Archive for category: Reformed Apologetics

   To be honest, this kind of correspondence deeply saddens me. I am hesitant to post it, but I do so for mainly one reason: it seems the Caners are doing all they can to force any logically thinking person to run from even considering trying to engage in meaningful dialogue and debate with them. They are insisting upon their incoherent

Well, as some of you have been wondering what has been going on regarding the October 16th debate in Lynchburg with Ergun and Emir Caner. I had sent a note to Dr. O’Donnell once again, since it had been a full month since we had first contacted him, and had asked that he respond by the 20th. He replied on

   Jeff Downs has organized a conference that those of you back east should be aware of. Read about it here.

   While no end of interesting illustrations could be mined from continuing to review Jimmy Akin’s desperate attempt to avoid admitting he simply doesn’t care to keep abreast with developments in his area of self-professed expertise, I likewise find the task most distasteful. I have not invested much time perusing the comments on Akin’s blog, but I did look through a

   The following e-mail was sent to Ergun Caner, Emir Caner, Brent O’Donnell, Tom Ascol, and Rich Pierce at 3:28pm MST, June 13, 2006. Greetings:    Allow me to state right up front that in light of the public nature of the debate and the issues that separate us, I will be posting all attempts at communication concurrently on my website.    On

   This is surely the most popular passage cited (almost never with any reference to the context) to prove that God could not possibly desire to save a specific people but instead desires to save every single individual person, thereby denying election and predestination. The text seems inarguably clear. But it is always good to see a text in its own

Finally, this definition of “Neo-Calvinist” concludes, Calvinism is the only Gospel. Simply put, when a person holds this narrow view, they become exclusivists. They believe that Calvinism, and only Calvinism, is the preaching of the Gospel. One historian wrote, “Calvinism is just another name for Christianity.”1 If that is true, what does that say about the myriad of preachers throughout

   5) Reformed brothers. So, which is it? Am I a Reformed brother? If so, why refuse to answer that honestly asked question? Or are there some Reformed brothers as long as they aren’t my kind? We just don’t know.    6) Is there a meaningful parallel between the charismatic controversy of years past (who actually won that battle? Compare the “worship”

   Well, what a disappointment to discover that the blog article I referred to above is actually written by Ergun Caner, not Jerry Falwell. I saw falwell.com and since my current internet access is expensive and has to come in “bursts,” I assumed if it was on falwell.com…. But I was disabused once I went off line and started to read

   For the couple of folks who thought Jerry Falwell looked displeased at the end of Ergun Caner’s anti-Calvinism sermon a few weeks ago, well, he wasn’t. Caner is giving the Liberty line, to be sure, from what Falwell says here. And what is so tremendously sad is to see the single reference in the entire entry is another “as cited

Below you will find the entirety of the correspondence that has passed between myself, Tom Ascol, Ergun Caner, and Emir Caner over the past few months regarding the October 16th debate in Lynchburg.  I am posting it because the conversation has fallen to such a level that only public scrutiny and input can now possibly convince the Caners to allow

   The following came through our website: I just completed reading your email exchange with the Caners. I am floored by your lack of understanding of the proposed Thesis. Could it be that you are so caught up in your own intellectualism that you miss the simplicity of the Thesis. I had my 13 yr old look at it and he

Well, many thanks to C.S. and T.S. for taking that mess of a correspondence file and typesetting it in PDF format. For those who have struggled to read it, you can now have the entire file in gorgeous PDF format with fully readable fonts and formatting that makes it very clear who is saying what. Click here for the file.

Let me summarize quickly. I will expand upon this on The Dividing Line Tuesday morning when I am joined by Dr. Tom Ascol. 1) I have posted the entirety of the correspondence between myself, Tom Ascol, Ergun Caner, and Emir Caner, that has been written since March on the topic of our debate October 16th. I believe the people of

   No, the Caners remain in silent mode. No responses to any e-mails, no response to the previous blog article, Dividing Line discussions, etc. The silent treatment continues. With the Shabir Ally debate this week (you’d think they would both be quite interested in my engaging one of the leading Islamic apologists, given their background, but despite repeatedly referring to this,

Most of my readers are familiar with BaptistFire.com, the conservative Baptist website that is, sadly, likewise rabidly anti-Reformed, grossly one-sided, and anonymous as to who is involved in promulgating its articles. Well, a number of folks have gotten together to launch www.StrangeBaptistFire.com, a website which will debunk the constantly misleading, imbalanced, and often easily refuted materials posted on BaptistFire.com. Now,

   As I promised last week, I continued my response to Dr. Wright on issues relating to the ordo salutis from our debate in Sedalia in the Bible Study hour at PRBC. I only had about 35 minutes or so, so I had to rush a bit, but hopefully this will be useful. Here’s the link to the discussion (streaming/download).

