Alpha and Omega Ministries

Camping and the Atonement

TurretinFan, August 1, 2009, Reformed Apologetics

In a previous post (link) we discussed how Mr. Harold Camping errs on the simple question of who Moses’ father is, according to the Scriptures, and how this has a chain reaction effect on his chronology. There are other clear errors in Mr. Camping’s theology that relate less directly to his date-setting error. Scripture Says Christ Died Once Scripture is

Dr. White’s Humanity and Augustine on the Bodily Presence of Christ

TurretinFan, February 23, 2009, Roman Catholicism

Dr. White is human. To those of us who know and love him, this is no surprise. We realize that he is a man, just like us, and that consequently he makes mistakes. As Alexander Pope said, “To err is human, to forgive divine.” Dr. White is human and he, from time to time, errs. Recently a lay apologist for

Response to Ehrman (part I): God Has Preserved His Word

TurretinFan, February 4, 2009, Textual Issues

Introduction: In listening to the debate, I think Ehrman provided a very good summary of his position in what he called (in his opening statement), a “very quick conclusion.” Ehrman stated: Do we have a reliable text of the New Testament? Are there places where the Bible misquotes Jesus? The short answer is, there is no way to tell. We

An Encouraging Word from Down Under

James White, January 18, 2009, Testimonies

I shall try to keep this as short as I can. Basically I stumbled onto your website about 2.5 years ago after stumbling onto a KJV-onlyist website (www.av1611.org) and although seeing that many of the arguments were absurd on their face (the KJV is actually EASIER to read than the new versions?? Seriously, they have this ‘scientific’ test to prove

Testimonials During Thanksgiving Week

James White, November 24, 2008, Testimonies

I want to praise God for what he has done through you guys. My introduction to your ministry came through The King James Only Controversy. Then as I was learning about the doctrines of grace you were again very helpful in both my understanding and defense of those truths. From Mormonism to Jehovah’s Witness to now Islam, your ministry has

I Really Didn’t Like You…

James White, October 14, 2008, Testimonies

James, I didn’t like you when I was first introduced to you and Alpha and Omega ministry. I was a staunch and vocal KJV-Only apologist and I thought you were a pompous academic windbag who used clever argumentation to deny the truth about God’s one and only Bible. Of course, that personal evaluation came from a 23-year old punk who

+

A Personal Word of Thanks

James White, October 13, 2008, Personal

I had pretty much despaired of using this image. When I had purchased the photocopied version of Erasmus’ 3rd edition of his Novum Testamentum (1522) I had been very disappointed when it arrived. The image backgrounds are dark, dark grey, making the writing next to illegible. But when I decided I wanted to include a scan from the text in

Bob Ross: the Danger of Becoming a Mirror Image

James White, April 21, 2008, Misc

Up until the day I dared to inform Bob Ross that he had gone way, way over the line in his personal attacks on John MacArthur, we were on friendly terms. But once I dared point out that accusing MacArthur of the things he was involved egregious violations of simple logic (let alone proper behavior), I began to experience the

Dave Armstrong’s Short Response

James White, February 20, 2008, Roman Catholicism

Yesterday I reviewed some clips from an interview done by Dave Armstrong. I noted some of his amazing statements, and in particular, I found quite humorous his very inflated sense of importance in basically vanquishing the entire Protestant world from the field of battle. No one can respond to Dave Armstrong! Well, I knew Dave would respond, and respond he

Wednesday Afternoon…Stuff

James White, August 1, 2007, Misc

Next Wednesday Gerry Matatics will join Chris Arnzen to explain his adoption of the sedevacantist position and his assertion that that the current leadership of the Roman Church is invalid. You will want to be listening to Iron Sharpens Iron at 3pm EDT for this program. You can listen live here. Then, on Thursday, I will join Chris to review

+

A Quick Note About Article Authors

Colin Smith, July 26, 2007, Blog Stuff

I was a little surprised to see that people have been confused over the authorship of recent blog articles. I just wanted to point out that, as those who have followed this blog for a while know, Dr. White would not dare to venture into such controversial areas as the Harry Potter books. He much prefers to spend his time

