Alpha & Omega Ministries Apologetics Blog
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God's Knowledge/Man's Knowledge
02/25/2011 - Jeff Downs
Some of you are familiar with what has become known (inappropriately) as the Van Til/Clark controversy; dealing with what constitutes God's knowledge and man's knowledge. Recently the crew from the Reformed Forum spent some time with Dr. Scott Oliphint (who sat under Van Til and now teaches Apologetics at WTS) and addressed this controversy. Click here to listen.If you are not familiar with Dr. Oliphint, he is the author of The Battle Belongs to the Lord and Reasons for Faith: Philosophy in the Service of Theology, both books dealing with apologetics. He is also one of the editors of Christian Apologetics Past and Present: A Primary Source Reader. Dr. Oliphint is certainly one of my favorites when it comes to contemporary apologetic thought.
06:19:15 - Category: General Apologetics - Link to this article -
Seven Long Months of Silence for Norman Geisler
02/21/2011 - James White
It has been over seven months since I posted this video asking Norman Geisler honest, important questions about the defense he has made of Ergun Caner's fallacious claims. Seven long months of silence, seven long months of cover-up on the part of the Provost of Veritas Seminary (reminder: "veritas" means "truth" in Latin). The fully refuted, and often sadly shallow excuses offered up by Ergun Caner and posted by Norman Geisler (still found here as of this posting) remain a sad commentary on the depth to which some will go to cover up misdeeds on the part of those "in power." The current spate of angry and vile (let alone loony and dishonest) attack being hosted by Peter Lumpkins seems to be related in large part to vengeance over the exposure of Ergun Caner. It is a sad comment on the state of the church that speaking the truth can be so costly! In any case, I am still waiting for Norman Geisler to answer these questions. You and I both know he is fully aware of this video, and the questions. He does not answer, for he cannot answer. Honest believers who are concerned about the integrity of apologetic ministry will not allow such falsehoods to go unchallenged, nor will we tire of calling for repentance and restoration on the part of those involved. Remember, the prophetic ministry of men like Isaiah and Jeremiah lasted for years, during which time many even of their friends tired of their message.Hadith 2425, Dr. Geisler. We are waiting.
00:01:00 - Category: General Apologetics - Link to this article -
Witnessing to False Teachers: a Question on the MCTS Podcast
02/14/2011 - James White
Interview 5 | White and Barcellos from MCTS on Vimeo.
00:01:00 - Category: General Apologetics - Link to this article -
More from MCTS...Apologetics and the Local Church
02/06/2011 - James White
22:28:30 - Category: General Apologetics - Link to this article -
Harold Camping: The Day After?
02/06/2011 - James Swan
I grew up listening to Family Radio, but not by choice. My parents loved the music. Any time we were in the car, chances are that would be the station blaring through the back seat speakers. I suffered through till the invention of the Walkman, when teenage rebellion finally had a way to escape the soft sounds of Family Radio. My parents though were not Campingites. When Mr. Camping started speaking, my father would mutter something like "Oh, not this guy" and change the station.
Through the years I did meet Campingites. We had them in my church. They would be in a Bible study group and would occasionally begin a sentence with something like "Well, Brother Camping says....". When I became a member of my church, another couple becoming members at the same time soon left when Mr. Camping announced his followers needed to flee the churches. My area is a strong Family Radio area. My cable television provider actually carries Family Radio's TV channel as part of basic cable. That is, if you get the bare minimum cable channels, you will get the Family Radio channel.
Those of you keeping an eye on Mr. Camping's latest apocalyptic predictions probably have wondered what will happen on May 22, 2011? No, I didn't get Camping's date wrong. The question many are asking is what will Mr. Camping, Family Radio, and his followers say the day after his dated judgment day and end of the world? For Camping and his followers, asking such a question is seen as blatant unbelief. This is entirely fallacious. I certainly look forward to the Lord's return, complete redemption of creation, being completely freed from this body of death, and most of all seeing my savior.
