Alpha & Omega Ministries Apologetics Blog
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Red Morning, Cyclist's Warning (Ancient Proverb, I Think)
08/31/2012 - James White
19:54:05 - Category: Personal - Link to this article -
Biblical Theology, Trinity, etc.
08/31/2012 - Jeff Downs
There are a few resources that need to brought to your attention, if you don't already know about them.First, you should know that Stuart Robinson's Discourses of Redemption is back in print. And as far as I know, the GPTS bookstore is the only one in the US that currently has this in stock. As a matter of fact, this book is back in print with the help a professor at GPTS. Another professor reviewed this book here in which he says "If this book is brought back into print, I encourage you to buy it." Well, now you have the chance.
Second, many of us have enjoyed the works of G. K. Beale such as Temple and the Church's Mission: Biblical Theology of the Dwelling Place of God, his commentary on the book of Revelation, the worked he edited with D. A. Carson Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament. A less known work (perhaps it is understandable), but worth reading is We Become What We Worship: A Biblical Theology of Idolatry. A recent work of Beale is his A New Testament Biblical Theology. Well, now Beale has provided us with a book on his methodology - how he comes to his conclusions in Handbook on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament: Exegesis and Interpretation. You can check out some of the pages by clicking here.
Third, given the fact that I collect systematic theologies, this Puritan Theology: A Doctrine of Life edited by Joel Beeke and Mark Jones, will be a welcomed edition. Here are some sample pages.
On a related note, last week PRTS held their annual conference, and this years theme was "The Glory of the Father." The conference is now over, but you can already enjoy the fruit of it by going here. In particular, I would suggest Ryan McGraw's lecture titled The Need for a Trinitarian Piety. If I remember correctly, Joel Beeke mentioned that Derek Thomas' lecture Seeing the Father in the Face of Jesus was worth the price of the conference. I can promise you one thing, this conference will not be all head and no heart - the word will be applied to both.
Fourth, James mentioned Bill Nye "The Science Guy" and his recent comments about evolution, creation and our children. If you do a quick online search you will find a number of responses, but I'll mentioned a few here. This one is from Answers in Genesis. The guys of at Choosing Hats have two responses: this one and this one. Dr. David Menton was on Issues, Etc. yesterday. That interview is located here. I've been waiting for CMI to speak on this issue, but so far they have not. I'm sure there are other responses worth mentioning, but these will get you started.
There are probably some other important resources that could be mentioned today. In fact, I'm sure I could be here all day mentioning them. Well, ok, one more. Today, the guys over at The Reformed Forum released an interview with Lane Tipton on the topic of Nature/Grace Dualism, dealing with that which "undergirds much of how the Catholic church thinks through issues of anthropology, epistemology, and even cultural engagement." Click here to listen.
11:14:23 - Category: Resources - Link to this article -
Today on the Dividing Line
08/30/2012 - James White
Briefly addressed the "Bill Nye the Science Guy" issue, then spent most of the hour discussing the nit-picking criticisms of an Ephesians 4:14 man relating to my comments on the NoCoEver video (in the process looking at some interesting statements from Athanasius that are useful in apologetics) before very briefly returning to the Paul Williams presentation. Here's the program.18:02:49 - Category: The Dividing Line - Link to this article -
Looking to the Future
08/30/2012 - James White
As I see the number of pages left to write in the new book drop below 50, I am looking to the future and a full slate of debates this Fall, totaling, at the moment, at least five, with two more possible in the late winter/early part of next year. As I look to the topics of those debates, I have added a number of resources, some from Amazon, some from Logos, to the Ministry Resource List. When you help in this way you bring great encouragement to this apologist, that's for sure!14:19:07 - Category: Misc - Link to this article -
Today on the Dividing Line: 4 Point Calvinism With Trevin Wax and Ijaz Ahmad
08/28/2012 - James White
Regular length show today. First 45 minutes was on this article by Trevin Wax, and the last comprised a brief review of this post which had been tweeted by Paul Bilal Williams. Here's the program.And don't forget the WayBack Machine, streaming Dividing Lines from 1998 onward 24/7! You can listen on the Flash Player found here.
13:22:03 - Category: The Dividing Line - Link to this article -
Since Mormonism is Back in the News...Again
08/24/2012 - James White
Recorded this last year in Australia. Hope it helps.
