with the word, and that’s a good thing,” Schubert said. “But there’s also times where we need to understand the reasons why behind it, and sometimes that takes a little more scrutiny.”
Oglesby said Oso Logos has a different purpose behind it than other Christian organizations on campus. He said it provides him with the opportunity to understand his faith through the knowledge of context and history.
“I go to Bible study to get uplifted,” Oglesby said. “I go to Oso to learn the facts about my faith and learn to develop my view of my faith both historically and logically speaking.”
Oso Logos’ presentations on the historical context of belief and the skeptical approach to understand the meanings behind the creeds is a potentially challenging concept for members. Oglesby said it was something that was intimidating at first, but the challenging of faith in Oso Logos has ultimately been beneficial for him.
“I would say, undoubtedly, it’s absolutely worth it,” Oglesby said. “Being challenged in that way, constantly, by peers that you know, respect you is something that I wouldn’t trade for anything. It’s something that I could spend, you know, five, six hours in my room every day studying theology, and I would still not be so intellectually challenged, and I would not grow in that way.”
Schubert said that Oso Logos’ goal to bring light to these topics and challenge faith is important for growing belief. He said members constantly challenging beliefs and digging deeper into understanding faith is important for the growth and strengthening of the organization.
“The apostle Paul tells us that iron sharpens iron, and I don’t think that’s ever been truer in my life than it has been in Oso,” Schubert said.
Schubert said the goal of this semester is to really dig deep into faith and go back to the beginning and see what church fathers have said about Christianity. Through this, Oso Logos can continue to learn more about faith while uniting various denominations in Christianity.
“Our message is this: that no matter where you worship or the denomination that you ascribe to, we can all find comfort in the understanding of traditional Christian theology,” Schubert said.