Mormonism 101: Second Level Statements (More)

James White, June 18, 2007, Mormonism

More from Joseph Smith While the preceding discourse is certainly the longest extant presentation of the LDS doctrine of God and man from the Mormon Prophet, it is certainly not all he said on the subject. Indeed, in the few years before his death in 1844, Smith spoke often of this concept. He encountered a good bit of opposition, even

Revelation 5:9-10 1st Person (“us”) or 3rd Person (“them”)?

Dr. Alan Kurschner, June 16, 2007, King James Onlyism

In the past, I have been asked more than once what the correct readings are in Revelation 5:9-10. Once again, today someone emailed me asking whether the King James Version readings are correct, or the modern translations are more faithful to the original reading. So this has prompted me to write a brief post explaining these variants. There are at

An E-Mail That Illustrates a Great Truth

James White, June 9, 2007, Mormonism

We received this e-mail unsolicited. We have sought to exemplify a God-honoring approach to Mormonism since 1982. Here is why: Dear Dr. White, I would like to thank you for taking a bold, truthful stand in opposition to the ungospel of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I am especially grateful that you rely of TRUTH to denounce

Pyromaniac Byzantine Scribes Destroying God’s Word? Oh My!

Dr. Alan Kurschner, May 28, 2007, King James Onlyism

In a recent article, I explained the historical facts that before the fourth century there were no distinct Byzantine readings in any Greek MSS of the papyri, majuscules, and other versions as well that would give for us a suggestion or warrant that the Byzantine textual family (or text-type) existed during that time. Further, the 800-pound gorilla is that there

+

Dean Burgon and His Phantom Manuscripts

Dr. Alan Kurschner, April 19, 2007, King James Onlyism

One of the most bizarre arguments made from King James Only advocates is the claim made popular by the late 19th century Dean Burgon. Attempting to explain why there are no extant Greek manuscripts with distinct KJV readings (or more specifically, distinct readings from a Greek Byzantine form of text) from the first 300 years of church history, he claimed

C. Gordon Olson and Ephesians 1:11

James White, April 18, 2007, Reformed Apologetics

C. Gordon Olson needs to be held to the standard his own writings have placed upon him. As we have begun noting, Olson seems to view himself as one with sufficient basis to overthrow the consensus translations of all major English translations of the Bible as long as it fits into his “mediate theology,” i.e., his particular brand of synergism.

+

The Dave Armstrong Shuffle

James White, April 6, 2007, Roman Catholicism

Those who monitor the comings and goings of Roman Catholic apologists on the Internet know of Dave Armstrong. I have not interacted with the man in quite some time on this blog. I took the time a while back to examine one of his books directly, demonstrate its utter lack of meaningful argumentation, and challenge him to defend himself. He

Reasons Why Textual Criticism is Essential for God’s People

Dr. Alan Kurschner, March 7, 2007, Textual Issues

During the past month, Dr. White gave an instructive primer on Textual Criticism, explaining the history of the transmission of the text, textual methods, and its practice in concrete Biblical examples. It should be self-evident that this apologetic field is essential for defending the faith and providing confidence that our source for the knowledge of God is true. Because the

Can this kind of faith save him?

James White, January 16, 2007, Roman Catholicism

The following is taken from The God Who Justifies pp. 333-336: James 2:14 What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but does not have works? Can this kind of faith save him? (NET) Alternates: What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such

Monday Morning Sneak Peek

James White, October 2, 2006, Pastoral Theology

Fulfilling the biblical teaching that there is nothing new under the sun, the Scriptures contain warnings that are directly relevant to us today regarding the selling of the precious privilege of the pulpit for that which is passing away, the things of this world. When giving Timothy guidance regarding the qualifications for the eldership Paul taught: An overseer, then, must