15:45:41 - Category: Mormonism - Link to this article -
Yesterday on the Dividing Line
08/24/2012 - James White
Was going to jump back into the Paul Williams material but, instead, I took the time to look at Hadith Qudsi 36 and ended up doing an entire hour on using these stories from Islamic history and lore as a means of opening up an opportunity for the presentation of the Gospel. Here's where you can read Hadith Qudsi 36. Here's the program.And don't forget the WayBack Machine, streaming Dividing Lines from 1998 onward 24/7! You can listen on the Flash Player found here.
10:28:27 - Category: The Dividing Line - Link to this article -
Another Glorious AZ Sunrise
08/24/2012 - James White
Well, it was glorious right up until it soaked me about ten minutes after I took these, but hey, that's the risk you take! ...[Click Here to Continue Reading]
10:21:55 - Category: Personal - Link to this article -
Today on the Dividing Line: Finishing Harry Knox, Calls on the Redefinition of Marriage
08/21/2012 - James White
Had not really intended it (was going to divide the program into two topics), but we ended up staying on one topic (even the three calls were on the same topic, mainly anyway), that being homosexuality, the redefinition of marriage, related cultural issues---even touching on abortion as well. Hopefully helpful as we seek to be light in the darkness. Here's the program.And don't forget the WayBack Machine, streaming Dividing Lines from 1998 onward 24/7! You can listen on the Flash Player found here.
16:19:43 - Category: The Dividing Line - Link to this article -
No Compromise, Ever: Episode 1
08/20/2012 - James White
No Co Ever: Episode 1 from No Compromise Radio on Vimeo.
11:08:02 - Category: Post-Evangelicalism - Link to this article -
Get Ready for "Love Wins, Round 2"
08/20/2012 - James White
Combine easy believism, man-centeredness, humanism, cultural secular dominance, and and abandonment of any deep seated knowledge of the holiness and "otherness" of God, and you have a situation rife for stuff like this, coming in September:08:05:51 - Category: General Apologetics - Link to this article -
Do You Have the Gift of Discernment?
08/19/2012 - James Swan
I've been in a number of conversations with Christians convinced that the Holy Spirit has endowed them with the gift described in 1 Corinthians 12 as "the distinguishing of spirits," or, sometimes referred to as the gift of discernment. Sometimes I wonder if the claim to such a gift is simply a ploy for recognition. Or perhaps it's a type of hubris or spiritually immaturity. I'm often tempted to simply dismiss such people as violating Paul's exhortation in Galatians 6 to boast only in the cross of Jesus Christ. It is possible, though, that sincerity is that which motivates such an assertion. Couldn't it simply be zeal for the purity of doctrine or the protection of the church that leads someone to claim this supernatural gift? Perhaps they've heard a sermon or been to a Bible study exhorting the seeking out and nurturing of spiritual gifts. Perhaps friends have noticed and encouraged their seeming ability to rightly discern spiritual issues. Perhaps a church leader has blatantly told them they have the gift of discernment. If any of these positive scenarios are true, if someone indeed has the gift spoken of in 1 Corinthians 12:10, the fault would not be admitting to it (whether boastfully or not), rather it would be not using the gift for the benefit of the church.How should such claims to spiritual discernment be understood in the church today? Can one know if the claim is Biblically valid today? These questions cannot be addressed until related issues are scrutinized. How has the church understood this gift, and is there a consensus view? Is this gift something particular only to the infant church or has it been given throughout the centuries? What role did it play in the early church, and if still extant, what role would it play today? ...
