Archive for category: The Dividing Line

Let’s see, we covered a question on common grace and those who deny there is such a thing; Mark 6 and Jesus “could not” do mighty works in Nazareth due to unbelief; Acts 17:27 and what “groping” for God might mean; refuting the community college atheists and their Osiris/Horus/Dionysus/Attis/Mithra madness; responding to an atheist’s “Questions for Bible Thumpers,” and finally,

Started off with my frustration at the “discernment ministries” of our land that seem to either lack discernment, or a backbone, to stand up and blow the lid off the Great Evangelical Cover-Up (can you say not-so-Veritas Seminary?), and then moved on to e-mail questions. We got into Geek 101 for a while, covering Kindle and iPad stuff, as we

I have duties to attend to at home, so rather than just canceling the DL for Tuesday, we will do it early: 9:30am MST, 11:30am EST, and 3:30am in Sydney, Australia (David Ould was just whining in channel about this). I need to make sure our friends at Liberty know about this, lest they miss anything at all. 🙂

On January 31st I was contacted by a professor in a reformed seminary relating to Mark Siljander’s book, A Deadly Misunderstanding. That happened to be the day I left for London, so I do not recall when, exactly, I purchased the book via Kindle. I know I began listening to it on a 75 mile climbing ride on February 23rd.

Tackled the USA Today article basically telling us all to stop talking about God’s law and what is right and wrong, answered an e-mail about how to handle emotional responses to God’s sovereignty in salvation, and finished off listening to a series of statements by John Hick, philosopher of religion (and opponent to revelational Christianity).

Started off answering questions that have been sent in, including a follow up on Reformed theology from our Muslim inquirer; then took three “regular” calls, and three Skype calls, two of which were from England (I like how the folks calling in from London are often speaking quietly because it is so late at night over there).

Today I spent the entire program answering six questions sent in on the topic of Reformed theology. I hope the answers given are useful and edifying. A few comments at the end about the contrast between these serious questions and some of the looniness currently being seen out on the net.

Started off with a brief correction to a pastor from Brisbane who pretty much got what RB’s believe on election completely backwards in a recent sermon (we listened to an anti-Calvinism sermon he preached a few months ago on a Radio Free Geneva), and then started listening to Abdullah Kunde’s presentation in a recent debate in Australia. Then took calls

Took quite a while to work through a report on my trip to London, Dublin, and Glasgow, and then started to take calls. Ended up with an interesting dialogue between Joseph and Sam Shamoun on the Qur’an, and then, well after the normal stop time, I addressed Peter Lumpkins and others, as promised. Great to be back and to do

Started off with a discussion of some comments from Bassam Zawadi (first half hour), then took calls on a wide variety of topics, including witnessing to Muslims, Qur’anic variations, and whether a parable in Matthew is relevant to particular redemption. Just a reminder: I do not know when we will be able to schedule any DL’s during my trip to

Played the very odd section of a radio program from Detroit where Norman Geisler accused the Reformed of holding to “theological racism” and that we (the Reformed) went “berserk” in response to Chosen But Free, which, we likewise learned, was the first attack upon our beliefs by a “major scholar.” Went from there to a quick review of John Calvin

Yes, I think Norman Geisler’s wild accusations against Reformed theology deserve an RFG. I will also review John Calvin Goes to Berkeley. Join us at 4pm MST!

I invited the Dean and Assistant Dean (who is shorter than the Dean) of the Midwest Center for Theological Studies to join me today on the program. Sam Waldron (Dean) and Richard Barcellos (Assistant Dean) were kind enough to take a full hour out of their day to chat with me. We covered a lot of topics, discussing their work

Mainly relied on callers today to drive the topic, but did report on my time at MCTS (we are going to try to have Sam Waldron and Richard Barcellos on next Tuesday’s program), and thanked some folks who have really done a lot to make the past few weeks special for me, including M.A., V.L., BMcL, and DittoHead. Very thankful

Talked a bit about Ergun Caner speaking at the Jacksonville pastor’s conference, discovered the cleaned up “woops” bio live on the air, discussed the murder of the governor in Pakistan, and then took some calls, first on Galatians 2:16 and “the faithfulness of Jesus” (subjective vs. objective genitives) and another call on Ezekiel 36.