+

Fascinating Responses

James White, August 21, 2006, Roman Catholicism

More insight coming from the responses being offered by Roman Catholics to some brief observations posted here regarding problems within Roman Catholic theology and practice. First thing is, the vast majority of folks who are willing to comment about what I say are also unwilling to actually listen to anything I have said in the past. While Reformed apologists review

The Puritanboard and the Comma Continued

James White, March 13, 2006, King James Onlyism

The discussion continues in articles posted on the Puritanboard by my fellow Reformed believers regarding the Comma Johanneum. Two immediate things: I have been asked why I don’t just join the Puritanboard and post there. Simple answer: I don’t have time to join all the web boards out there where relevant conversations are taking place. However, I have received a

+

Da Vinci Code Level Nonsense in Islamic Apologetics

James White, January 23, 2006, Islam

Just a quick note about an amazing graphic I stumbled across in Misha’al ibn Abdullah’s book, What Did Jesus Really Say? Here it is: Let’s look at the claims. First we are told that at the Council of Nicea “The Trinitarians gain the backing of the pagan Romans.” I suppose that is the really accurate way of saying “The vast

Jesus Christ: Full Deity in Humanity

James White, December 15, 2005, Godly Disciplines

This week we are memorizing the Greek term qeo,thtoj (theotetos, pronounced thay-AH-tay-toss), translated in the NASB as “Deity.” I noted last time that the King James Version renders it “godhead,” which is not only ambiguous, but since the KJV elsewhere renders other less strong terms by the same word (e.g., Romans 1:20), can be quite confusing. The Bauer, Arndt, Gingrich

Contextual Considerations, Colossians 2:8-9

James White, December 13, 2005, Godly Disciplines

Finally home and have a few moments to do what I had hoped to do numerous times over the weekend… The artificial chapter division between chapters 1 and 2 is actually fairly well placed. Paul is concerned about the infant churches, and expresses that concern in 2:1-2. He has a “struggle” on their behalf (avgw/na, agwna), and for all

Godly Disciplines

James White, December 5, 2005, Godly Disciplines

Discipline is not the first word people think of today when they think of the Christian life. Who wants discipline? We want freedom, happiness, success…but discipline? And yet, every generation of Christians in the past has come to learn the same lesson: the path to “success” (better, fulfillment, contentment, godliness) is the path of discipline. I could offer you lots

+

Islamic Apologetics and New Testament Transmission (#20)

James White, March 27, 2005, Islam

In their attack upon the Christian scriptures, Saifullah and Azmy began their lengthy citation of Bentley’s work on Sinaiticus by mocking William Campbell’s emotional response upon seeing a in person when it was, at that time (1983) located in the British Museum. I, too, had the opportunity of seeing a, which is now housed in the British Library, and unlike

Islamic Apologetics and New Testament Transmission (#11)

James White, January 13, 2005, Islam

We noted in our last installment the presentation of twenty some odd pages of citation regarding the textual integrity of a (Codex Sinaiticus) by our Islamic authors. They tip their hand (as if we were any longer wondering about their bias) when they introduce this material, taken from James Bentley’s Secrets of Mount Sinai: The Story of Codex Sinaiticus, by

The Protestant Verses: Can Dave Armstrong Exegete This Passage?

James White, December 30, 2004, Roman Catholicism

I’d like to ask Dave Armstrong to provide a biblically solid, textually grounded, linguistically accurate, contextually sound interpretation of Romans 4:6-8: Romans 4:6-8 6 just as David also describes the blessedness of the man to whom God imputes righteousness apart from works: 7 “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven, and whose sins are covered; 8 Blessed is the

Killing Two Birds/One Stone

James White, October 25, 2004, Textual Issues

Fast “weekend” so I’m behind already. Peoria, IL, this weekend, back Tuesday, gone again Thursday for LA and the debate/conference/cruise! Time is short, blogging will be brief for a while. So as to utilize my time better, I tried to find a textual variant in the New Testament that involved an infinitive but that would also allow me to make