[Click Here to Continue Reading]
16:19:08 - Category: Theology Matters - Link to this article -
A Word of Thanks
08/18/2012 - James White
I am at my office on this Saturday afternoon, typing as fast as my fingers will go, working hard to beat my deadline in finishing this book before I head to the UK. The folks in channel are probably tired of reading my text dumps as I keep them appraised of what I'm working on. But in any case, I wanted to take two minutes to thank someone who doesn't get thanked nearly enough, since he's always here: Rich Pierce. I've said many times this ministry would not exist but for him, and if anything ever happened to him, well, we'd disappear quickly (so pray for his well being!). Anyway, a few weeks ago I mentioned to Rich and Barry that I need more light in my office. My eyesight is aging, just like I am, and I need more light to be able to read the teeny tiny fonts in most of my books (how did they shrink over the past decade?). So Rich put aside some other projects and, with the initial help of Ray from PRBC, an electrician, installed tracks in the drop down ceiling. I now have some LCD spots above my desk that I can turn on and off with a little remote sitting on my desk. I don't want them on often---they make seeing my 3x22 inch stacked screens hard---so I can just pop them on and off with my remote. So, I was just typing out some quotes from Ibn Ishaq's Sirat Rasul Allah and all I had to do (aside from getting out the reading glasses that I hang around my neck, yeah, the CSI-NY coroner's version!) was reach over, pop a little remote, and POOF, brilliant white light to read by. Done typing? Click, back to normal! Yeah, I know, but such things make my life a little easier, so, thanks again to all who make such things possible (in this case, Rich and Ray, but of course, we had to buy the materials, so all our supporters), as well as to those who help make such written materials available via the Ministry Resource List as well. Much appreciated!16:10:34 - Category: Personal - Link to this article -
A Wide Ranging Dividing Line Today
08/16/2012 - James White
Covered a bunch of stuff, starting off examining this really bad pro-homosexual argument, discussed a little about the LGBT terrorist in Washington, D.C., and then discussed the appearance of non-Trinitarian singing group PC&D at a local church (Scottsdale Bible Church) and the very odd response from the "Worship and Creative Arts Pastor" of the church. Then we moved back to examining Paul Williams' comments and, quite honestly, abuse of the biblical text, in the recent debate in London. Here's the program.18:09:38 - Category: The Dividing Line - Link to this article -
Another Glorious Sunrise
08/15/2012 - James White
Pictures (esp. on cheapie little cell phones) just cannot begin to do justice to the sunrise this morning. I took this on my second climb up "Tower Road" on South Mountain (for those familiar with the park). It took a minute or two to get the phone turned on, and the sun is actually just peeking over the horizon in these, but I just had to stop and try to capture this. We had a strange little rain storm in the early morning hours, and even now in Phoenix it is oddly hazy and overcast and windy, so the unsettled weather produces some spectacular sunrises. If I did not have a book to finish I would do a video about the physics of why sunrises look like this---
and how, if we think ourselves overly wise because we understand refraction and water content in the air and a few other things like that, we will miss the fact that the reason we find this so beautiful, so thrilling, and so "peace producing" in our hearts is not because we are merely some briefly existing random accident of nature that has been conditioned to find this "pretty." The conditions that have had to come together for the existence of life, the functioning of my eyes, the operation of my mind, the appreciation of beauty---all together point so clearly to the Creator that it is only the most blind of men who refuse to see. But---no time! So, till then, just enjoy the pictures. I sure enjoyed seeing it.
13:56:22 - Category: Personal - Link to this article -
Did Jesus Heal a "Same Sex Partner"? Watch it While You Can
08/14/2012 - James White
Let's hope this doesn't get pulled.19:28:51 - Category: General Apologetics - Link to this article -
Today on the Dividing Line: A Bunch of Really Bad Arguments on Very Different Topics
08/14/2012 - James White
Started off with half an hour responding to one of the worst Scripture-twisting arguments offered by pro-homosexuals relating to the Centurion's son. Then we discussed the recent fascinating edition of Justin Brierley's Unbelievable broadcast (found here) featuring Robert Spencer and Adnan Rashid. Then we went back to responding to, and refuting, the comments of Paul Bilal Williams in his recent debate with Chris Green in the UK. Here's the program.17:14:14 - Category: The Dividing Line - Link to this article -
Three Quick Items (Updated)
08/14/2012 - James White
First, we will be moving the DL to 6:00pm EDT today so I can prepare a presentation on the single worst "homosexual Christian" argument ever made---why focus on the worst? Because, of course, it is becoming immensely popular due to its constant repetition on the Internet, that giant electronic web that constantly demeans serious thought and rewards facile (and in this case, simply bogus, absurd, and dishonest) argumentation.Second, I finished the Mark series, which is ironic, in that the very next section of the Williams/Green debate includes Williams' repetition of the canard about the low Christology of Mark, the very thing I take on so directly in this series:
Third, I must admit having security cameras on our offices actually makes criminal activity more difficult to deal with. What I mean is, years ago, when we were broken into the second time, we had video of the criminal who did it. Well, this morning we got video of a criminal, clearly a member of some kind of Hispanic gang (replete with gang hat on sideways) stealing one of our cameras right off the building. We have done everything short of razor wire and broken glass (evidently that is next) to stop this creep, but today he did it in broad daylight, just before 8am. Being able to see him scoping the place out and then doing the deed only makes it more maddening. Pray for the safety of our offices, for clearly, if folks can do that kind of thing in broad daylight, they might we quite bold to do more in the darkness. And, of course, we need to replace that camera...again.
