Archive for category: Reformed Apologetics

I was sent a follow up comment from Dr. Walls: REGARDING JAMES WHITE My good friend and philosophical ally Luke Van Horn informs me that James White has continued his critique of my lecture “What’s Wrong with Calvinism” on his podcast. While it appears he misses the point of my argument at times, and attempts to diminish its force by

A friend sent me a comment by Jerry Walls, along with comments that were posted thereafter, I presume from FaceBook. First, I am so very honored to be an ARCH Calvinist now (I had been stuck at the “regular” Calvinist level for a very long time, and the promotion is very much appreciated!). Of course, the comments are, well, really

Some of you will already be aware of this, but the latest edition of Unbelievable, features Scott Oliphint and Kurt Jaros. This is a discussion regarding apologetic methodology. “Scott believes that the best apologetic method is to assume that Christianity is true and show why a non-Christian is suppressing that truth. Atheists presuppose the existence of God even to argue

William Edgar, Dr. Oliphint’s colleague at Westminster Theological Seminary, certainly no stranger to the field of apologetics, wrote the Forward to Dr. Oliphint’s Covenantal Apologetics. Basically, Edgar gives us a brief history/survey of Christians apologetic in the 20th and 21st century. I was reminding, when reading his first sentence, of Walter Martin’s The Rise of the Cults In his chapter

Yesterday I mentioned that Dr. Scott Oliphint’s latest book Covenantal Apologetics: Principles and Practice in Defense of Our Faith will hit the shelves next month. The folks at Crossway were kind enough to supply me with a copy for review. Thank you! In this post I simply want to supply our readers with the Table of Contents. Foreword by William

I mentioned Scott Oliphint’s new book in a previous post, but the time is drawing near for its release (in July). You can pre-order the book for only $12.19, by clicking here. Lord willing I’ll be commenting on the book in the near future, but since most people are not interested in what I have to say, below are a

Some will remember Peter Lumpkins, a blogger and author of a new book on all you need to know about Calvinism—actually, a pamphlet of about 34 pages of actual text written by Peter himself. In any case, he was one of the main defenders of Ergun Caner in 2010, and remains in that camp, despite the overwhelming mountain of evidence

I have often said that as long as the leadership of Calvary Chapel continues to ignore the biblical testimony to Reformed theology, while at the same time teaching their people to believe and study the Bible, they will continue to produce an unending stream of Calvinists. You cannot deal with Reformed theology by utilizing the surface level arguments of someone

Oh, forgot it was Reformation Sunday? Well, I didn’t! In the midst of the craziness, and evil, of our day, it is good to remember that 495 years ago, God brought light to a darkened world. He may well have to do so again in the not too distant future! Here are two sermons from today at PRBC on the

“In their recent book Good God: The Theistic Foundations of Morality (Oxford 2011), David Baggett and Jerry Walls have a chapter attacking Calvinism on allegedly philosophical grounds. Jerry Walls may well be the leading Arminian philosopher of his generation. So this chapter presumably represents the best philosophical case against Calvinism from an Arminian perspective.” Read more… See also the follow-up

So…isn’t it ironic that I finally finished writing What Every Christian Needs to Know About the Qur’an on 9/11? That wasn’t my plan, but it turned out that way. Anyhow, by the time I got to the DL I had been working all day to finish a 34 page chapter with at least seven pages of endnotes (maybe nine, I

I suppose it is possible the folks at the Berean Call are just recycling articles these days. But I was directed this afternoon to an article in the July 2012 newsletter from TBC titled “Calvinism’s Surprising Catholic Connection.” There is nothing new here, it’s the same tired and refuted material we encountered in Debating Calvinism. Dave’s willingness to use the

One of the most common excuses offered by synergists to the plain teaching of John 6:44 is to jump over to John 12:32. Do they have a basis for doing so?

We have all heard the repeated misrepresentations and maligning of Calvinism, so it is easy to become blasé over time when we hear it again. But we must have stamina to continue to respond and challenge them. Certainly, there are times when wisdom calls for ignoring them. But there are times when we are called to defend our Lord’s character

Hays writes: Over at Arminian Invectives, Ben Henshaw has a running series on “unconditional eternal security.” Oddly enough, he has that filed under “perseverance.” Problem is, Calvinism doesn’t subscribe to “unconditional eternal security.” There are some antinomian fundamentalists who take that position (e.g. Zane Hodges, Charles Ryrie, Randall Gleason), but that’s in studied contrast to the Reformed doctrine of perseverance.

Here is the article. Here are two quotes: And what I believe about it is that it depends on what is intended. Normal language interpretation would seem to me to indicate that asking God to save someone, without any qualifications, is tantamount (whatever is intended) to asking God to do the impossible (from an Arminian perspective). Unless words no longer

Smell that smoke? It’s coming from the theological straw men lit up by the likes of Emir Caner, Jerry Vines, Paige Patterson, Malcolm Yarnell, and David Allen. The smoke is thick, but the fire is hardly hot. I refer to a newly released statement titled “A Statement of Traditional Southern Baptist Understanding of God’s Plan of Salvation.” I began seeing

The “Calvinist vs. Arminian” debate is substantially a debate between what is called “synergism” and “monergism.” There is no third option (unless one is willing to affirm Pelagianism). For those who are new to the Calvinist-Arminian debate, the following is a primer on the two perennial branches of theological systems in Christianity. Or to put it another way, there are

Greetings from somewhere between Quizno’s and gate B-14. On my way to minister to the saints in Hilo and Honolulu (and hoping to be ministered to as well!). Infamous blogger and channel rat “johnMark” informed me that Steve Lemke of New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary (and one of those who participated in the famed “John 3:16 Conference” of a few

Roger Olson just posted a blog that is clearly a response to my comments about his book (without, of course, naming me: nothing new about that, given, of course, that he “on principle” refuses to read anything I write—evidently he can listen to what I say, just not read what I write). Here is his response. Now, let’s remember what