Camping has repeatedly proven himself untrustworthy. Those of us asking what will happen on May 22, 2011 are often the same people who wondered what was going to happen on September 18, 1994. Mr. Camping had published 1994? in which he said the end of the world might be between September 15-17 (p. 531). The book now is but a curiosity, used copies selling for as little as one dollar.Curious as to what Mr. Camping would say on September 18, 1994, I actually recorded about thirty minutes of Camping's Open Forum from that day. You can listen to my old recording here. One thing you'll notice, it's business as usual. The first caller attacks Hank Hanegraaff, who was a strong voice against Mr. Camping during this time period. The second caller was some sort of dispensationalist challenging Camping, which he eventually refutes by pointing out how their predictions about the antichrist have not panned out over and over again, which is ironic considering Mr. Camping's own personal interpretive prophetic record.
From the Family Radio website comes the following:
Caller: I find it very scary that, in your book 1994?, you wrote that you, with all your heart believed, sincerely believed that Christ would return, and you were sincerely wrong. And now you're telling people to get out of the churches and you are sincerely wrong again. II Thessalonians 2 says that first there will be a great falling away, and I think you're leading that falling away.
Mr. C: Well, I can understand why you say those things. Until we become better acquainted with the whole Bible, we obviously are going to be frightened at the idea of having to obey the command to leave the churches. And I can tell you, there is no pleasure on my part to teach this. It's no pleasure at all. But I have to be faithful to what the Bible is teaching. Yes, I do find that ironic that after all these years, I'm listening to Family Radio.
Now, when I talked about 1994, I said, yes, there's a very high probability that it could be the end. At that time, I said a lot of things that I was wrong about. For example, I was still teaching, like all the churches teach, that water baptism and the Lord's table were part of the moral law. And yet, today, I know that's not true. They are part of the ceremonial law. At that time, I was not teaching that there would be the latter rain, that is, that God still had another plan to continue the evangelization of the world. I did not know that at that time. At that time, I taught a number of things that subsequently, as God opened my spiritual eyes, as well as the eyes of a great many others, I now can teach more carefully. And tomorrow, God will open my spiritual eyes to something else. That's the nature of the student of the Bible. We keep searching the Bible and learning.
Now, in the case of predicting a date, we always have to say we can't say this absolutely. The Bible absolutely says, and I've always said this and never changed it, no man can know the day or the hour. The Bible is very clear about that. The Bible does not say no one can know the year or the month. That's another matter. But no one can know the day or the hour. But the point is that as we look at the matter of the end of the church age, there is an enormous amount of information that we begin to learn about. And so, all I ask people to do is read the Bible, don't trust me, read it in the Bible.
For those of you asking what Mr. Camping will say on May 22, weigh the above carefully. My standard response to those who ask me is that I'm hopeful Mr. Camping will repent. My gut tells me some sort of similar Camping-esque statements to the above will be forthcoming.
Besides multiple hours of Mr. Camping, Family Radio also runs various other things. I heard them giving tips on parenting and managing social security today. My basic question is... why? If it's the end of the world, well, worrying about raising a family correctly or managing social security seems like a waste of time. That's right, I'm now listening regularly to Family Radio, but when the music comes on, I change the station.
00:04:20 - Category: General Apologetics - Link to this article -
Update to Dr. White's Schedule in Ireland
02/02/2011 - Micah Burke
Please note the change:Feb. 6th...27 Florence Rd, Bray, County Wicklow, Ireland...Dr White will be speaking at the Sunday evening service in Bray Gospel Hall. The sermon will be on "The Potter's Freedom" Romans 9:9-23. Contact the church for more information (website n/a).
15:24:20 - Category: General Apologetics - Link to this article -
Dr. White on Janet Parshall's Show: The Forgotten Trinity
02/01/2011 - James Swan
When Dr. White is away I like to go through some of my old cassette tapes and dig out a few tidbits many of you probably have never heard before. Here's a 1999 interview Dr. White did on Janet Parshall's show on the topic, The Forgotten Trinity.The Forgotten Trinity Interview 6/16/99
Click here to order Dr. White's book, The Forgotten Trinity.
00:01:00 - Category: General Apologetics - Link to this article -
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