An uneventful trip back from Long Island, thankfully. My major challenge right now is fully “shifting” my focus from events of the recent weeks to the Spong debate, conference, and cruise. I won’t be able to fully do that, since Tom Ascol and I will be making, in essence, the same presentations (though with a little more time, I’m sure!) that we desired to make in Lynchburg on Thursday night at the conference. I am completely confident of what I will be facing in the debate with John Shelby Spong, and I am fully aware that once again the debate will not be about Sodom and Gomorrah or Leviticus 18 and 20 or Romans 1 or the meaning of arsenokoites. Oh, those things will be mentioned, I’m sure, but the debate will be, “can anyone possibly even define what ‘biblical Christianity’ is in the first place?” It will be a debate that turns upon a fundamental conflict of world-views, one that allows for objective divine revelation, one that precludes it completely.
Of course, there will be a large group of homosexual advocates in the audience, so my challenge will be to handle the issues of the debate while at the same time seeking to communicate truth with clarity to those in attendance. I do covet your prayers for that debate.
On a related topic, a friend forwarded a URL giving an example of collegiate debate. Compare this kind of high-speed presentation with what you must do to present a coherent and edifying presentation in a theological context.
Alpha and Omega Ministries is a Christian apologetics organization based in Phoenix, Arizona. James White, director, is a professor, having taught Greek, Systematic Theology, and various topics in the field of apologetics for numerous schools.