Since I am traveling and lecturing at the Midwest Center for Theological Studies in Kentucky (teaching a Polemics class for MCTS, the Institute for Reformed Baptist Studies, and the Reformed Baptist Seminary), we will attempt to do a Skype-based DL tomorrow at 3pm EST, 1pm MST, noon PST. Join us then!

Worked through Pastor Martin Gale’s anti-Calvinism sermon today (see link below) in a special Radio Free Geneva edition of the Dividing Line, looking at common objections and the incoherence of those arguments. A great way to finish off 2010! Thanks to all who have listened to the DL this year, and we look forward to serving our Lord and proclaiming

A brother in Brisbane sent me a sermon from a Baptist Church that has decided to “take on Calvinism,” and given that it illustrates perfectly the kind of resistance biblical theology faces from man-made traditions, we will listen in tomorrow on a special Radio Free Geneva edition of the Dividing Line. If you would like to listen to the sermon

Started with some thoughts on the centrality of the cross from Galatians 6, then started on our calls, with questions about perseverance, synergism and Romans 11. Then I played a few more clips from Bassam Zawadi. Also, the suggested title to the book I mentioned during the program was correct, The Israel of God by O. Palmer Robertson.

I’ve been more than just a little busy since doing the DL on Thursday. In fact, we did the program early because I had a rather important event that afternoon: helping my future son-in-law surprise my daughter Summer with a proposal of marriage (she said yes!). So do forgive my tardiness in blogging the program. Always remember, the Dividing Line

We will be doing the Dividing Line at the early time on Thursday (11am MST), so please join us then!

Spent the first portion of the program responding to George Bryson’s “Doom and Gloom” anti-Calvinist piece, played some sections of Bassam Zawadi’s presentation on Christianity (I have been informed that it was not done in London, as I had expected, but in the UAE in the summer of 08), and then took callers, including a final call accusing me of

Well, it was raining in Phoenix today (don’t worry, it won’t be raining tomorrow!) so, our phones went nuts. So, we could only take Skype calls, but that’s OK, it worked out. I started off with some quotes from a fascinating Brigham Young sermon wherein he said he had not read the Bible for years and taught the Adam God

Today on the program we started with a devotional/sermon (provided below in video format as well), and then took calls on Mormonism, New Perspectivism, and the nature of righteousness. Went a little long, in fact.

I am so thankful to TurretinFan for guest hosting the DL today. I caught parts of it, but I tuned in after all the first-time technical difficulties (including our first problems with our relatively new, updated phone system, AND, I am told, our new phoneline provider). What are the odds of those two things happening on the same day we

We had a rather, uh, technically challenged DL live from Detroit yesterday. The first time I disappeared was due to the hotel wireless: they simply cycle all the users off twice a day, and, well, that happened about eleven minutes in. Why I dropped the connection three or four more times, I don’t know, but I think Rich managed to

Felt like I was back in a seminary classroom today! It was great. Our first caller, Peter, set a new record for how many questions you can cram into one phone call. Well done. Then we had a great conversation with Landon on presuppositional apologetics, then talked to Dan from Maine on NT Wright and justification, and even talked with

Listened to portions of the Hitchens/Dembski debate on the existence and goodness of God. We were left wondering what a shallow defense of Mother Theresa had to do with the topic, and mourned the opening it gave Hitchens to conclude the debate most memorably. Theology matters, again. Then we took e-mail questions on a variety of topics, commented briefly on

Started off responding to an e-mail about yesterday’s Radio Free Geneva, and then moved into a quick review of the Mexico City debate featuring William Lane Craig and Richard Dawkins. Then we started taking calls on that topic, and finished with a call on particular redemption.

So what prompted me to do a Radio Free Geneva? Well, first, the clips from the Ankerberg Show with Norman Geisler and his dismissal of the utter refutation of his horrific “farmer and the boys in the swimming pond” illustration (and the misquotation of Matthew 23:37 as well). But after spending the first half hour on that topic, I moved

Today was all caller driven, or I guess, net driven. I answered a Twitter question on Acts 16:31ff first, then Rich read a number of e-mail questions, and then we started taking lots of Skype and regular calls on…well, a wide variety of topics. This is about as close as I’ll ever get to doing my impersonation of a Bible answer guy