   Anyone notice a pattern here? Dr. Geisler writes Chosen But Free. I respond with The Potter’s Freedom. More than a dozen different churches, conferences, individuals, attempt to arrange a debate. Dr. Geisler says he will not debate fellow Christians (I guess Randall Terry isn’t a Christian then?). A thirteen page appendix appears in the second edition of Chosen But Free

   I must admit. My job is fascinating. Never dull. Well, almost never dull. This morning while getting a 30 mile ride in at an average speed of 15 mph (yeah, I know—but, I also climbed 2520 feet, which explains the average speed) I was listening to Shabir Ally throwing everything but the kitchen sink at the New Testament, writing mental

   This book came back into print in December. We ordered it. Took months to get it. But once we got it, it took months to get it listed. Finally, it’s here! One of the best defenses of sola scriptura ever written, William Whitaker’s Disputations on Holy Scripture is not easy reading, but it is important reading. A must for the

   I decided to delve into one of the main arguments Dr. Wright repeated a number of times in Sedalia during the Sunday morning Bible Study at PRBC. For all my many critics I confess to a mistake, well, a couple, in this study, so you won’t want to miss it! I failed to see that Dr. Wright was focusing his

   If a person had done a flow-chart on the debate, and had looked for Jonathan Wright’s refutation of my opening presentation, that portion of the paper would be pretty much blank, as he really did not even try. As with all inconsistent Arminians, Dr. Wright was forced to do the Dave Hunt “it can’t mean that, because there are all

   I am very thankful to report that the debate in Sedalia provided a wonderful time of biblical discussion and presentation. In fact, you can read a surprisingly fair account of the debate here in a local newspaper.    Those who have listened to my response to Dr. Davis’ sermon could have predicted the direction it would go, and it did. There

   I leave early in the morning for Sedalia and the debate tomorrow evening, and I have a lot to get done before trying to get at least a few hours of sleep before heading to the airport. Don’t forget the DL this afternoon! Anyway, I was sent this excellent citation that I intend to use tomorrow evening, and I thought

   You have to be a tremendous communicator for folks to be quoting you a hundred years after you die. Spurgeon was a wordsmith, to be sure. I saw the prayer portion of the following quote on a web board today, so I looked it up. And I really thought merely quoting the prayer portion (esp. in the context of basically

   I could not locate the details for the upcoming debate against Mr. Wright on the subject of Calvinism in Sedalia on the Dividing Line Tuesday, but I have now obtained them. The debate will take place Friday night, the 21st of April, at the Smith-Cotton High School, 312 E. Broadway, Sedalia, MO. Here’s a map. Doors open at 6pm, debate

   Dr. Ergun Caner preached on why he was predestined not to be a “hyper Calvinist” at the Thomas Road Baptist Church this past weekend. A number of folks were kind enough to send me the link to the video, found here. In this sermon you will not hear a meaningful, let alone accurate, definition of “hyper Calvinist,” but you will

You can read the entire sermon here. But here’s the heart of the discussion: “COMING to Christ” is a very common phrase in Holy Scripture. It is used to express those acts of the soul wherein leaving at once our self righteousness, and our sins, we fly unto the Lord Jesus Christ, and receive his righteousness to be our covering,

Tom Ascol has shared his thoughts here. When the Caners asked to make this a two-on-two debate (I prefer a single debate myself, honestly, as it is easier for the audience to follow) the first person I thought of was of course Tom Ascol. Even more so since the issue of Baptist history had been mentioned, and I know Tom

“Amazing” is the term that crosses my mind as I survey some of the articles I’ve seen appear in response to my posting of…a single paragraph regarding a memorization verse a week ago. First, amazing that so many people read this blog (many thanks!). But more amazing is the kinds of replies that have been offered to a single paragraph

Monday, October 16th, 2006, 6pm, at the New Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, Virginia. A debate on Calvinism, featuring:     Speaking against “Calvinism” will be the Dean of Liberty Theological Seminary, Dr. Ergun Ehmet Caner. Dr. Caner has been a vocal critic of Reformed theology in Baptist life. He is the author of numerous books and a professor at