Friday Morning Odds and Ends

   Watching the news these days reminds me of how frightening it must be to not know God has a purpose He is working out in this world. The Mideast remains a mess, and, of course, will remain a mess until either the Lord returns or He grants repentance to a very large group of people. There is only one hope for that part of the world, and it is the gospel of Jesus Christ.
   Next, did you know it is hot in Phoenix, Arizona. Predictions as high as 116 today. 122 is the all-time high, however—that is a little deceiving. They moved the thermometer at Sky Harbor after that record was reached June 26, 1990 (I remember it well), and most of us feel the new location reads about 3 degrees lower than it used to. Next, it is a lot more humid in Phoenix than it was 16 years ago. When it hit 122 in 1990 the humidity was almost non-existent. Not anymore! So 116 with four or five times the humidity of the 122 sure feels warmer than the 122 did. I rode South Mountain yesterday morning, and the starting temperature long before sunrise was 89. For the next two months I’ll be doing more Spinervals (cycling video workouts that are really great) and rowing, both inside.
   Nothing new on the Caner front. No response to the last e-mail I sent. Stephen Atkins up in Canada did get an e-mail response from Ergun that he posted on his blog that you might find interesting. Caner plays the Servetus card. Of course, he doesn’t contextualize anything (nothing unusual about that). I wonder if he’d likewise admit his soteriology is foundationally more similar to Rome’s than to the Reformers? His views of the decree of God, the will of man, and the nature of grace, are all far closer to Rome than they are to Geneva. Anyway, Ergun keeps trying to project the “We are fearless, the Calvinists are afraid” scenario. It is almost humorous in light of the fact that he has ignored, repeatedly, my challenge to him to go one-on-one in front of each of his classes at Liberty with nothing in our hands but the Bible. In fact, I’d challenge him to do that with nothing but a Greek text. I’d be overjoyed at the opportunity. Does that sound like I’m afraid? And why does he ignore this every time I raise the challenge? Seems he is hoping his “fans” won’t be reading “the other side.”
   Finally, I just did a search on my blog. Mike Kwiatkowski addressed some comments by Dave Armstrong back in June of 2005, and aside from one passing mention of his name regarding Angelz’ cartoons in September of last year, I haven’t said a word about the man personally for over a year. I had removed his blog from my RSS feed long, long ago, mainly after I had invested the time to go through his claims in his book, document their errors, and challenge him to provide exegetical replies. His response? Well, a bit like putting a wax candle on your dashboard in Phoenix today: total melt-down. Complete capitulation. “I won’t talk to anti-Catholics anymore!” Well, I knew that was all just a cover to allow him to hide long enough for the storm to pass, and that he’d be back. Guess what? Yeah, no big surprise. James Swan informs me ol’ Dave is strutting about the Internet once again, sporting an ego the size of Mount Rushmore. This is the same Dave Armstrong who will not debate in person; the same one who melted into a puddle of goo when challenged in writing to defend his own published “exegesis.” You truly have to wonder after a while, especially when the documentation of these things is still on line (just do a search on “Armstrong” down in the search box). How utterly self-deceived does a person have to be to have tucked tail and run in the face of serious challenge, and then, eighteen months later, has the temerity to write of me, “a man who has eventually (usually quite quickly) fled from every so-called debate he and I have ever engaged in?” What color is the sky in his world, anyway? That’s just downright frightening. I think it is time to let Angelz’ handiwork speak one more time.