Archive for category: Reformed Apologetics

Over the past few years I have experienced what has become a regular occurrence when traveling and speaking across the US, UK, and Australia. I will be approached by someone, most often a man, who tells me his story of being a member of a Calvary Chapel, following the exhortation to read and study the Scriptures, and coming to an

I was searching through some old files and came across a set of interesting mp3’s from 2004-2005. Back on 12/01/04, Dr. White was invited to be on the radio show Viewpoint with attorney Chuck Crismier along with Dave Hunt on the topic of Calvinism. When I searched around the Internet, I noticed that the links to the shows don’t work

One of my fellow pseudonymous bloggers, “diglot,” has posted a response to one of my co-blogger’s articles. The response is titled: “Matt. 23:37 and the Calvinism/Arminian Debate,” and addresses Jamin Hubner’s article here on the Team Apologian blog, “Matthew 23:37: Misquoted by Arminians (and Calvinists?)“ Diglot’s response to the article is to say, in effect, that the observation that it

Any seasoned Calvinist will tell you that to try to interact biblically with an Arminian is a Herculean feat. And if you achieve that stage, it is an additional challenge to have them concentrate on a single coherent passage without them jumping all around the Bible. Peter Lumpkins is illustrative of that type of Arminian. Recently, I argued that human

I take a trip down memory lane every time Dr. White discusses Norman Geisler’s Chosen But Free. During the 1980’s I was quite a fan of Dr. Geisler’s work. I first came across Dr. Geisler while flipping through the channels on my television one evening. He was debating secular humanist Paul Kurtz. I had no idea what show I was

Yes, Norman Geisler claims to be the first “major” scholar to critique Calvinism. I know, I know…

Human responsibility is dependent on an objective entity (God’s law), not a subjective entity (human moral ability). Human responsibility relates to a moral standard. It does not imply a so-called free will. If a teenager boy gets drunk and runs a red light, is he no longer responsible because of his condition? Yes he is responsible because he has broken

Often it takes an illustration to help non-Calvinists break out of their categorical and cultural assumptions about the precious truth of predestination. The following illustration has floated around in Calvinist circles for many years, and has been very effective: You have 100 criminals on death row. They are all equally guilty and deserving of death. Every single one of them

God’s sovereign election is the only basis by which any believer has confidence to evangelize the lost. We do not know who the elect are in this lifetime, but what we do know with certainty is that there are elect out there. Has God ever revealed to us why we should evangelize the lost? Indeed he has. In Acts 18,

We recorded some podcasts for the Midwest Center for Theological Studies last week while I was in Owensboro. The first has been released: White & Barcellos | Interview 1 from MCTS on Vimeo.

I found out today that someone may have video taped the entire debate, and if I can get hold of that footage, I will post it on the YouTube channel. Till then, here is the cross-ex period from last night’s debate at RTS Jackson.

“After these things I looked, and here was an enormous crowd that no one could count, made up of persons from every nation, tribe, people, and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb dressed in long white robes, and with palm branches in their hands. They were shouting out in a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God,

Ergun Caner has stated that Calvinists are worse than Muslims. This week Norman Geisler has added to this vitriolic rhetoric calling Calvinists theological racists. Wait a minute, I thought it was Calvinists who are the mean nasty people? Geisler said: “These people teach that Christ only loved the elect and only died for the elect. And I think

“Especially when it comes to human evil, that we would call sin in theological terms. That God does not will this, he does not promote it. But because of our free will, he permits it.” -William Lane Craig, August 12, 2007, Reasonable Faith, “Problem of Evil” “for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus,

I wonder if The Potter’s Freedom will be required reading, too? 🙂

Four hours, 55 minutes. That’s how much material is contained in this collection containing the debate with Steve Gregg on the freedom of God in salvation, along with follow up commentary and discussion of this vital issue. As Mr. Gregg’s material is popular amongst the NDD (Non-Denominational Denomination, i.e., Calvary Chapel), this set will be of great value to many

Lane Chaplin forwarded me another link to another Ankerberg Show clip, just as the previous entry. If you go about two minutes in (after a long section in praise of creaturely autonomy), you not only have Geisler misquoting Matthew 23:37 (nothing new about that, as we have documented on the part of many), but even the text slide which is

Lane Chaplin sent me this link. Here Geisler comes as close as I’ve seen, on video, to referring to The Potter’s Freedom (outside of the horrific, and now removed, appendix to the second edition, cobbled together by confused undergraduate students). But for anyone who has read TPF, this response is empty and vacuous, and illustrates why Norman Geisler, and his

If God knows every detail of the future with infallible certainty, then (by definition) the outcome of all things is already determined. And if things are predetermined but God did not ordain whatsoever comes to pass, then you have two choices: 1. A higher sovereignty belongs to some being (or beings) other than God. That is idolatry. 2. Some impersonal

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

For seven years the only format you could purchase the 3-day radio discussion with George Bryson aired on The Bible Answer Man Broadcast was on CD, by contract. But, as of now, we can make the entire debate available in downloadable mp3 format! This is one of the most popular encounters on the important subject of God’s sovereignty in salvation,

Click Here for Information. Join us for a day of Biblical exposition and exhortation with Dr. James White and Ryan Habbena at Signet Ring’s 2010 Annual Conference. We will focus on the declaration and defense of the doctrines of grace as well as the immense implications of these Scriptural truths. This conference is free of charge and will be held

I was forced at gunpoint to join Mike Abendroth (one of the nefarious and widely feared Abendroth Brothers Gang) on his No Compromise Radio Program today. What was worse, he forced me to listen to Rick Warren’s presentation at the DG Conference. Very painful. 350 pithy platitudes strung together on citations of the Message and the Living Bible interspersed with

A reader asked: Please clarify for me, which came first, the decree of God to reprobate and damn this or that particular individual or that individual’s sin against God and then the decree to reprobate and damn him for his sin? The issue of the order of decrees is a topic that seems to be of the greatest interest to

I have said many times over the years that Calvary Chapel is right on when it comes to the inspiration, inerrancy, consistency, and power of the Bible as God’s Word. Fault them wherever else you may, but they encourage their people to read, and believe, the Bible, and that is vitally important. They are to be lauded and commended for

Some of you remember the “debate” with “Lou Rugg” of PalTalk fame: Lou is very big on self-promotion. Sometime last year he was talking about how his new book would “crush” me, etc. I have yet to see this book, but he promises us that, eventually, Calvinism will be vanished from the face of the earth through his personal brilliance

   The Berean Call put out their monthly newsletter a few days ago, and I could not help but noticing the following paragraph. If you are not intimately familiar with the argument of Romans 9, and especially its insistence that the choice of Jacob and the rejection of Esau was not in any way, shape, or form, based upon the actions

   Yesterday’s encounter with Dr. Michael Brown was very interesting. My goal had been to provide an opportunity for the listeners to compare and contrast the exegesis of the text offered by both sides of this important issue. While that was accomplished to some extent, what ended up happening was more of a contrast of differing methods of exegesis itself, which

   For those interested, we will be covering three texts of Scripture on Thursday: John 6, Romans 8/9, and Ephesians 1. Each will have 8 minutes to provide their exegesis of the text; then we will have four minutes of cross-ex each, then three minute conclusions before moving on to the next text. I know, not a lot of time, but

On my way to Leavenworth, Kansas for this weekend’s conference, but fired up the MacBook long enough to get my mail. Not only did another loving missive from Peter Lumpkins come through, but I was directed to what can only amount to his published response of my documentation of his false accusations. Personally, I think this speaks volumes about the