10:03:02 - Category: Misc - Link to this article -
Radio Free San Francisco and Radio Free Damascus on a Jumbo DL!
08/09/2012 - James White
Debuted our new "Radio Free San Francisco" theme today, created by Sir Barry Ladden himself,
and kept moving in our examination of Harry Knox's pro-homosexual presentation from the 2008 debate. Then, after about 45 minutes, switched over to an episode of Radio Free Damascus and began examining the presentation made by Paul Bilal Williams a few weeks ago in a debate in London. We hope to finish up our review and rebuttal of Williams prior to my trip to London in September. Here's the program. 17:34:08 - Category: The Dividing Line - Link to this article -
Today on the Dividing Line: Examination and Response to Yesterday's Reasonable Faith Podcast
08/07/2012 - James White
William Lane Craig responded to my criticisms of his use of Cerberus as an illustration of the Trinity on the Reasonable Faith podcast yesterday, so we played his comments and responded to them on today's Dividing Line. Here's the program.And don't forget the WayBack Machine, streaming Dividing Lines from 1998 onward 24/7! You can listen on the Flash Player found here.
14:48:30 - Category: The Dividing Line - Link to this article -
Sunday Sermons at Phoenix Reformed Baptist Church
08/06/2012 - James White
Doing a two week series answering those who constantly assert that the Gospel of Mark presents a "simply human Jesus" over against, say, John. Here are the first two installments.12:51:36 - Category: Exegesis - Link to this article -
Excellent Thoughts on How You Can Manufacture Evidence of "Primacy" By Selective Citation
08/04/2012 - James White
Excellent article from Jason Engwer. All Tiber treaders and swimmers should think about it.20:03:18 - Category: Roman Catholicism - Link to this article -
A New Approach to Our Shopping Cart
08/03/2012 - Rich Pierce
We have started a Theology Matters Packs page in our shopping cart. The approach is to bundle together James' debates on MP3 into particular categories for download and then bulk discount them 20%. As you can see we are just getting started and just have three bundles available right now. But we will be adding more bundles to the page daily so that you can expect to come to a single page and quickly order out a "best of" series to add to your collection.Also, on Tuesday's Dividing Line I mentioned The Conference on Rome and I have had requests for the direct link to that so here you go.
Stay tuned, more to come.
21:15:00 - Category: Misc - Link to this article -
On an Impromptu Friday Edition of the Dividing Line
08/03/2012 - James White
Mainly went over this article and its capitulation to the redefinition of the word "hate" as well as the entire concept of determining ethics and morality and right and wrong based upon the emotions and perceptions of people who have already proven themselves to be deeply dysfunctional in the entirety of their personal lives. I had seen the article last night, and felt like it might be buried under other newer stuff by the time Tuesday came along. So, the program is just a bit shorter than the normal one, but, here it is..14:16:00 - Category: The Dividing Line - Link to this article -
Today on a Jumbo Edition of the Dividing Line
08/02/2012 - James White
Started off finishing up my response to Abdullah Kunde's article (since he's sort of "off line" for Ramadan, I kept it brief). Then I reviewed some comments on Jesus and homosexuality, and then interacted with Barnabas Piper's article on why going to Chick-fil-A on Wednesday was, in his view, a "bold mistake." I boldly disagreed. Then we moved into a section on Roman Catholicism, and in particular, the priesthood and the papacy. Three pretty divergent topics, to be sure, but that's what the DL is all about! Here's the program.17:34:47 - Category: The Dividing Line - Link to this article -
The Church's Unity is Found in Christ, Not in Peter
08/01/2012 - James White
21:40:38 - Category: Pastoral Theology - Link to this article -
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